This stressful question is on the minds of any patient who has a first degree relative with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Our readers often ask how they can know for certain that they don’t have IPF if a parent or a sibling has the disease. Most IPF Isn’t Familial The majority of patients with IPF don’t have familial … [Read more...]
I Can’t Sleep – Dealing with Insomnia
Difficulty with sleeping is a very common problem. Hundreds of millions of people around the world struggle with poor sleep quality. The problem is even more common for people with health problems, including lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. Insomnia, the technical term for trouble sleeping, can be divided into several categories. Patients may … [Read more...]
Interstitial Pneumonia with Autoimmune Features
Interstitial Pneumonia is a term used to describe a large family of non-infectious lung diseases. The most common entities include non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Less common members of this family include acute interstitial pneumonia (AIP), respiratory … [Read more...]
Scleroderma Associated Pulmonary Fibrosis: A New Study
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is just one of many types of pulmonary fibrosis. In patients with IPF, no other cause can be found and the disease has a typical radiographic pattern and when biopsied has a characteristic appearance under the microscope. Scleroderma is a connective tissue disease characterized by skin thickening, esophageal … [Read more...]
6 Complications of IPF
Patients with IPF often have to contend with multiple problems related to their lung disease. Cardinal symptoms are shortness of breath and cough. These symptoms lead to evaluation that eventually includes a high resolution CT scan of the chest. In some cases a lung biopsy is required to confirm the diagnosis and in others the diagnosis can be … [Read more...]