While at the American Thoracic Society meeting in Toronto I did learn a few new things that I wanted to pass on – I might not fully understand the science but I don’t think keeping an eye on these things will do anyone any harm.
In one of the sessions (as was also the case last year) the need to keep acid reflux well controlled was discussed. Apparently a lot of people with pulmonary fibrosis have acid reflux. There seemed to be some debate about which came first and whether one was the cause of the other – but the long of the short of it is that acid reflux just isn’t good for your lungs. You can these “silent aspirations” of digestive “stuff” get into your lungs and do slow damage. So, if you’re an HPS’er and you’re having a lot of acid reflux, don’t ignore it. Talk about it with your doctor and see if he or she can’t help you control it better. Some signs that you might have a bit of this going on might be that feeling that you’re tasting your food twice, or maybe even a lot of belching and burping.
Sleep apnea was another topic of conversation during one of the pulmonary fibrosis lectures. Again, apparently this isn’t good for one’s pulmonary fibrosis – just as it isn’t good for your weight, blood pressure, heart etc. I looked over at Donna (having recently returned from NIH and Dr. Markello’s sleep study) and said, “Okay, I get it already.” I was somewhat unclear as to whether the fibrosis contributed to the apnea, or whether the apnea could be a contributing factor to the fibrosis. But, the overall message was to take care of this problem if you have it.
Signs that you might have sleep apnea are waking up in the night, waking up short of breath, waking up in the morning and feeling as though you never got any sleep, falling asleep during the day, snoring and especially snoring followed by periods of silence. If you think this might be a problem for you, it might be worth a chat to the doctor. Fatigue is one of those problems that are so hard for doctors to really do much about. It’s kind of a vague symptom, but as someone who has battled it for a long time, it can be very debilitating if not addressed.
In one of the sessions (as was also the case last year) the need to keep acid reflux well controlled was discussed. Apparently a lot of people with pulmonary fibrosis have acid reflux. There seemed to be some debate about which came first and whether one was the cause of the other – but the long of the short of it is that acid reflux just isn’t good for your lungs. You can these “silent aspirations” of digestive “stuff” get into your lungs and do slow damage. So, if you’re an HPS’er and you’re having a lot of acid reflux, don’t ignore it. Talk about it with your doctor and see if he or she can’t help you control it better. Some signs that you might have a bit of this going on might be that feeling that you’re tasting your food twice, or maybe even a lot of belching and burping.
Sleep apnea was another topic of conversation during one of the pulmonary fibrosis lectures. Again, apparently this isn’t good for one’s pulmonary fibrosis – just as it isn’t good for your weight, blood pressure, heart etc. I looked over at Donna (having recently returned from NIH and Dr. Markello’s sleep study) and said, “Okay, I get it already.” I was somewhat unclear as to whether the fibrosis contributed to the apnea, or whether the apnea could be a contributing factor to the fibrosis. But, the overall message was to take care of this problem if you have it.
Signs that you might have sleep apnea are waking up in the night, waking up short of breath, waking up in the morning and feeling as though you never got any sleep, falling asleep during the day, snoring and especially snoring followed by periods of silence. If you think this might be a problem for you, it might be worth a chat to the doctor. Fatigue is one of those problems that are so hard for doctors to really do much about. It’s kind of a vague symptom, but as someone who has battled it for a long time, it can be very debilitating if not addressed.
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