Pulmonary fibrosis is a form of lung-scarring that disturbs your breathing. Due to lung-scarring, the tissue between and inside the air sacs becomes thicker, which makes it difficult for oxygen to pass through and you to breathe properly. Pulmonary fibrosis mainly attacks people above 50 to 75 years old and stays for quite some time. There is no specific cure for it, rather than some new treatments which make the effects slow.

There are several causes of pulmonary fibrosis, but nothing specific has been found yet.

• Occupational and environmental factors that cause long-term exposure to pollutants and toxins, damage your lungs. These agents can be grain and coal dust which affect workers in the hard-metal industries or asbestos fibers, bird and animal droppings can also affect an individual.
• Cigarette smoking can directly affect your lungs due to continuous intake of smoke. Long-term smoking is injurious to health and can at times lead to death.
• Another cause of the disease is genetics. If two family members have the disease, then it is highly possible for it to affect another.

Below are certain pulmonary fibrosis symptoms that can help you detect the disease.

Difficulty in breathing

Disturbance in breathing is one of the basic symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis. When the tissue gets thicker due to the severity of the disease, the level of blood oxygen is highly low, and the doctors recommend inhalers and tablets to improve the breathing circle.

Anxiety and depression

One common pulmonary fibrosis symptom is isolation and loneliness that can make breathing worse. Coupled with household difficulties and a fast life, it’s common to have anxiety and depression issues. This can lead to further difficulty and lack of mobility problems that need to be cured at the earliest before they get worse.

Loss of appetite

Another pulmonary fibrosis symptom is a loss of appetite, due to swelling of lung tissues that makes digestion harder leading to loss of weight. Small intake of food works well on you at this time, instead of heavy meals and snacks that take a long time to digest. Nourishing drinks that give a good amount of energy and are not hard on the digestive system can help in the case of loss of appetite.

Disturbed sleep and tiredness

As lung diseases increase, disturbed sleep and tiredness are common symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis due to difficulty in breathing. During this time, chest pain and coughing can lead to disturbed sleep and can make you tired in the simplest of tasks. Disturbed sleep patterns can also lead to lack of sleep, that can further lead to tiredness throughout the day.

There are various ways to detect pulmonary fibrosis, and they include chest X-rays, various breathing tests, CT scans, lung biopsy, and exercise testing. However, there is no such cure for the disease; but various secondary treatments to pulmonary fibrosis are available. They are as below:

Medicines

The most basic secondary treatment to pulmonary fibrosis is medication, and the dose of it depends on the level of inflammation of the tissue. Patients are usually prescribed with prednisone to reduce the level of inflammation. However, in case of severity of the disease, medicines are usually not recommended by the doctors.

Oxygen therapy

When medicines do not improve the breathing cycle, oxygen therapy is the next best. This is prescribed when the oxygen levels in the lungs get low for making it easier for you to stay active, breathe, and sleep.

Pulmonary rehabilitation

This is a special program for patients who are detected with pulmonary fibrosis that mainly teaches about the severity of the disease. It recommends exercises which can best help cure the ailment or reduce the difficulty in breathing.

Lung transplant

The last treatment of the disease is lung transplant and is usually preferred when nothing else seems to work. However, you need to be in the best of health for a lung transplant surgery. This is recommended by a doctor after performing various diagnostic tests on you, keeping in mind the several risk factors associated with it.

The causes and symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis show that if you take good care of your lungs and take basic measures to protect it from continuous dust and pollutants, it can help. If the disease is not treated, it can lead to various other complications like lung cancer and heart failure. One important thing to keep in mind is that good mental health is required to deal with the disease.

An emotional and weak mental state can make the disease worse by worsening the breathing cycle. The change in the level of lung-scarring is a time-consuming process, that can take days or months. You should be patient while taking the most basic care and medications to prevent further damage to your lungs. Do not feel anxious or depressed about the disease, as each of you detected with the symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis will have a unique experience which can be cured by a positive mindset and healthy living.