While you depend on your CF care team for essential guidance on your medical care, you are the expert in the daily management of your CF. There is a lot that you and your CF care team can do together to help you maintain your health with CF. As an active member on your own care team, you can help make sure that your treatment plan and comprehensive CF care reflects your personal needs and goals so that you can live a longer and healthier life.
The following health care professionals are part of your CF care team at a typical CF care center. At many CF care centers, your CF nurse may also be the program or care center coordinator.
The coordinator works with all members on the CF care team to ensure that the CF program runs smoothly, which can include participating in quality improvement QI initiatives and making sure that best practice care guidelines are properly implemented at your CF care center.
Your CF nurse is your primary contact and is there to address your concerns, answer questions or direct you to the right CF care team member when discussing a specific part of your treatment plan. CF nurses also have the primary responsibility of providing CF education at initial diagnosis and throughout life.
If you're not sure who the correct person is to discuss a concern or answer a particular question, start with your CF nurse. The nurses at your care center may include a nurse practitioner NP and or a clinical nurse specialist CNS. Your team may also include a physician assistant PA , who like an NP, has additional education and training in order to perform physical examinations and prescribe medications and treatments.
The medical doctor at your care center is an expert in CF care and is often the director for the CF program. He or she is likely trained as a pulmonologist to diagnose and treat lung diseases and will work with you, your family and the other members of your care team to develop an individualized CF medical plan.
This means the plan is based on your medical test results, changes to your health status, new available therapies and your personal goals. CF is a complex disease that affects many parts of the body differently as you age into adulthood.
In order to provide you with comprehensive care based on current medical best practices, your CF doctor is responsible for staying on top of the latest CF care guidelines, trends in patient outcomes and new medications and therapies. He or she also collaborates with other health care professionals, including your primary care doctor, when assessing the details and outcomes of your care so that your overall health is at its best.
Many CF doctors also participate in quality improvement QI initiatives to learn about ways to improve your care or teach other health care professionals and the public on ways to deliver quality care for people with CF. Some doctors may also conduct research through clinical trials to help bring about new CF treatments and therapies.
We know that higher body weight promotes better lung function and that good nutrition is essential for building and maintaining a healthy body weight. Registered dietitians are trained to assess your daily food intake, growth and your overall nutritional status. They help you work towards your optimal body weight so that you have the calories and nutrients needed to fight off lung infections and maintain lung function.
With your personal goals and lifestyle in mind, your CF dietitian can teach you and your family how to adjust your eating habits, recommend dietary supplements and vitamins and adjust your enzyme intake. They may also suggest tube feeding as a healthy option to help you meet your nutritional goals if you can't get what you need from eating and drinking alone.
Maintaining your health by taking your medications and doing your therapies can be challenging and affect how you live your life. You may feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with school, work or your relationships, which could have an emotional impact. This is where the social worker on your CF care team can help.
Social workers can provide direct guidance to help you navigate your health insurance coverage, make tough decisions about school or the next steps in your career. Dtsch Arztebl Int. Disclaimer: This article is for information only and should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. Egton Medical Information Systems Limited has used all reasonable care in compiling the information but make no warranty as to its accuracy.
Consult a doctor or other health care professional for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. For details see our conditions. This article is for Medical Professionals. Perinatal Screening. Bowel obstruction with meconium ileus bowel atresia. Haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Prolonged jaundice. Infancy and childhood Family history. Recurrent respiratory infections.
Chronic pulmonary disease. Failure to thrive thriving does not exclude diagnosis. Rectal prolapse. Nasal polyps in children, nearly always due to CF. Acute pancreatitis. Portal hypertension and variceal haemorrhage.
Pseudo-Bartter's syndrome, electrolyte abnormality. Hypoproteinaemia and oedema. Family history. Atypical asthma. Chronic sinus disease. Male infertility with congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens. Are you protected against flu? Further reading and references. Join the discussion on the forums. Health Tools Feeling unwell? Assess your symptoms online with our free symptom checker.
Frequent lung infections pneumonia or bronchitis. Abdominal pain and gassiness. Persistent diarrhea or constipation. Bulky, foul-smelling greasy stools poop. Poor growth in children even though appetite is good. Infertility in woman because of thick mucus covering the cervix.
Infertility in men because they are born without a vas deferens the tube that delivers sperm from the testes to the penis. What causes cystic fibrosis? How is cystic fibrosis diagnosed? Other tests Once you have been diagnosed with CF, there are other tests your doctor may order. Other tests include: Chest X-ray. A chest X-ray will show if you have scarring in your lungs or inflammation swelling.
Swelling is a common sign of blockages that can be caused by thick mucus. CT scan. A CT scan is primarily used to determine what kind of organ damage CF may have caused. Genetic tests. Sputum test. During this test, your doctor will take a sample of your sputum mucus that you cough up. This sample can determine whether you have a lung infection. It also will reveal what types of bacteria are causing the infection. This helps your doctor choose an effective antibiotic.
Can cystic fibrosis be prevented or avoided? Cystic fibrosis treatment. Lung treatments There are many ways to treat CF because it varies in severity and symptoms. These include: Antibiotics. Doctors prescribe antibiotics to treat lung infections. Antibiotics can wipe out an active infection and also prevent future infections.
Mucus thinners. Doctors prescribe mucus thinners to make it easier for you to cough up mucus and get it out of your lungs.
Doctors prescribe bronchodilators to help open up your airways. These medicines are inhaled to relax the muscles around your airways. They make it easier to breathe by increasing airflow.
Doctors prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce inflammation swelling in your airways. This swelling is often caused by ongoing infections. They quickly schedule a CT of your sinuses, blood work, and an appointment with a neurologist and ENT doctor. Better safe than sorry, right, buddy? Your relationship is purely professional. They analytically read your chart in silence for several minutes, flipping back and forth between pages with licked fingers and a frown.
However, your prognosis is still poor. You rarely hear back. Stick to your CPT for now. The appointment might benefit them, but usually not you. Your PFTs just dropped a couple points. But having a doctor care so deeply is refreshing, so you dab imaginary tears from your eyes with the Kleenex.
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