Sharing the Health The relationship between you and your caregiver can be frustrating for both parties. A common complaint is how to stop getting smothered by well meaning helpers. Many people are lucky enough to have relatives t are caregivers. If they are cur- ntly employed, balancing all parts their lives can be difficult. A…
Sharing the Health Carol Bair is clinical coordinator at National Jewish Health for a nationwide study of N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC). It’s not being used as a mucolytic agent, but as an antioxidant that will hopefully improve lung function in patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). If you live in the Denver, CO area, have IPF…
Fibrosis File The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPF-www.coalition forpf.org) is pleased to an- nounce that instead of just celebrating for one week, September is the first Na- tional Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month! The staff andvolunteers are busy in Washington, DC, encouraging 55 congressmen to support the Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 2505 and S.1350).…
Sharing the Health I use a home concentrator with 25 feet of tubing that allows me to get conveniently to most of my small two- story house. However, the tubing kinks. It flexes, it curls and snarls and tries to trip me. It simply would not uncurl until I laid out a new tube on…
Sharing the Health There is an expression, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” On my 77th birthday, my husband and I took a plane ride in a Bi-Plane with an open cock- pit, an exact replica of the 1935 (my birth…
Sharing the Health Another Advantage of Getting Older! Many Dunkin’ Donuts locations offer a senior discount, usually in the form of a discounted coffee or drink purchase. Other loca- tions may provide a percent- age off the entire purchase, usually 10%. Age requirement will vary by store but typically begins at 55. Please ask your…
If you have an iPhone or iPad, the world of applications (or apps) just keeps growing! A new program called Assist Me with Inhalers is available to help ensure you are using the right technique to get the maximum benefit from your inhalers. Your physician may want to in vestigate the Doctot GOLD (Global Initiative…
Sharing the Health On a trip to the California Redwoods where it was cool and damp, I began having trouble breathing. My stand- by prednisone did not help. My physician told me some- times when it is damp and you are around a lot of moisture, you may have an overpro- duction of mucus which…
Sharing the Health I visited a site on the Internet, www.drugs.com, which is not a pharmacy but an information source. They have a section called “Interactions Checker” where you can enter all the medications you are on and see if there are any possible conflicts among them. I go to many doctors and…
Sharing the Health I have both emphysema and asthma and use supple- mental oxygen on 2–3 LPM at rest and at least 5 LPM on exertion. When I develop a really stressful attack of shortness of breath, I find using my little blue “Breather” helps me remedy my condition faster than doing pursed lip…