Mineral Case Study

Mineral Case Study

Period 5-6

Case #1

Thomas who is a High School Junior is one of the best sprinters the school has ever seen in history. Last year, his Sophomore year he beat 3 tough records. The track team counts on him by carrying them all on his back. Although there is a lot of pressure on Tom, it seems to interact by playing a huge role in his health. In order to become the track star he wants to be had to start training in October. With junior year work catching up to him he seemed to not be able to juggle both responsibilities, so he knew something had to change.

A month later, he started eating healthier by wishing away the french fries and chips but still running six miles a day. Replacing his lunch with a yogurt, and not eating an after school snack before training. Over the course of two weeks his mom realized symptoms such as coughing and redness on his face. She thought it was just the cold weather, and grumpy Tom.

In addition, Thomas also has been slacking in school recently. His grades are now C’s and D’s compared to the A’s he's had in the past. This wasn’t like Tom, he was always on top of his school work and always met the teachers expectations until this month. His teachers noticed his lack of interest and emailed his mom about his work ethic. “Tom lately has been very tired in class and not participating nearly as much as he use to, i dont know whats wrong!”

Despite Thomas’s slack, he tries to be the best he can be on the track, his work ethic has been slipping since the beginning of the year ever since he changed his daily routine. As a result his doctor and mom came to the conclusion that since Tom has been having trouble breathing he should run the 200 meter instead of the 400 meter. “I would rather you rest up and get better, you always have next year” his coach said. You have also noticed recently he hasn’t been the social butterfly he is, he doesn't hangout on weekends, and you or your friends don’t know why. His girlfriend noticed that his nose and throat have been bothering him recently with a scratchy feeling.

You want to help Tom as much as possible and solve this problem for him so he can get back in his running shoes. What do you tell him? Can it be the change in his diet? Him not being use to running in the past months? The cold weather? A deficiency? Where do we start!

Case #2

What’s Wrong With Me

Case Study: In the spring after her 17th birthday, Haley decided that she needed to get into shape. In order to get her summer body, along with exercise haley decided to become a vegetarian. In the matter of 10 seconds, Haley decided to cut all of the meat out of her diet, which without proper research can be bad for her health. During the next few weeks, Haley was experiencing a shortness of breath along with her fatigue and tiredness. She is also taking a lot of advil for frequent headaches, and was needing to wear two pairs of socks because her feet were cold! During her next visit to the doctor she asked “What is wrong with me.” Can you help Haley?

Case #3

The Mystery of Tyler’s Mineral Deficiency

Tyler is twenty years old. Ever since he was little he has been allergic to egg and dairy products. Tyler does not like any of the milk and egg substitutes so he tries to stay away from them as often as he can. Lately at night, while in bed, Tyler has been coughing excessively and has to sit up in order to stop. To solve this problem he has been sleeping with two pillows instead of one so that he is propped up more. One day after school, Tyler choked while eating crackers; he figured it was because he was not drinking while eating something dry. After talking to his mom about all of these strange occurrences, Tyler’s mom suggested he goes to the doctor. The doctor listened to his lungs and could hear that he was having trouble breathing and the doctor found a lump on his neck. What mineral is Tyler lacking?

Case #4

Growing up, David was always a picky eater. As a baby he’d spit out his food unless his parents held his nose shut. As a child he’d throw tantrums whenever he didn’t like something. As a teenager he’d just hide in his room whenever he didn’t like what his mom was making. Now that he’s graduated, and dorming, he has full rein over his meals.

David’s typical meal plan consists of: cup noodles, poptarts, chips, twizzlers, and red gatorade. With little variety in his diet his health began to decline. His mom started pointing out that he’d put on some weight, but he’d just brush it off and continue with his eating habits. David was always a really lazy kid, so it was no surprise that his grades were sub par. But he took note of how hard it had become for him to remember his course materials. He also noticed that his hands would hurt when taking notes, or playing video games.

On his drive home for winter break David noted that his reaction time wasn’t what it usually was. He pulled over for a few minutes to try to get his head cleared, and started driving soon after. When he drove over a patch of black ice he wasn’t able to react and drove into a tree. This resulted in him spending winter break in the hospital with two broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and a bruised hip. While his mom scolded him on his recklessness, and irresponsibility she noticed a glazed look in his eyes. When she called his name he took a few seconds to respond, and didn’t seem at all enthused with the sound of her voice. Knowing that her son was never like this before she asked the doctors to run some tests.

“He’s usually so alert! Now he doesn’t even notice when a pretty nurse walks in.” After practically begging, they ran some blood, and urine tests. His urine showed high levels of calcium. What did his blood test show?

Case #5

The game that killed her (vibe).

Once upon a time, there was a junior in high school named Angelina. It was a typical Monday morning and she was eating her usual breakfast; frozen waffles, her favorite fruits (berries, lemons, and limes) and a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. At school, she took a quiz in Math and later found out she got an A! All of her studying and hard work truly paid off. After school, she went to soccer practice and scored every single goal, as always. She drank some water and had some more fruit as a quick snack before running on to the field for practice. Overall, she was a very energetic, hardworking, healthy, and happy 16 year old “soccer star.”

As the end of the year approached, Angelina found herself staying up until 2am almost every night, studying for finals. In addition to studying and meeting up with tutors for extra help, she had SAT classes and tried to practice soccer drills in her backyard for at least 2 hours a day minimum; her intense summer soccer program starts the week after school ends and she wanted to be as prepared as possible. Angelina’s private soccer coach yelled at her for spending so much time studying, because “she already has good grades and needs to focus on soccer.” He didn’t understand what it felt like to be a stressed junior in highschool, since he was a much older man, solely focused on soccer. Angelina was a stressed out mess, with a soccer ball in hand 24/7.

