Serious Symptoms Of Cystic Fibrosis

Exercise Intolerance

While physical activity is especially important for cystic fibrosis patients, as it increases lung capacity and immune function, many individuals suffer from exercise intolerance due to their symptoms. Sodium deficiency leads to chronic fatigue, muscle cramps, and overall malaise, while lung damage can make it difficult to breathe while doing even the simplest exercises. On top of that, a new study found the blood vessels in children with cystic fibrosis are impaired, and their muscles were not able to utilize oxygen as efficiently as those children without cystic fibrosis. Patients with cystic fibrosis have blood vessels that have difficulty with dilation, which increases the need for oxygen during exercise.

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Wheezing

A cystic fibrosis patient will experience frequent episodes of wheezing as a symptom manifestation of their disease. Wheezing is best described as a high-pitched, potentially rough sounding, whistling noise that occurs when breathing. Wheezing occurs when the inhaled air moves through narrowed or partially obstructed airways, similar to the way a flute or whistle produces their sound. Cystic fibrosis is a progressive disease where a gene mutation impairs the healthy production of a protein responsible for the regulation of salt movement into and out of cells. This process removes the moisture from the mucus produced in the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems. The mucus in someone who has cystic fibrosis is often referred to as sticky and thick, as it has a greater viscosity than normal mucus and is difficult to clear from the lungs and digestive tract. This thick mucus builds up in the airways that branch from the trachea, all the way into each lung to the alveoli or small air sacs that function to facilitate gas exchange. The mucus in these airways decreases the amount of space that air has to pass through, producing a wheezing sound. Wheezing occurs most often in infants under a year old who have cystic fibrosis when the abnormal mucus initially begins to accumulate.

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