An unfortunate reality of living with a chronic illness is that most people will never fully understand your experience. They can’t understand the complexity of living with a chronic lung disease or other debilitating chronic illnesses. Even when someone else has the same diagnosis as you, their experience likely…
Wrongly Perceived ‘Perks’ of Having a Chronic Illness
An integral part of my recovery from single-lung transplant surgery is the close monitoring of lab results. My case is even more interesting because I have autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). Simply explained, my red and white blood cells and platelets are significantly lower than those of someone who…
Naftopidil treatment causes growth arrest of human lung fibroblasts and reduces fibrotic lesions in mice with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a study shows. The findings of the study, “Naftopidil reduced the proliferation of lung fibroblasts and bleomycin‐induced lung fibrosis in mice,” were published in the Journal…
Bridge Biotherapeutics’ investigational therapeutic candidate BBT-877 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) was found to be safe and well-tolerated in the single-ascending dose phase of a Phase 1 trial with healthy volunteers, the company announced. BBT-877 is currently undergoing testing in the multi-ascending dose phase, and Bridge Biotherapeutics is planning a…
Measuring three specific biomarkers — nitric oxide, PGE2, and 8‐isoprostane — in the exhaled breath condensates (EBC) or bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) of patients with different forms of interstitial lung disease or other lung diseases does not show diagnostic potential, a study suggests. The study, “Exhalative Breath Markers Do…
Each person’s experience of having a sick parent is different. For me, it was relatively easy until my mom’s condition became a crisis. From the start, I refused to research any terms that I’d overheard. I didn’t want to know what Dr. Google had to say about “interstitial lung…
Being diagnosed with any type of life-threatening illness will inevitably change a person. This is especially true when there is no link (i.e., genetic predisposition) or reason to think that anything could be wrong, or when the illness is unlikely to target someone due to their age. That was my…
With 250 rare diseases newly identified every year, scientists can barely keep up — even as the healthcare system fails millions of Americans whose rare diseases have already been diagnosed. That’s the warning from Christopher P. Austin, MD, director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Studies(NCATS) at the…
Loss of productivity in the workplace is common among patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD), and is associated with symptom severity and higher costs, according to data from a Canadian registry study. The study, “Costs of Workplace Productivity Loss in Patients with Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease,” was…
High levels of nitric oxide in the lungs of people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are associated with faster disease progression and worse survival, researchers in Italy report. The findings were described in the study “Alveolar concentration of nitric oxide as a prognostic biomarker in idiopathic…
