About a year ago I put on my “big girl panties” and began the fight to get my oxygen provider to supply me with liquid oxygen. Up to this point, I’d been using an oxygen concentrator at home, and a portable oxygen concentrator away from home. I…
PF Patient Fights for Liquid Oxygen
This animated video from Demystifying Medicine explains the complication of pulmonary fibrosis in scleroderma patients. It begins by sharing that 80 percent of Asian scleroderma patients suffer from some form of pulmonary disease and that it’s the leading cause…
As summer settles on most of Southern Ontario, Canada, it brings with it our first heat wave. Normally, I love the heat. Even last year, after I received my diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), I didn’t mind the summer months. This year, with significantly reduced lung function,…
Australia’s national registry of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) includes patients of diverse ages, disease severity and co-morbidities, and shows that baseline lung function and GAP (gender, age, physiology) stage are important prognostic markers for mortality. The study, “Baseline characteristics of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: analysis from the…
Being diagnosed with a chronic disease like pulmonary fibrosis can often lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Even if you have the full support of family and friends, you may feel that they don’t really understand what you’re going through physically and emotionally. MORE: Six pulmonary fibrosis complications Finding support is a…
New York Yankees legend Bernie Williams is collaborating with Boehringer Ingelheim to raise awareness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease that took the life of his father, Barnabé Williams, in 2001. Williams will participate in the Sin Aliento campaign on Father’s Day, June 18, to encourage those who may have IPF to…
The public’s interest in essential oils (EOs) — their uses, benefits, and safety — has been on the rise for several years. The most common means of using EOs is through aromatherapy, which includes having a diffuser in your home and or carrying a personal diffuser with you. You’ll find…
In a recent column, I wrote about how I felt and acted much differently than normal. I mentioned that I was grumpy, irritable, quiet, and mad, and I referenced a few things and reasons that left me feeling this way. What I neglected to mention is another…
Pulmatrix, which develops inhaled therapies for lung diseases, has licensed the kinase inhibitor compounds that RespiVert has created to inhibit enzymes involved in inflammation. “These new compounds will significantly expand what we believe is already an impressive pipeline of [Pulmatrix’s] drug candidates,” Dr. Robert Clarke, Pulmatrix’s CEO, said in a…
If you have a friend or family member who has recently been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) or is living with the condition, you’re probably wondering what you can do to support them. As our columnist Charleen Marshall explains, there will be times when your loved one doesn’t need any help.
