AskEssays.com - Discover essay samples
Upload

Cystic fibrosis

4.9 of 5.0 (28 reviews)

Download now!
Contains
1185 words
Category
Science

Cystic fibrosis Page 1
 Cystic fibrosis Page 2
 Cystic fibrosis Page 3
 Cystic fibrosis Page 4
 Cystic fibrosis Page 5
 Cystic fibrosis Page 6
The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

Cystic fibrosis


CYSTIC FIBROSIS



I am the doctor for your hospital and have prepared the following paper for you to look at and possibly use. It includes information on what cystic fibrosis really is, what treatments there are, what you two can do for your child, and how it is inherited. I hope this document is useful to you in your incoming struggle against this horrible disease.

It is good to know that you are not alone. Every day four children in the United States are diagnosed as having cystic fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis is the most common inherited disease among Caucasian. Approximately one out of every two thousand Caucasian babies is born with it. I am sorry that this news has to be bad, but it is important that you have all the information you can. Of the four thousand diseases that are known to be inherited from our parents, cystic fibrosis is the number-one killer. Each day three people die from it. Despite this bad news, CF is no longer the nearly automatic death sentence it used to be. Improved treatments are allowing more than half of the people with CF to live into their mid-twenties, and some are already in their forties, fifties, and even sixties. It will be very important for you t frequently check with doctors for new medical advancements. More and More discoveries are made every day and one of them very well might be able to help you situation.

You cannot catch cystic fibrosis from someone who has it. It is not a contagious disease, cut a hereditary or inherited one. A child but be born with it to have the disease. The symptoms usually begin at an early age, but they last throughout an entire lifetime.

The problems in CF start with thick, sticky mucus in the lungs and digestive systems. This mucus replaces healthy tissue with fibrous scars and fluid-filed cavities called cysts. Mucus builds up and clogs the breathing passages and the pancreas, an organ that produces digestive juices. These clogs lead to frequent lung infections and digestive problems. Over time the continual infections may cause the lungs and heart to weaken, until they are no longer able to function properly ending in death.

Mucus is normal in lungs. It helps to protect the lung and air passages by removing germs and dust. Normally mucus s thin and slippery, but when a person has CF, the mucus-producing cells absorb too much water. The excess water makes the mucus thick and sticky and this can plug up ducts and passageways. When a mucus plug forms in the pancreas or liver, it blocks the flow of digestive enzymes to the intestine. Then the enzymes are not able to do their job, and food is not digested properly. In addition, the mucous plugs cause enzyme-producing cells to be destroyed and replaced by scar tissue, which makes even less enzymes available for digestion.

Since your child is a mal, there are some specific consequences he will face later in life. In males, mucous plugs stop up ducts leading out of the testes and prevent sperm from passing through. These are the same ducts that are cut in a vasectomy, to make a man sterile. As a result, most adult males with cystic fibrosis are unable to father children.

As I am sure you were, most parents are quite surprised when their child is diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. The way they find out I by recognizing common cystic fibrosis symptoms such as:

salty-tasting skin

persistent coughing

failure to gain weight

large amounts of mucus

persistent wheezing

frequent and foul-smelling bowel movements

recurring pneumonia

enlargement of fingertips and toes ("clubbing")

small growth inside the nose

The reason this disease is usually not caught right away is because these symptoms are very common to other childhood ailments. Also, symptoms may be very mild during the early years. Your case follows this since your son is five years old.

Almost everyone with cystic fibrosis will eventually suffer from lung disease. Respiratory problems are the most serious symptoms of cystic fibrosis. How well a person with CF can get along and how long he will live depends mainly on how serious the lung problems are.

When a person has cystic fibrosis, the mucus becomes thick and sticky-so thick that the cilia cannot move it along properly. Mucus is supposed to help clear the breathing passages, but in CF the sticky mucus forms a mucous plug instead, and stops up small airways. Then air can't gt into the alveolar sacs, and the exchanges of oxygen for carbon dioxide cannot take place.

Almost all with cystic fibrosis eventually find that the tips of their fingers and toes become enlarged. This is calls clubbing. It is not known exactly why clubbing occurs, but t also occurs with other lung diseases as well.

Today mot children who are diagnosed with CF are referred to a special cystic fibrosis clinic. The staff at these clinics are especially trained for cystic fibrosis care and treatments. Most patients make regular visits to CF clinics.

The doctor will watch a child's progress carefully. He or she will be concerned with noting symptoms as well as how the child is feeling and acting. Certain test will also help the doctor figure out what the disease is doing and what the best treatment plan might be.

Chest X-rays are usually taken at least once a year to help the doctor see how the diseases has affected the lungs. Breathing tests are done much more often to give the doctor an even better idea of how the lungs are functioning.

For most people CF, long-term pulmonary disease is the most serious problem. With proper treatment, though, the damage to the lungs can usually be lowed down. The doctor will set up a treatment program that will help to keep the airways from becoming blocked, as well as to prevent and treat lung infections.

Several different types of medications are used to treat the respiratory problems of cystic fibrosis. Rather than swallowing pills or liquids, many medications can be breathed right into the lungs in the form of an aerosol. A liquid medication is usually mixed with a saline solution and then turned int a mist that the person can inhale through a mask or mouth piece.

Another important way of keeping the lungs clear is exercise. Most children with CF can take part in most physical activities such as sport and games, swimming and bicycling, and they are usually encourages to do so. Exercise can be beneficial to people with CF for any reasons. It helps build up strength in the heart and breathing muscles. Exercise also help loosen up the mucus in the lungs and stimulates coughing, which ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 1185 words of 2370.
Read the full essay

Keywords: cystic fibrosis treatment, cystic fibrosis life expectancy, cystic fibrosis lietuviskai, cystic fibrosis foundation, cystic fibrosis inheritance, cystic fibrosis diagnosis, cystic fibrosis diet, cystic fibrosis pathophysiology

Similar essays


Global Warming a serious threa

Is global warming a serious threat? As human technology has been developed by scientists and researchers, we not only get a comfort in living throughout our life but it also helps people to find more jobs and less popery. However, on the other hand, there are some increasing problems on our planet earth due to human activities. They inc...

188 reviews
Download
Dsl should be the standard for telephone lines

DSL Should Be the Standard for Telephone Lines There is a new technology being developed that would make standard phone lines digital instead of analog. This technology is called DSL, or digital subscriber line. Because of DSL's great superiority over our standard analog lines, all of the US's phone lines should be upgraded to DSL. One of...

152 reviews
Download
Laziness

Why are we so lazy? Keratinization, absence of granular layer, and depositation of antibodies and complement components in the stratum corneum. Most notable is the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes in the epidermis. These keratinocytes exhibit an increased mitotic rate and have ten times the turnover rate of normal keratinocytes. Th...

119 reviews
Download
Genetic Engineering and its Fu

ture Impacts on Society Genetic Engineering, the process of editing the genetic structure of a living organism, is most likely the most power science in existence. With this technology one can literally create life, change life, and formulate life to service the creator. Genetic Engineering is the most useful, powerful, and interesting sci...

86 reviews
Download
Hemophilia

In the human body, each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, one of each pair inherited through the egg from the mother, and the other inherited through the sperm of the father. Of these chromosomes, those that determine sex are X and Y. Females have XX and males have XY. In addition to the information on sex, ?the X chro...

96 reviews
Download
Atsisiųsti šį darbą