Case Study

A young woman was experiencing severe edema as a result of her menstrual cycle two days before her wedding. Consequently her wedding dress would not fit. The bridal shop owner offered to alter the dress in the coming 48 hours. The bride declined, however, and proceeded to take a diuretic, drink excessive water, and limit her meals to lettuce only. The morning of the ceremony the bride felt nauseated and weak. She made it to the church via wheel chair, too weak to even put on her gown. Moments before the ceremony she began having convulsions, emergency assistance was called and the bride whisked away by ambulance leaving the groom at the altar. Blood tests at the hospital revealed the following:

Electrolyte (in blood/ECF) | Bride’s Values | Normal Values |

Na+ | 120 mEq/liter | 136-145 mEq/liter |

K+ | 4.7 mEq/liter | 3.5-5.0 mEq/liter |

Cl- | 95 mEq/liter | 96-106 mEq/liter |

1. What is edema? (1 point)

An edema is swelling caused by fluid retention; excess fluid is trapped in the body’s tissues.

2. Define diuretic? (1 point)

A diuretic provides a means of forced diuresis which elevates the rate of urination. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way.

3. The diuretic that the bride took caused her body to excrete excess sodium (Na+) in her urine. How would that alleviate her edema? Describe the specific mechanism of membrane transport at work here. (3 points)

The bride had the right idea of taking a diuretic however, drinking excess water and Lettuce which is a diuretic itself, containing mostly water was a bad thing. The bride was excreting excess of Na+ without bringing more Sodium (Na+) back into the system. How would this alleviate her edema? Well she was excreting a lot of Sodium, so she was definitely releasing the water from her tissues. This type of specific mechanism of membrane transport is Osmosis which is...