Symptoms Resources

Glaucoma is a serious eye condition, comprising a group of eye diseases, and is a leading cause of sight loss around the world. It has several forms, with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) the most common. Glaucoma can affect people of all ages but is more prevalent among older adults. It is a progressive condition and has a huge impact on quality of life, affecting the person’s ability to continue to lead a normal life. This article focuses on glaucoma in adults, and provides information on symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. The aim is to help nurses and non-medical prescribers to recognise and refer suspected cases, improving outcomes and quality of life for all those affected by this devastating disease.

Laryngeal cancer falls under the umbrella term of head and neck cancers and is the second commonest cancer type within this group. The condition often presents with symptoms shared with those of other less serious diseases, making diagnosis challenging.
This article hopes to give nurses and non-medical prescribers an overview of symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis with the aim of raising awareness and helping to get an earlier diagnosis of this devastating disease.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common disorder which has a major impact on the lives of sufferers and families. Although currently there is no cure for this disease, a variety of therapeutic interventions can alleviate the symptoms. It is important that nurses are able to differentiate allergic and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) from viral upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in order to best manage their patients. It is also necessary to ask appropriate questions of those patients attending for asthma review, as
they may have unrecognised and untreated disease. Familiarity with the range of medications and their administration is advocated. Patients with troublesome, non-responding symptoms need to be referred, as do those with red flag signs.

Patricia Schooling discusses the rising incidence of allergy
throughout the UK population.