Introduction

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic lung disease that affects the digestive and respiratory tract, as well as the pancreas. CF causes mucus to accumulate in your lungs, which makes it difficult for you to breath properly. It can also cause problems with your pancreas, liver and other organs. The causes of cystic fibrosis are not known for sure but most cases are believed to be caused by changes in chromosomes (genetic defects). Some people have more than one gene mutation that contributes to their risk of developing cystic fibrosis.

What Is Cystic Fibrosis?

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. CF can cause problems with digestion and nutrition, as well as with lung function.

CF is a chronic disease that causes mucus buildup in the lungs, pancreas, liver and other organs. This buildup may cause life-threatening infections because it makes it harder for your body to fight off infections by trapping harmful bacteria inside your cells — instead of letting them out through normal breathing processes or by passing through the intestines where they should be killed off by stomach acid before they reach other parts of your body (including your blood).

Causes of CF

CF is an inherited disease. The cause of cystic fibrosis (CF) is a mutation in the CFTR gene, which produces a protein that transports chloride ions across cells to help regulate water balance in your body. This transport process is called ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC), and they are responsible for removing excess salt from cells and transporting them out of the cell. In people with this mutation, their ABC proteins don’t function properly due to how they were made; so when you have this mutation, your sweat doesn’t work as well at removing salt from your body because there aren’t enough transport channels available for it to do so effectively—which causes buildup around organs like lungs instead of being flushed out by regular urination or sweating like other people do without any problems whatsoever!

Signs and Symptoms

• Difficulty breathing.

• Frequent lung infections.

• Salty sweat.

• Swollen gums, which can include bleeding when you brush your teeth or floss your teeth, as well as increased inflammation in the mouth and tongue that causes pain during brushing or chewing (this is called periodontitis). The swollen gums may also cause tooth loss if not treated properly! You may experience pain in other areas of your body depending on where there are open sores that haven’t healed yet from previous flare-ups like this one will be doing soon enough; like sore joints after exercise which would mean less movement than usual due to pain caused by stretching out muscles too much over time which could lead back into another flare-up cycle again down next month when it happens again.

Diagnosis

If you have cystic fibrosis, the first step in diagnosis is genetic testing. This test will confirm your diagnosis and help determine how severe your particular case is. The sweat chloride test can be done in hospital or at home with a sample of body fluid (sweat). It’s important to know that newborns do not need this test unless they are suspected of having CF because it requires special equipment and training to perform properly on infants.

If you’ve had negative results from these initial tests—or if they’re inconclusive—you’ll then undergo further testing to confirm the presence of CFTR gene mutations before starting treatment for this condition.

Treatment for CF

Treatment for CF can be divided into two groups:

• Medications to help clear mucus from the lungs. These drugs include amiodarone, dornase alfa and ivacaftor. They are taken by mouth and may increase your chance of getting infections or pneumonia. If you take these medicines, it is important to talk with your doctor about any other medications you are taking that could interact with them or cause side effects (for example, certain antifungal medicines).

• Lung transplantation may be an option if a person’s breathing problems get worse enough that they need special equipment to help them breathe more easily or even die from severe lung damage (pneumonia). The donor organ must come from someone who has been on the waiting list for about five years; otherwise there is not enough time for testing before surgery takes place so donors cannot be found quickly enough after death occurs so long as no one else needs their organs quickly enough beforehand.”

CF can be treated through medication, exercise and eating healthy.

You may be wondering how to treat CF. There are many different treatment options, and your doctor will recommend the one that’s best for you. Treatment can include:

• Medications to control the symptoms of CF, such as inhaled antibiotics or a recombinant humanized anti-interleukin 12 monoclonal antibody (rHuMAb). These medications are used to reduce infections and other lung problems caused by fluid buildup in the lungs. They also help improve lung function by reducing inflammation in the air sacs (pleural space).

• Exercise to improve lung function by increasing oxygen intake into the blood stream through improved breathing patterns that result from mild physical activity such as walking outdoors on good weather days with little humidity or pollution levels—but not so much that you feel dizzy or faint! If this doesn’t work for someone who has severe asthma attacks because their airway muscles relax too much during exercise sessions; then they might need steroids like prednisone which helps open up those narrow passageways between cells lining tubes called bronchi so they can breathe easier again after taking these pills daily until they reach maximum dosage levels before stopping altogether when no longer needed anymore.”

Conclusion

CF can be a serious condition, but it can also be treated. If you have been diagnosed with CF and are looking for more information about your treatment options, please call us at 973-634-0500 or contact us online to schedule an appointment.