Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Deceptive appearances.

A few medical conditions have presentations that are more or less the same to a layman but in reality, are polar opposites of each other. There are though, a few subtle clues which help in differentiating these conditions. Some of them are as follows-

1. The Somogyi effect and the dawn     phenomenon.
These are the conditions which occur in diabetic patients which are undergoing treatment.

In the Somogyi effect, there is a rebound hyperglycemia (in the mornings) following hypoglycemia(during the night) due to the release of counter regulatory hormones.

On the other hand,the dawn phenomenon is characterized by morning hyperglycemia due to inadequate insulin dosage. It may be a possibility that the raised blood sugar is due to nocturnal GH release or increased insulin clearance in the mornings.

So, what does the patient think? That the treatment is not working, is inadequate, but the reality may be starkly different.

To pinpoint, the patient may be asked whether he feels excessive hunger during the night, experiences persistent nightmares or any other symptom during night pertaining to hypoglycemia.

3am and morning blood samples reveal hypo and hyperglycemia in the case of Somogyi effect, while hyperglycemia both the times with dawn phenomenon.

Hence, the modification in Somogyi effect is actually to decrease the insulin dose and increasing it if the patient has dawn phenomenon.

2. Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa.
Both these conditions are characterised by the patient having weight concerns and multiple episodes of self induced vomiting ,laxative abuse or extreme exercise and fasting.One might get confused as to what exactly is the underlying condition.

The primary difference between the two according to me is the patient's attitude and the quantity of food consumed.

Anorexics are primarily worried about their weight(they tend to be ballet dancers or actresses) and hence consume very less amount of food to begin with and vomit out or use laxatives to get rid of whatever is consumed. The patient tends to be almost emaciated, they have a distortion of the bodily image and beliefs that they are still overweight.

Bulimia patients too, engage in similar kinds of behaviours to lose calories but these are more driven out of guilt rather than extreme weight concerns,they usually have a normal weight.The patients have a sense of achievement that they can eat whatever they want and in any quantity until they are losing calories through vomiting, excessive exercise or laxative abuse. Contrary to anorexia, patients have episodes of binge eating then compensatory behaviours followed by hunger and then again binge eating.


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