Pfizer announced on November 9th that its two-dose vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 among trial volunteers. The results way surpassed the FDA’s cutoff, which is the vaccine should have more than 50% efficacy. This is great news as it brings us closer to getting a vaccine approved for the Coronavirus.
If you’ve had Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis since before October of 2014, then you’re probably familiar with the ways to treat it that doesn’t involve pharmaceuticals. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with IPF, then you might not be aware of the non-pharmacological ways of lessening the symptoms of this disease.
IPF is the name given to the condition that causes deep tissue in the lungs to thicken, making it harder to bring enough oxygen to the bloodstream. Not to be confused with emphysema, IPF isn’t found to be mostly caused by smoking.
John More gave a presentation on the benefits of using portable oxygen concentrators to a support group for patients who suffer from IPC (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) at National Jewish. He took the time to explain the differences between units, and how each unit has its own specialties. He really made sure that the patients understood the differences in technologies such as what the true differences were between pulse flow and continuous flow to ensure they understood their own oxygen needs.
While some patients had heard of, or were currently using POCs, others had only recently been diagnosed and where learning about what their true options were for the very first time.
Usually, when you see someone using oxygen therapy, what comes to your mind? Many people associate oxygen tanks and concentrators with someone who has a severe case of COPD (emphysema or chronic bronchitis), but this isn’t always the case. There is a stigma over those who need to use oxygen – “He/She smoked too many cigarettes and now needs to use oxygen therapy.” Even if they need to use it because they have COPD, people shouldn’t be so judgmental. There are several other reasons someone may be using an oxygen concentrator.
Of all the forms of rehabilitation that are available in medicine, pulmonary rehabilitation is a relative newcomer. For example Cardiac Rehabilitation has been available to patients with cardiac disease since at least the 1940’s. Actually exercising for 30 minutes a day for 6 months was prescribed by a Dr. William Heberden for his cardiac patient’s way back in 1772. Staying with Cardiac Rehab for a moment, the term “Myocardial Infarction” a heart attack in layman’s terms was first used in 1912. About that time it was thought that the damaged heart muscle needed time to heal completely. Therefore 6 weeks of bed rest was the order of the day, with stair climbing prohibited for a full year after the MI!
In the 1930’s an incredible 80% of post heart attack patients were on full disability. In the 1940’s hospitals began to develop “cardiac work evaluation units” to evaluate a patient’s ability to go back to work. These evolved into the modern Cardiac Rehabilitation programs. During and following WW2 manpower needs spurred cardiologists to review the need for absolute bed rest following cardiac events. Well designed studies proved that long term bed rest decreased functional capacity, sapped morale, and caused its own set of complications.
As we mentioned in the previous post, pulmonary vascular disease is not a single disease, but rather a group of disorders affecting the blood flow to or from the lungs.
Regardless of which specific disorder is occurring, the symptoms can vary depending on the suddenness of the process, which vessels are affected, and how much of the pulmonary vascular system is affected. For example, a sudden, large, pulmonary embolism that blocks a large artery can cause sever shortness of breath and chest pain. On the other hand, a small pulmonary embolism that blocks only a small blood vessel may not cause any noticeable symptoms.
Below is a brief discussion of the symptoms for some of the pulmonary vascular diseases. This overview is not meant to be used for diagnosis. If you or someone you know is concerned about a potential lung problem, they should see a doctor immediately for proper diagnosis.
Pulmonary vascular disease is a term for a disease affecting the blood vessels leading to or from the lungs. It refers to a category of disorders. Below is some basic information about the major types of pulmonary vascular disease.
Pulmonary embolism is when the blood flow through the lung’s artery is suddenly blocked by a blood clot that traveled from the leg, pelvis, or other deep vein. Symptoms include difficulty breathing, chest pain, fainting, and a rapid heart rate. A pulmonary embolism can damage the heart or cause death. It can be prevented by drugs that break up blood clots, proper exercise and physical activity, compression socks, and pneumatic compression.
Chronic thromboembolic disease is a condition where old blood clots remain in the lung’s arteries instead of being absorbed by the body. It can cause the person’s blood pressure to get dangerously high, causing stress on the heart and other complications including pulmonary arterial hypertension. It often progresses gradually, causing small blood vessels in the lungs to become diseased until a large part of the pulmonary arterial system is affected.
Pulmonary fibrosis is a lung disease that affects about 200,000 Americans according to the American Thoracic Society. In pulmonary fibrosis, the tissues inside the lungs—the airways and alveoli, or air sacs—become scarred and stiff. This stiffness means the airways cannot contract and expand as easily when taking in air, and cellular damage within the alveoli (air sacs) does not allow oxygen to pass as easily to the bloodstream, also impairing carbon dioxide from passed through as easily to be exhaled. This impairs the body’s ability to take in oxygen.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPV) is a deadly disease, with a 35% fatality rate, that comes from exposure to diseased rodents, their droppings, their urine, or their saliva. The infection attacks the lungs, making it difficult to breathe and, in a third of cases, leads to death by respiratory failure.
Symptoms develop 1-5 weeks after exposure to the rodent’s infection. Most individuals will not know, at first, that something is seriously wrong.
A rare and dangerous disease, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) comes from exposure to diseased rodents, their droppings, or other bodily secretions. In 1993, the year this disease first came to the attention of the U.S., there was a strange illness occurring in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.
The disease was occurring primarily in rural areas and was considered a mystery illness for a time. Eventually, it was identified as a disease that came from infected rodents and was named Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
