Headaches From Too Much Computer Use Case Study

Diagnosis of Patient

The author of this report has been asked to diagnose a youth that has come in complaining of an inability to sleep. The girl seems to be in good overall health but she is having some pain. She does not pay a whole lot of attention to the doctor as the doctor enters the room. She briefly glances up and says hello but looks back down. The child apparently has a fixation on computer and phone use and the mother believes this is a factor. The child retorts that the use of the phone and the computer is instead a distraction from the pain she is experiencing. There are no previous childhood illnesses and the she has not been diagnosed with any chronic illnesses. There have been no hospitalizations or surgeries. Immunizations are completely up-to-date at this point. There have been no blood transfusions. The child denies use of alcohol, tobacco or any illicit drugs. The girl has no current medications and had her last period about a week ago. She is a good student and lives with her parents and siblings. As for family history, the biological mother has no issues to speak of but the father has bipolar disorder, albeit controlled. The siblings of the patients are in good health. Both of her grandmothers (paternal and maternal) died from breast cancer. The maternal grandfather died of lung cancer. The paternal grandfather is alive but has type II diabetes.

The author of this report would ask the patient a few questions. Firstly, there would be the question of where the pain is located, how strong it is (on a 1-10 scale) and how often it happens including how long it occurs each time it happens. The doctor should ask if there are common activities or behaviors that are going on when the behavior occurs (like using the phone or computer). The notes thus far indicate it is limited to headaches and this is causing her to not be able to sleep. There are a couple of diagnoses that could be in play here but the list is not very long.

Unless the patient reveals anything new, the most likely cause of her issues is indeed what her mother thinks it is and that is excessive staring at her computer or phone. This is likely causing eye strain as well as her headaches. The headaches are likely what is causing her to not be able to sleep. As explained by many sources, excessive time in front of computers or smartphones can cause head, back, neck and shoulder pain due to posture problems and strained eyes (Newcomer, 2012). Based on the girl's ostensible fixation with her phone, that is almost certainly the issue. The Type II diabetes in her remaining grandparent is something to look at but there are no symptoms being reported that are consistent with high or low…