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Inflammation: The Elephant in the Room

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.

Elephant in the RoomI 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…]