Guest post by Bryan Hyde – another patient at Tampa General Hospital. We met out on the steps of the valet area one day waiting for our cars to be brought to us like kings.

I am a 38 year old male with cystic fibrosis. My journey started 12 years ago when my PFTs were in the low 30s and I decided I was not going to go out with a whimper. I also told myself that I wanted to keep the lungs that God had given me for as long as possible. I decided to make researching my disease a second job and was determined take control of my life and its outcome. My research led me to one major conclusion that has directed the way I care for my body.

Controlling inflammation is key

My belief is that I needed to attack the inflammation like the Indians attacked Colonel Custer. I wanted to surround it and attack from all sides leaving no route for escape. In other words, I was searching for an integrated approach to reducing and/or eliminating the causes of inflammation in my lungs. Inflammation causes a negative feedback loop in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis “inflammation begets inflammation.” [Read more…]