Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a very serious lung disease for which there is still no cure. This disease is actually what they label end-stage of multiple medical conditions that cause lung scarring. The alveoli of the lungs are consistently injured. Alveoli is the sacs of air in the lung itself. When the lining of these become scarred, your lungs will constrict, and make every breath hard to get. They have yet to find a cure for pulmonary fibrosis. The treatments that are out now do not really do a whole lot to slow down the decline of the lungs from this disease. I've read that they are doing a number of clinical trials so that medical researchers can identify better treatment therapies. Symptomatology most commonly is shortness of your breath. A dry type of cough usually accompanies this breathing control. As time goes forward, the breathlessness will get worse, even in doing simple household activity. Eating will be hard since eating requires a certain amount of breathing control, and talking becomes a chore. Other signs are tiredness from all of the energy it takes to keep breathing, weight loss because of too much effort to eat and breathe, and there is a general feeling of body aches all over. People can have anywhere from moderate to very severe problems with this tough lung issue. It may move very quickly, or take months or sometimes even years to worsen. Did you realize that when you breathe normally, it is through the bronchi that air gets into your lungs when inhaling. Your bronchi is like a tree that is divided into things called bronchioles. These have at least one million airways that are very small, and they end in clusters known as air sacs. Alveoli total three-hundred million, and this is in each lung. Little blood vessels are inside the walls of air sacs known as capillaries. This is how the oxygen is added to your bloodstream. Carbon dioxide is removed, which is a waste product of your metabolism. When you have pulmonary fibrosis, damages which are of a microscopic nature cause alveoli scarring. This scarring cannot be turned around. Scarring makes the air sacs no longer elastic as they should be in normal lung health. The sacs are now hard and non-flexible, and this makes breathing a real fight. Lungs normally can repair mild scarring by making more tissue that will fix lung damages. However, with the condition of pulmonary fibrosis, there is no fixing up any longer, and lung problems that steadily become worse begins. Damage to the lungs can occur in a number of ways. There are sometimes asbestos in workplaces that happen to people, which ignites this condition. Occupations where there is inhalation of hazardous materials can bring the probl;em on, as well as cigarettes. People that have undergone radiation for either breast or lung cancers receive lung damage up to a point, depending largely on how much radiation was given. Drugs used in chemotherapy can hurt the lungs and create other cardiovascular problems too. GERD, which is a bad heartburn problem, can play a huge factor in the development of PF. Other conditions such as tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, and pneumonia can create an environment within the lungs that is not healthy, promoting other conditions like PF. PF can also be of a genetic nature. Idiopathic PF is the most frequently diagnosed when there is no known cause. Risk Factors for pulmonary fibrosis can be the following: Smoking is the worst thing to do, and the risk continues going up the more you smoke.
Family history plays another role. There is a type of pulmonary fibrosis which is idiopathic that can run in genes. A virus , can trigger pulmonary fibrosis. Mononucleosis is one of the viruses that can later bring out lung disease for whatever reason which remains unknown. Procedures to diagnose this problem are mainly bronchoscopy. In this diagnostic test, the doctor will take out a piece of lung tissue with a thin tube which goes in the mouth to your lung area. The only side effect from the test can be a little sore throat. Another test used may be a bronchoalveolar lavage. Saltwater is injected by way of a bronchoscope into your lungs. The solution is sucked out right away, which contains your air sacs cells. This is analyzed in the lab. A biopsy which is day surgery is conducted in a few cases when neither of the two other tests come up with anything definite. This video assisted type of surgery has a camera which allows a surgeon to take up tissue from the lung area, and also view the lungs. This is a very last resort for diagnosis. A blood test will show low blood oxygen levels. You may also have cor pulmonale, which in simple terms is heart failure that is right sided. This happens when your heart is no longer to pump the blood it needs to through a blocked artery. When blood oxygen levels become dangerously low, you may suddenly have respiratory failure. This will cause irregular heart beats, unconsciousness, right along with feeling sleepy since carbon dioxide levels go too high. Up to a point, steroids aid in stalling the decline of pulmonary fibrosis. Drugs that help to suppress your immune system have shown a little bit of improvement in people with pulmonary fibrosis, but not always. Oxygen therapy can make people with PF feel very comfortable and secure, and ease breathing. In a few cases, transplanting of the lungs may help some people a great deal. To be eligible for this procedure that is life-saving, you would have to be healthy enough to undergo surgery, and be able to handle the anti-rejection medications afterwords.
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