Essay about Cystic Fibrosis

You guys were wondering, when do you have to see the doctor, well you know when you have it or not. If you don’t know Often has lung infections (pneumonia), colds, a cough, shortness of breath, or wheezing. If you or your child or even you parents has symptoms of cystic fibrosis or if someone in your family has cystic fibrosis, you should talk to your doctor and has to be very

They are also accompanied by many medicines and other treatments to help them with the comfort of cystic fibrosis.

With CF people lack the special enzyme to break up mucous. Without the mucous breaking up the person cannot breathe because the lungs are filled. In life the body cannot function with enough oxygen.

Cystic Fibrosis is a life threatening condition that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system. Developing this condition can change a person's entire life. Depending on the severity of the condition a person can be affected by mild symptoms such as shortness of breath, all the way to severe symptoms such as rectal prolapse, or even death. Screening is done on infants in all 50 states; therefore if a child has inherited Cystic Fibrosis it will be known in the first months of life. As professional staff members of a nursing community it will be necessary to help prepare the child and the family for the life of Cystic Fibrosis.

Cystic Fibrosis is a disorder where the exocrine glands secrete abnormally thick mucus, leading to obstruction of the pancreas and chronic infections of the lungs, which usually cause death in childhood or early adulthood. Some mildly affected patients may survive longer. Doctors can diagnose the disease by testing the patients perspiration because people with Cystic Fibrosis have high amounts of salt in their perspiration. Those with respiratory infections are treated with antibiotics, with aerosols that relieve constriction of the airways and liquefy the thick mucus, and by physical therapy to help patients cough up the obstructing secretions. Patients with pancreatic insufficiency can take pancreatic enzymes with meals.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder in which mucus glands produce abnormally thick secretions. These secretions can lead to chronic infections of the lungs and eventually lead to obstruction of the pancreas, resulting in digestive enzyme deficiency, the liver is also sometimes affected. Secretions from the sweat and salivary glands of a CF patient frequently contain abnormally high amounts of sodium and chloride. Because the body produces a high amount of salt, a sweat test is generally used to diagnose the disorder.

Cystic Fibrosis, also known as CF, is one of the most common life-threatening genetic disorders found in people. Discovered in 1938 by Dr. Dorothy Hansine Andersen, Cystic Fibrosis severely affects two parts of the human body, including the respiratory system and the digestive system. Cystic Fibrosis causes the mucus glands to secrete very thick and sticky mucus. This mucus then clogs the tiny air passages and traps bacteria in the lungs. The thick mucus also stops the release of digestive enzymes in the pancreas from reaching the small intestine. According to Cystic Fibrosis Queensland (2015) more than one million Australians carry the Cystic Fibrosis Gene, with one in every 25 people, often not realising they are carrying the deadly gene.

Cystic Fibrosis is one of the most common and fatal genetic diseases in the United States. Cystic Fibrosis is a disease that causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs. This can lead to infection and blocks in the pancreas, which stops digestive enzymes from reaching the intestine where they are required in order to digest(“Learning About Cystic Fibrosis,” 2013). Cystic Fibrosis can go undiagnosed for a long period of time. For example, Mackenzie Dondanville 11 years old, four years ago, who had been coughing a lot for the previous year and a half. Due to her being physically athletic while competing in soccer, her pediatrician thought her cough and shortness of breath was due to exercise-induced asthma. It wasn't until Mackenzie's prescribed inhaler isn't working, that they realized something more was going on (“Mackenzies Story,”2018).

Symptoms for cystic fibrosis include diarrhea that does not go away, foul-smelling stools, greasy stools, frequent urinating, frequent episodes of Pneumonia, persistent cough, skin tastes like salt, poor growth, chronic sinus infection.

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes the body’s lungs to generate a different type of mucus than a non-infected body would. The contaminated lungs will produce mucus that is thick and adhesive which clogs the lungs and leads to an unpleasant and abhorrent lung infection. CF also interferes with the pancreas, disallowing the digestive enzymes from breaking down and absorbing food in the intestine. This can result in low nutrition, feeble growth, excessive sweat production, difficulties in breathing, and sometimes lung disease. When producing extra sweat and mucus, the body loses salt. If too much salt is lost, it can cause abnormal heart rhythms, disturbance of minerals in the blood, and perhaps, shock.

Five year old Ellis Miles undergoes numerous treatments each day to counteract the symptoms that accompany cystic fibrosis including physiotherapy, pills containing digestive enzymes, and a treatment which breaks up the mucus in her lungs. Cystic Fibrosis has numerous life threatening symptoms and while there is no cure, there are several treatments that a typical patient undergoes each day to combat these symptoms. The most prominent symptom associated with Cystic Fibrosis is a thick mucus that clogs up tubes that carry out crucial roles in the human body. This mucus especially affects the respiratory tract. Mucus builds up in the respiratory tract making it difficult for individuals with cystic fibrosis to have a frequent cough that produces a thick

Cystic Fibrosis cannot be developed or contracted it is something you’re born with. CF is a recessive disease, it occurs when a child inherits one defective copy of the gene from each parent. This gene mutation is responsible for cystic fibrosis. ("Cystic fibrosis Canada," 2011) This gene is known as the CFTR gene ("www.medincinet.com," 1996). Reference Figure 3. The “gene makes a protein that controls the movement of salt and water in and out of your body's cells. In people who have cystic fibrosis, the gene makes a protein that doesn't work right. This causes the thick, sticky mucus” ("www.medincinet.com," 1996).

Cystic Fibrosis, a very serious inherited genetic disease, is also known as CF and sixty-five roses. This disease affects one in every 3,000 live births. It may first appear in a newborn, but can appear all the way up until a young adult. However, ten percent of most cases are apparent at birth. CF affects the lungs and causes a build-up of abnormally thick mucus which leads to chest infections, and CF also affects the reproductive system. Doctors do not know what causes the mucus to thicken. CF’s infections usually lead to death in childhood and early adulthood. Most people infected with CF had a life span into their teens long ago. Now, due to advanced technology, the life span is in the fifties or older.

In the respiratory system, the mucus causes breathing difficulties, frequent respiratory infections and eventually permanent lung damage. The mucus builds up providing bacteria with a place to flourish. The most common infection comes from a bacterium called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The body's response to P. aeruginosa includes inflammation, which causes episodes of intense breathing problems (Pseudomonas Genome Project, 1998). Normally the body will get rid of excess mucus by coughing before it's a problem but with the thick mucus involved in CF the body has a harder time to get rid of the thicker mucus. Lung disease is the usual cause of death in most patients (National Institutes of Health, 1995). In the digestive system, mucus can block the supply of enzymes used to break down food. The result of the blockage of such enzymes is malnutrition. The patient will have an excessive appetite but will not experience any weight gain. What is also evident is a failure to grow, CF was often misdiagnosed vaguely as "failure to thrive" when physicians didn't know the reason for this poor growth. Sweating is also a problem in people with CF. One of the basic defects in CF is the faulty transport of sodium and chloride (salt). People with CF lose excessive amounts of salt when they sweat. This causes the natural balance of salt in the body to be off balance, which may cause abnormal heart rhythms (National Institutes of Health, 1995).

Cystic Fibrosis is a disease that affects the body in many ways throughout the patient's life. Newborns with Cystic Fibrosis may experience delayed growth, inability to gain weight, and salty-tasting skin ("Cystic," umm.edu 1). Older patients may be infertile, have recurring pancreatitis, and respiratory problems ("Cystic," umm.edu 2). Considering that these are just symptoms involving age, the full spectrum of ailments that afflict a patient with Cystic Fibrosis is far more taxing on a patient.