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Doctor insights on: End Life Symptoms Pulmonary Fibrosis

Shortness of breath: Progressive shortness of breath and inability to sustain normal o2 levels are common end of life symptoms. Sometimes the right side of the heart fails causing lots of leg swelling and fatigue. ...Read more

Dyspnea: Shortness of breath is the primary symptom of ipf. Also dry cough, weight loss, inability to do activities you did several months ago. ...Read more

Breathlessness: Shortness of breath with exertion is the most frequent symptom. Dry cough and ankle swelling may occur. Eventually breathlessness even at rest can occur. ...Read more

Shortness of Breath: Mainly, patients with pulmonary fibrosis have shortness of breath. Some can get low oxygen levels. Others can also have an unrelenting cough. The thing is, however, this greatly depends on how severe the pulmonary fibrosis (or scarring) is.

If you have only mild scarring, you can have no symptoms at all. The best way to find out how much it has affected you is to do a lung function test. ...Read more

Shortness of breath: Could be slowly progressive. Cough, short of breath, dyspnea to effort among the common ones. ...Read more

Of course: Symptoms can always get better and worse.
Symptoms will vary depending on multiple factors. It does not mean the pulmonary fibrosis is getting better or worse, but how the other organs in your body react to the situations of the day. ...Read more

Answered earlier: Early it causes desaturation with activity. Later it causes low oxygen tension in the blood, and later it causes co2 retention. So the symptoms will be air hunger and signs will be rapid breathing. At later stages there is cyanosis to nail beds, ear lobes and tip of the nose. Later as co2 accumulates there could be changes in mental status. If the o2 not corrected, it can cause heart attack. ...Read more

Shortness of breath: Slowly progressive shortness of breath, chest discomfort, cough with exercise, declining exercise capacity. At advanced stages weight loss leg swelling frank chest pain simulating angina. ...Read more

Pulmonary fibrosis: Difficuty breathing. Cough. Drs make the diagnoses.Reflux can precipitate it. ...Read more

Depends on the fibro: If chemotherapy has resulted in end-stage fibrosis then it is unlikely that the fibrosis can be reversed. There are various ild's that are labelled "pulmonary fibrosis" caused by chemotherapy that are reversible though. ...Read more

Varible: Survival for hamman -rich fibrosis is < 6 mo. Age at onset of disease is a factor. Older pts progress more slowly. A lung biopsy is crucial in younger pts as it can prove prognostic info. Also if nsip is found this portends a good survival. ...Read more

Variable: Some people can live many years with pulmoanry fibrosis in a state of relative quiet. On the other extreme are people who have a rapid downhill course and die in weeks to months. Most people live for several years after diagnosis, but acute worsening can occur at any time. ...Read more

Prognosis: The combination of pulmonary fibrosis and being bed bound is not favorable. Exactly how that translates to life expectancy is unknown. The patient or her advocate should discuss her prognosis with her physician as the doctor will have the best answer for you. ...Read more

Scar tissue: The short version is scar tissue caused by inflammation in the lung. There are many different causes and subtypes though making it pretty complicated. ...Read more

See below: It's a spectrum of diseases that cause a scarring of the lung. There are many causes from not knowing what causes it, to medications, dust exposure, autoimmune diseases, etc. Some of the types of fibrosis are progressive, some aren't. Some respond to treatment and some do not. ...Read more

Not good news: Pulmonary fibrosis means that the patient has developed abnormal tissue formation (fibrosis) that affects the thin membranes separating the air sacs from the blood vessels making it harder for oxygen to cross from air to the red bleed cells. This disease usually irreversible; it is critical to have an early diagnosis and be managed at an institution and by medical staff familiar with it. ...Read more

No and Yes: At this time the only curative intervention for pulmonary fibrosis is lung transplantation. There are no medications that have been proven to cure the disease. Some medicines may help (such as steroids, n-acetylcysteine and pirfenidone) slow the disease however. ...Read more

Pulmonary fibrosis: While I have not seen it commonly there are some families with a history of pulmonary fibrosis. Most of my office patients and previous fibrosis patients I have come across are the only ones in their family with fibrosis. I have one patient in my practice with several family members with progressive and ultimately fatal fibrosis. She has been evaluated at duke university with a genetic workup. ...Read more

Scarring: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is an inflammatory process affecting lung parenchyma and resulting in loss of lung storage and resulting in low diffusin capacity and restrictive lung disease. Cardiovascular effect inckude pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale. The disease is slowly progressive and unresponsive to all current therapy. Lifespan can be in months (hamman-rich) to a few years. ...Read more

Depends...: It really depends on the type. If you're talking about idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, there's a new drug called pirfenidone. It slows the progression but it isn't curative. ...Read more

Scarred Lungs: Pulmonary fibrosis is essentially scarring of the lungs. There are many different causes for the lungs to scar. The disease can be a long-term chronic problem however in certain cases if the underlying cause of scarring is not addressed, it can be fatal. Furthermore, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is almost uniformly fatal. Lung transplantation may be a final resort. ...Read more

Slow progression...: Pulmonary fibrosis is a slowly progressive disease. The patient gradually, usually over years, becomes increasingly short of breath and has increasing difficulty functioning. The patient has less oxygen in their blood over this time period and will eventually require supplemental oxygen. At end-stage, consideration for a lung transplant can be entertained, depending on many other factors. ...Read more

Websites to start: Here are some links to useful places to start:

http://www. Ncbi. Nlm. Nih. Gov/pubmedhealth/pmh0001134/

http://www. Mayoclinic. Com/health/pulmonary-fibrosis/ds00927/

http://www. Pulmonaryfibrosis. Org/about

best of luck! ...Read more

SILICA, ASBESTOS, BIRD: Fibrosis in the lungs has many causes
1inhalation of silica dust, asbestos, grain dust, bird and animal droppings
2 radiation therapy for breast cancer
3medications like chemotherapeutic drugs and amiodarone, methotrexate, nitrofurantoin
4 secondary effect of other diseases likeinterstitial lung disease
5 idiopathic when no cause can be found
6 sarcoidosis and wegnors granulomata
7 connective tissue di. ...Read more

Usually not.: Because the elasticity of the lung is increased, peak flow typically increases rather than decreases. ...Read more

Yes: Exercise is an important part of the management of pulmonary fibrosis. There are specific programs known as pulmonary rehab, that incorporate exercise and oxygen therapy to help maintain your lung function. ...Read more

Several: A high resolution ct scan of the thorax can give valuable information. Blood tests looking for underlying autoimmune diseases are usually done. Many times a lung biopsy may be required for accurate diagnosis. ...Read more

Advance lung damage: End stage pulmonary fibrosis is a common term that we use when we do not feel that our medications can reverse or improve the lung damage caused by the lung fibrosis. At that point, we consider the patient for lung transplantation. ...Read more

Yes: Typically, patients are in their forties and fifties when diagnosed. Pulmonary fibrosis could be idiopathic (unknown cause), or due to asbestosis, silicosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, lupus (sle), sarcoidosis, certain medications, radiation and many more. ...Read more

Yes: As the disease progreses air exchange is lessenend you would feel short of breath. In addition pressure at the pulmonary vasculature increases a commonly used agent is Revatio which is sildefanil (viagra) used for erectile dysfuction.. Decreses pulmonary vessel pressure. Avoidance of smoke and other inhaled irritants is paramount! ...Read more