Living With Cystic Fibrosis, Youth
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a disease that causes thick mucus to build up in your lungs and other parts of your body. This can make it hard to breathe and cause you to cough and wheeze. As a result, you may get sick more often and may need to stay in the hospital.
CF happens when you inherit the gene that causes it from one or both of your parents. Even though there is no cure for CF, there are treatments and things you can do to manage it.
HOW DO I TALK TO OTHERS ABOUT MY CONDITION?
It can be hard to explain to your friends what it is like to live with CF. They may have questions. They may not know how to react when you tell them that you have a serious illness. Here are some suggestions:
• Tell people
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• Explain that you sometimes cough and have trouble breathing.
• Explain that you need treatment every day to clear your airways and stay healthy.
• Explain that you may not be able to be around people when they are sick because it is very dangerous for you to get an infection.
You and your parents may meet with teachers and other staff at school to talk about CF and your needs during the school day.
WHAT ARE SOME WAYS I CAN COPE WITH STRESS?
Living with CF is stressful. Managing stress can help you manage CF. Too much stress can:
• Worsen problems with your lungs.
• Make you more susceptible to infection.
• Cause depression or anxiety.
To cope with stress:
• Get exercise each day. Work with your health care provider or physical therapist to find activities that are best for you. This may include:
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• Try to accept that you cannot control your CF perfectly.
• Breathe slowly and deeply.
• Stay positive about your health.
• Spend time outdoors.
• Spend time with friends and people who make you laugh.
• Avoid caffeine, drugs, and alcohol.
• Eat a nutritious, balanced diet and make sure you eat enough calories.
• Relax each day, through meditation, yoga, or listening to music.
WHAT ARE SOME WAYS I CAN COPE WITH MY EMOTIONS?
CF affects you emotionally. You may feel sad, worried, or even depressed. Cope with your feelings by:
• Talking with a counselor or therapist.
• Talking to friends who support and listen to you.
• Joining a support group for young people with CF.
• Writing about your feelings in a journal.
• Expressing yourself through art, crafting, or playing music.
• Spending time playing with a pet or therapy animal.
WHERE CAN I GET SUPPORT?
For support, turn to:
• Your parents, family, and friends.
• Your doctor, nurse, or other member of your health care team.
• A therapist.
• Your pastor, priest, rabbi, or imam, or other religious leader.
• Summer camps or retreats for kids with CF.
• A child life coordinator at your clinic or
Healthy people have a desire to be able to see what is wrong with us, so they can say ‘oh-h-h, now I understand’.” (Copen). Unfortunately friends and may not always understand that they are not looking for pity, or being melodramatic. Sometimes it is just to much to expect friends and family to understand that when someone with an invisible illness is crying because she can’t button her shirt or tie her shoes, it’s because she is frustrated, not because she's seeking attention.
Some situations in life can put someone in a very awkward position. Due to the vast diversity that exists among individuals, there are different responses that arise when one is faced with difficult times. Chris is an Indian citizen and has been battling lung cancer for eight years now. His family is dependent on him as their bread winner. Each passing day makes it harder for Chris to get enough money that he can share with his family of three children.
It is described as being a “progressive lung disorder characterized by persistent airflow obstruction and chronic respiratory symptoms in response to inhaled cigarette smoke or other irritants or a deficiency of alpha-1-antitrypsin” (Krishnan et al., 2015, p. 70). Acute exacerbations of COPD are common and often leads to patients being hospitalized. The frequency of hospitalization tends to worsen with disease progression. Acute exacerbations of COPD are associated with a decreased quality of life, increased healthcare costs and increased mortality (Marchetti, Criner, & Albert, 2013). In the United States it is estimated that there are approximately 24 million adults with COPD (Pietrangelo, 2015).
Some suffer more with their digestive system than their lungs so it is a different routine for different people. Even with the life expectancy, different people in different ages have a different time or length of years to live. It depends on how the treatment hits you and how CF affects your body, because this disease can affect everyone differently. So the life expectancy is probably at 41 years old, but for babies that are born now a days are expected to be able to live longer. Cystic Fibrosis on a daily bases would be like having a complete job 24/7 to keep yourself alive.
