<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>anonymous</b></i>
I'm sorry to ask such dumb questions - but what is a bleed? My son is only 9 - so maybe he hasn't experienced one yet. Is it blood coming out of your mouth or nose? How do you usually stop it? Do you have to go to the hospital when it happens?
Sean - I've also enjoyed all your knowledge. Like I said my son is 9 and to tell you the truth I haven't did much research on cf - I'm not sure why I haven't - but I'm learning alot in the last couple of weeks. Where do you get this organic oil (and I take it that it can be pills or inhaled or on a youngster feet?) My son has more polyp and sinus troubles so far and a little digestion problems. He has never coughed anything up yet. - does that usually happen as you get older? He only does albuterol treatments and percussion at night. (he has had to do TOBI once cause of psnemo??) He has had 3 polyp surgerys and is getting a few now again - but not as bad. I guess I'm trying to learn as much as I can now to be prepared for the future!
Mother of 9 yr old boy wcf</end quote></div>
We are refering to Hemoptysis, which is coughing up of blood. It happens to some CF's more than others, but usually, most all if not all CF's have had atleast one bleed or another while growing up. It can be an indicator of infection (what the doc will always tell you), but can also be an indication of other things. Any strong exposure to irritants can do it, exhaustion can do it, probably tons of stress can do it, I know for a fact a spike in blood pressure/pulse can do it (has happened to me), drinking too much either once or back to back can do it, being exposed to smoky areas can do it (falls under irritants), and I bet there are other reasons for it.
Basically from what I understand as far as hemoptysis goes, our lungs are always being inflamed due to our disease, our body responds with white blood cells and other defenses in our body, these white blood cells gather in large numbers in particular areas to fight off our infection/inflamation, and in turn contributes to high chances of getting a bleed.
I never had a bleed till I was either in my very late teens or in my twenties when i started really partying. I personally think if your child is relatively healthy with his CF, he could go a long time before he starts getting hemoptysis like I did, but it's very rare for a CF to never get any bleeds.
Bleeds can actually be a good sign, in that if your lungs bleed, they are still healthy enough to bleed and are elastic in general. Many of the much older cystics have stopped bleeding a while back, and I hope that isn't one of the reasons I have stopped bleeding. I wouldn't think that my bleeds would have stopped so quickly after doing OO just due to coincidence.
Many CF's take all kinds of supplements to help their bleeds in frequency and severity, some take lysene, others vitamin K, and many if not all of us make it a point to generally avoid the stressors that can make us bleed like smoky places, exhaustion, overexertion, etc etc.
As for your questions, as I have said before I am very hesitant to recommend any young child start on a OO regimen, not that I think it will do any harm to them, but because they aren't adults to make their own decisions. I know of some parents who have their children on a nightly OO inhalation regimen via a facial sauna + distilled water to help them and most importantly, their sinuses out. I haven't heard anything negative from them, in fact I have only heard very positive results. If you want to use OO for your child mostly for sinus problems, I recommend the facial sauna administration and having him take deep breaths through his nose - hold it a bit, exhale away from the facial sauna, and repeat till the scent of the oregano oil is gone.
Trying to clear out all microbes in the lungs via nebulized OO is a much harder thing to do, but you can keep your sinuses clean via the OO and saline washes. In my opinion, if it were my child, I'd do this now while he is young before his sinuses get real chronic and he gets bad polyps and all the problems associated with CF sinuses down the road.
You can also (as tom or peter have noted) add some to his mustache area for him to inhale through his nose while he sleeps, but don't add a ton so it doesnt get into his mouth cause it might be too irritant to him, just damped the skin. Of course he might be too sensitive to it on his skin, so you gotta try first.
You can also apply it to the bottoms of his feet, and some give their CF kids the oil in it's capsule form. It's all up to the parent, and what degree of CF/CF sinus problems your son is having. Other essential oils are also known to really help with your sinuses (some of the properties in vicks vaporub can be found in some essential oils).
Here is a good FAQ to read if you don't know much about OO and want to know more...It's not an official scientific document, and it obviously has ties in with the company that makes the product so there is some underlying desire for you to buy their product, but it's a good source of casual information, especially regarding children and OO:
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.thepowermall.com/oreganoproducts/faq.htm#1
">http://www.thepowermall.com/oreganoproducts/faq.htm#1
</a>
My whole perspective with regards to supplements and CF is: You need to control your symptoms as much as possible without relying on antibiotics. Antibiotics needs to be a last resort. If you are able to find a good regimen, and the right combination after you have done your own research, it's entirely possible to drastically reduce your reliance on medications. Peter on here (at the age of 57) is a great example of that. My lung PFT's is a great example of that. Of course all people are different CF wise, so our knowledge might not be able to help everyone, but theres a good chance that it might.
If I were you, since your son is just now 9, i'd make it a personal hobby to do tons of research on potential natural/alternative treatments to lessen his CF symptoms. By the time he is coming into his teens, you will have a mountain of knowledge that you have learned, and you can start applying that to his care, and he could possibly live to be a very old man.