Two weeks later, Angelina’s finals were in just a few days. Her mom scolded her for not eating breakfast anymore, but she had no time and wasn’t hungry anyway. Sometimes she even skipped lunch to study in the library, but her mom didn’t need to know that. Later that day, Angelina was practicing soccer and experienced a sharp, painful cramp. She had been getting bad cramps for a few weeks now; she assumed she was about to get her period, but that wasn’t the case. She wasn’t sure why she was experiencing the cramps and thought it would get better, but it only got worse. She also noticed that her fingers felt tingly and numb, especially when she was trying to write while studying. She assumed it was because her hands hurt from doing so much school work, but the numbness and tingling continued. On top of this, her math grade, which was an A from all her studying, dropped down to a C; a few points away from a C- to be exact. She didn’t understand what she was doing wrong, especially since she was spending so much time on school work. Why was she constantly confused and blanking out during tests? What if the same thing happened during her SATs? Can you help Angelina figure out what the problem is? Her finals are in a few days, SATs are in a week, and summer camp is around the corner- help!!!!

Case #6

Soccer Is Not The Best Thing To Practice

There are best friends, Kelly and Julia. They have been friends since kindergarden. They are finally in highschool starting their junior year. During the summer they both thought that junior year would be so stressful and they would have a lot of anxiety. They also play soccer. They are always at the field practicing so they can make the team again. Every year they try out and make it but not on varsity. They are hoping to this year. They have been training so much this summer, they even went to a summer camp to get better. The summer camp was with professional soccer players. Their favorite snacks to eat while training are bananas, dark chocolate (because it is “better for you”), Whole grain bread with avocados on it and nuts. They always have that as their lunch. They spend 24/7 with each other. They also live right next door from each other.

Junior year started and they were doing really good. They had all A’s and they made the soccer team, varsity. They were so happy to be on the soccer team and to be on varsity. Everyday after school they had practice until 5 and then they would go home and eat and do homework and then they would hang out after that because they lived right next door. When they would hang out they would either just talk, watch a movie or kick the soccer ball around the yard. One night when they were playing soccer and Kelly kicked the ball hard and Julia stopped it and as she was about to kick it back to her she couldn't because she had muscle cramps in her leg and she got very worried because it was not a spasmus. She asked Kelly “What is happening because I cannot get hurt, we just started the season and we are finally on varsity.” Kelly did not know what what happening she just sat by her side and helped her massage it out. “Why don’t we go inside and eat some dried fruit, I know you love the mango ones.” She smiled and helped her up. All of a sudden Julia felt very weak and could do anything. She couldn’t even stand to walk back inside. Then when she got inside she sat down but then she got light headed and felt nauseous. After that Kelly got Julia’s mom because she was worried. Julia’s mom got some water because she felt nauseous. The Julia’s mom told her to go lay down because she wasn’t feeling good. Julia’s mom asked her “what did you have to eat Julia?” She answered and said “I ate some dried fruit and and avocado sandwich.” “Julia those things are not good when you eat them together,” She answered. Julia looked at Kelly and then said “Then what about the muscle cramps, and the weakness I had?” Her mom said “Let me check you high blood pressure because it might be really high and you were not drinking enough.” She got the blood pressure a machine and checked it. It was very high. She said i think we should go to the hospital and check this out.

They all went to the hospital and told them her symptoms and they said “Does she have diabetes?” Her mom answered “No. I don't think so.” They check on if she has diabetes and she does she has type two diabetes. With her weakness and her nausea she got very dizzy and then threw up. She then fell asleep because she felt very tired. When she woke up she said what happened and could not really remember what happened to her. Her mom and Kelly told her and she was very scared but then her doctor came and said that she was fine to go home she just need to watch her diabetes. They go home and her mom said that her life was going to change because of all of the things she need to watch for.

Case #7

Your good friend Lebron was a everyday student that played varsity basketball, and played soccer for his community. He was one of the best in his class, and he was always practicing, always looking for ways to get better. He had a great life even outside of sports and was a very social with lots of people, and even had a great relationship with a girl named Mia. Last year as a junior, Lebron and his team made it all the way to the championship game and won. However that was just for his high school basketball team, he wants to do it for both basketball, and his community soccer team.

Lebron always looked for ways to become faster, more athletic, and stronger. He has been on a diet for his entire life while on the team, it mainly consisted of vegetables mainly greens, and fish. However he felt that he wasn’t doing the best he could still. He began looking online, and going to the library for books about health and fitness. Eventually he found a book that was telling him that switching over to fluids could improve him. So in order for further improvement, he decides to convert into a new, a more viable diet, that isn’t detrimental to his physical well-being. He thinks that it would be a beneficial if he starts to practice his both extra-curricular activities because he finds that his skills are starting to plummet gradually by the day. So in further vindication, he feels that he needs to get back into his teams.

However as time goes on Lebron begins to see signs of negativity. He begins to notice that he can not strike the ball as hard, or shoot the ball as well in the basket. His limbs are just getting too weak to do anything, and for the first time in his time with both his teams, he actually had to not play games to rest. But then it got worse, when he thought he was strong enough to play after missing some games, he not only was not strong, but he was also getting headaches, and becoming nauseous. He was telling both of his coaches to take him out longer because of this. But then however it got even worse. Lebron began to have confusion meaning he couldn't understand anything. He began to forget plays during practices, and worse games. Lebron is only getting frustrated he has no idea, what to do. Doesn't anyone know what could`ve happened? What is the answer?