In my childhood I rarely took notice to the impact that Cystic Fibrosis was leaving on my life. But, by my adolescent years it became almost impossible to ignore that having CF made me unlike my peers. While having CF did have many negative impacts on my life as any life-threatening condition does, I believe that my CF molded me into a strong, independent, intelligent young woman. Compared to many of my peers I find myself to be more ambitious and dedicated to my goals. People have often told me that I am hard on myself when it comes to dreams and goals.
Cystic Fibrosis is caused by a mutated gene that changes the protein that controls the salt in and out of the cell. There are many different mutation which can change the severity of the disease in each case. For this to be passed on a child must receive one copy of the gene from each parent to develop this disease. If a child receives a copy from only one parent then
Research Topic: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and stigma Research Question: How do individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) perceive and experience dealing with COPD service providers? The research question suggests the ontological position that perceptions and experiences of individuals with COPD are meaningful within the social context (Mason, 2012). The epistemological approach will generate data qualitatively, by asking questions, listening, and obtaining information through individuals ' narratives about COPD and service providers (Mason, 2012). The topics covered are knowledge and practices about self-managing COPD, experiences and perceptions about COPD service providers, and barriers to accessing programs.
Stressors are capable of producing negative effect on a person system and therefore alter the person lines of defense. JB’s flexible line of defense is compromised due to multiple stressors surrounding her life, which Neuman called wellness / illness continuum. The lines of resistance will be then activated to protect JB 's integrity and return her to a steady state. According to NSM, acceptance of the disease and adequate social support are primary interventions that will strengthen JB’s flexible lines of defense. As the nurse caring for JB, I understand how CD can negatively affect her physiological and psychosocial well-being, I provide JB with physical and emotional support along with adequate education that is important to help prevent
Being diagnosed with COPD is devasting, but the disease does not have to ruin your life. There are several ways to manage the disease. Some treatments require medical treatment, and other treatments require medical intervention. In the early stages if COPD, quitting smoking can reduce the effects of COPD. In the later stages of the disease, many doctors recommend treating the disease with medications or surgery.
Care givers: caring for a family member or friend with a physical or mental illness can be stressful, exhausting, both mentally and physically, and creates a physical and psychological strain for the care giver over a period of time. The psychological well-being such as depression and stress, are frequent consequences of caregiving. The age, socioeconomic status, and the availability of informal support that caregivers have access to greatly affect their own health and well being. Caring for a family member with a mental illness can differ from caring for someone suffering from a physical illness. In addition to the medical care and long term treatment of a family member, an open and liberal view of mental illness is almost an essential in being able to care for someone who is ill.
and I don’t see remission in my future. I worry what the future holds and where I will be in 10 years. How will I take care of myself. Who will I have when my parents are no longer around? Taking life one day at a time is all I can do and that is scary in and of itself.
He reported that he has begun to hang around a younger group of friends. His parents provide his basic life necessities because of his condition. Legal concerns and other environmental or psychosocial factors are not applicable. Robbie J displays a drive to take responsibility for his care, and he is a sociable young man. Despite Robbie J’s short-term memory loss, frustration, and difficulty concentrating, he is intelligent, and he has a strong support system.
Due to this, person with these illnesses often question their existence, therefore in doubt whether the life they are living in are in fact the reality. Thus, what these people need is the warm concern of their relatives in order for them not to be devoured in their own psyche
Everybody gets stressed from time to time. There are multiple reasons why we get stressed. Some of them are: overworked in school or work, annoyed with friends or family, fear of something bad happening, pressure to preform in competition, and many more. We all handle stress differently.
You should cast off stress in order to concentrate on work, study and enjoy the life. There are various ways to cope with stress such as you should reduce stress by listen to music, maintain positive thinking and have a healthy lifestyle. One of the way to reduce stress is by maintaining positive thinking in daily life. Positive thinking is you are thinking the best is going to happen instead of the worst and deal with unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way.