After a lung transplant, a patient should not partake in some tasks or continue with certain behaviors. For example, I used to love to do yardwork, such as gardening and keeping my lawn in shape. But my transplant doctor recommended against it. I can’t do other activities as well, but…
Living Life in Incremental Steps: Sports, Cleveland, and Happiness
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a cruel disease. Characterized by progressive scarring in the lungs that prevents oxygenation, IPF slowly steals a patient’s ability to breathe. There is no cure for IPF, and the only approved medications to slow the development of lung fibrosis are Ofev (nintedanib) and Esbriet…
Reducing the decline of forced vital capacity (FVC), a measure of lung function, can improve the quality of life, and lower the mortality rates and financial burden of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a new study has found. The study, titled “Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) decline,…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a vast government bureaucracy, employs about 17,500 people and had a budget of $5.7 billion in 2019. Yet even with its enormous resources, the FDA these days relies more and more on patients to…
Have you ever had to persuade yourself to do something? I often negotiate with myself to complete tasks I don’t want to do by rewarding myself with something enjoyable afterward. That worked when I was in school and cramming for exams: If I just get through this last chapter, I…
A software program called CALIPER may be useful in predicting the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and the effectiveness of antifibrotic treatment based on lung images taken through high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), researchers found. The study,…
As an English major with an interest in psychology, I am constantly analyzing the effect that words can have on people. Words are magical units of meaning that we can combine in infinite ways to convey ideas and thoughts. Some combinations can be healing, while others can have the…
Changes in blood levels of surfactant protein-A (SP-A) — immune proteins most abundant in the lungs — can help predict treatment outcomes with anti-fibrotic therapies, including Esbriet and Ofev, in people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a study found. According to the new study, serial measurements…
The gleaming new Dutch headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), fronting Domenico Scarlattilaan in Amsterdam’s suburban Zuidas business district, finally opened for business last month — just over two years after the European Union decided to relocate the EMA to the Netherlands in the wake of Brexit.
Most of the conversations in the Pulmonary Fibrosis News Forums are about the physical and medical aspects of living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). But occasionally we steer off-topic and talk about who we are as people first and patients second. We talk about our families, travel plans,…
