CF does not follow the same pattern in all patients but affects
different people in different ways and to varying degrees.
However, the basic problem is the same-an abnormality in the glands,
which produce or secrete sweat and mucous. Sweat cools the body;
mucous lubricates the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems
and prevents tissues from drying out, protecting them from infection.
People with CF lose excessive amounts of salt when they sweat. This
can upset the balance of minerals in the blood, which may cause
abnormal heart rhythms. Going into shock is also a risk. (This is
probably why the doctors let A.F. eat so much raw salt)
Mucous in CF patients is very thick and accumulates in the intestines
and lungs. The result is malnutrition, poor growth, frequent respiratory
infections, breathing difficulties, and eventually permanent lung
damage. Lung disease or infection is the usual cause of death in most
patients.
CF can cause various other medical problems. These include sinusitis
(inflammation of the nasal sinuses, which are cavities in the skull
behind, above, and on both sides of the nose), clubbing (rounding and
enlargement of fingers and toes), pneumothorax (rupture of lung tissue
and trapping of air between the lung and the chest wall), hemoptysis
(coughing of blood), cor pulmonale (enlargement of the right side of
the heart), abdominal pain and discomfort. Liver disease, diabetes,
inflammation of the pancreas, and gallstones also occur in some
people with CF.
Despite what many of my High School classmates thought, CF is not a
virus, or a germ. You cannot catch it from shaking a CF sufferer's
hand, or from being coughed on. Many people confuse CF with AIDS,
many of the symptoms are similiar. CF sufferers are often frail in
stature and pale. They are picky eaters and have to be.
Diabetes can develop, and Pnuemonia can kill them just as it will
a person who is in the advanced stages of AIDS.
