10 Tips to Get You Through Cold and Flu Season

10 Tips to Get You Through Cold and Flu Season

It’s that time of year when everyone starts to get sick and pass around their cold and flu germs. Having a chronic illness means that your immune system is already compromised, which makes picking up other people’s winter illnesses harder to avoid. However, you don’t have to lock yourself away…

6 Pulmonary Fibrosis Diagnostic Tools

Diagnosing pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is complicated because symptoms may mirror those of other lung disorders such as asthma, pulmonary hypertension or chronic obstruction pulmonary disease (COPD). Because of this, six different diagnostic tools are needed for an accurate diagnosis of PF, according to the American Lung Association.

Crystalline Silica-induced Lung Inflammation and Fibrosis Treated in Mice

Blocking a specific molecular target — 4-1BB — reduced crystalline silica-induced lung inflammation and, consequently, pulmonary fibrosis in animal models, researchers reported. Inhaled crystalline silica is the main cause of silicosis, a condition characterized by chronic lung inflammation, and progressive and irreversible lung fibrosis. But the exact mechanisms by which crystalline silica…

Using Reflexology to Treat Pulmonary Fibrosis Symptoms

Reflexology for Symptoms Have you considered reflexology for symptoms associated with pulmonary fibrosis? Reflexology is an ancient practice that’s been passed down for thousands of years. The Incas and Native Americans may have introduced reflexology to South and North America, but proof of the practice dates back to 3000 BC in pre-dynastic…

Profiling Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic lung disease that causes the lung tissue to become thick and stiff, making breathing extremely difficult. Currently, there is no known cause or cure for the condition. Intent on finding a cure, doctors and scientists are working non-stop to find out what causes the disease.

Immune Response to Fungal Infection Seen to Drive Lung Fibrosis in Animal Study

Although the immune system works to fight pathological agents that invade the body, preventing disease, certain immune cells respond in ways that can grievously aggravate health conditions. A prime example is a damaging immune response that causes pulmonary fibrosis (PF) in people infected with the Paracoccidiodes fungi, according to a study published in the journal PLoS One.

Be a Good Friend to Yourself

Being diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis is not for the faint of heart It is a rough road full of fears, losses and unknowns. Being a good friend to yourself makes this difficult journey a little easier. Hi, I’m Kim Fredrickson, and it is an honor to write this…

Staying Healthy When You’re Living With IPF

In these two short videos from Boehringer Ingelheim Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis shared in September 2015, Dr. Toby Maher from the Royal Brompton Hospital in the UK talks about how patients living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can avoid infections. He suggests regularly getting flu and pneumonia vaccinations as well…

Aerobic Exercise Reduces Lung Fibrosis in Mice, Study Shows

Researchers have found, in mice with pulmonary fibrosis and with dominant immune response mediated by immune Th2 cells (T-helper cells), that aerobic exercise reduced lung fibrosis. The study, “Aerobic Exercise Attenuated Bleomycin-Induced Lung Fibrosis in Th2-Dominant Mice,” was published in the journal PLOS One. Fibrosis is the scarring and thickening…

Orphan Diseases: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare and chronic lung disease that causes scarring of the lung tissue which leads to difficulties in breathing and a persistent dry cough. Because it only affects only up to 43 people in every 100,000, it is designated as an “orphan disease.” Read…

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