Wellness Integration for Chronic Illnesses

Title
Your Name:
Subject and Section:
Professor’s Name:
Date Submitted:
Wellness Integration Assignment
Introduction
Chronic illnesses are life-altering conditions that affect the daily life of a patient. Different aspects of life should be assessed to provide interventions that will promote wellness among those individuals who are diagnosed with chronic conditions. In this paper, a wellness integration program for patients with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP) will be discussed.
Chronic Illness Discussion
Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a chronic condition that consists of simultaneous neuromuscular disorders (Dimachkie & Barohn, 2013). CIDP is considered an untreatable autoimmune condition that is closely related to the Guillain-Barré syndrome and is known to be its chronic form (NORD, 2021). This condition involves the peripheral nerves resulting in gradual loss of sensation and strength.
It is important to examine the extent of CIDP in the lives of individuals who have this condition and to create a holistic treatment that will be helpful to these populations. One of the many reasons that require a comprehensive approach when dealing with CIDP is the nature of the disease. CIDP has physical, emotional, psychological, and social effects on the life of a person affected by this untreatable condition. Some of the effects of CIDP are impaired balance and decreased finger dexterity, which results in difficulty in performing activities like walking and writing, respectively (Westblad, et al., 2009). As the condition worsens it also affects the functional mobility of the individual resulting in the individual being unable to perform his/her usual activities of daily living. These physical aspects do not only involve the patient’s body, but the mind, feelings, and ability to interact with others as well. Healthcare professionals may provide aid in holistically addressing the impairments of a patient with CIDP using a comprehensive approach to target all the aspects involved with this condition, resulting in overall improved quality of life.
Physical Symptom Management
CIDP is a complex condition and it consists of numerous signs and symptoms that it shares with other disorders. The most common symptoms of CIDP are a progressive weakness on the shoulders, hands, hips, and feet musculature, and sensory loss in the same areas (NORD, 2021). Other common symptoms that are present especially as the condition progresses are balance problems, functional mobility impairment, tingling sensation on extremities, pain, and complaints of fatigue. Given the chronic and progressive nature of CIDP, lifetime management is important to ensure that the impairments that are gradually appearing and worsening are addressed in the best way possible. The physical symptoms and impairments can be primarily addressed using medical treatments and therapies.
An important goal in CIDP treatment is to address the underlying disease process of polyneuropathy, so pharmacological treatment is given to the patient with CIDP to manage and delay further worsening of the symptoms. Corticosteroids such as oral prednisone are one of the first-line intervention for CIDP because it is generally given to patients with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and asthma. It also promotes accessibility to patients because it is inexpensive and widely available for patients with CIDP. However, it should be noted that the long-term use of corticosteroids has its consequences such as a high risk of having diabetes mellitus, obesity, and osteoporosis (Oaklander, et al., 2017). Based on research, it is proven to be an effective treatment for CIDP when tested in a randomized placebo-controlled trial that lasted for 3 months. The administration of oral corticosteroids may vary depending on the state of the patient upon evaluation (Gorson, 2012). Some first-line interventions that the patient may consider in addition to corticosteroids are plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin. Plasma exchange is a process that involves the replacement of the plasma component of the patient’s blood with a plasma substitute using machines. It has shown significant short-term improvement in terms of the patient’s motor nerve conduction velocity and other clinical impairments, following the concept that this treatment removes the autoantibodies in the blood (Oaklander, et al., 2017). Intravenous immunoglobulin, on the other hand, is a known maintenance therapy that deals with CIDP by blocking the ongoing progressive autoimmune and inflammatory process by the provision of healthy antibodies (Allen, et al., 2020). However, when considering the three options available, the cost of plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulin may be a barrier to patients, but these are commonly considered interventions since it provides options for those who do not want to engage in long-term use of corticosteroids.
Another intervention that would help in the long-term management of CIDP is physical therapy treatment. Even if CIDP is a progressive condition, physical activities are still encouraged to maintain the current function of the patient while also promoting ways to delay the progression of the condition (Weerasinghe, et al., 2021). In line with these, physical therapy will help provide treatments such as strengthening, endurance, and balance exercises, sensory integration activities, proper transitions and transfers training, and functional mobility exercises. Aside from these, some modalities that are used in physical therapy namely the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation may also be used to address sensory disturbances and/or pain felt by the patient. Based on the evidence, patients suffering from polyneuropathy that undergo physical therapy result in improved function and quality of life that is applicable in the long-term perspective (Galantino, et al., 2014).
Psychosocial Comorbidity Management
CIDP involves many stressors as it is a chronic autoimmune condition that requires a comprehensive and holistic approach. Some of the common stressors include activities of daily living resulting in frustration and depression due to the inability to perform in the way that they normally did before the diagnosis. Another stressor would be the financial difficulties that CIDP presents. For example, when the patient opts for intravenous trea...