Just out of curiosity......

[princessjdc]

When your out in public do you ever look at someone, whether it be in line at a store or just on the street, and they happen to cough or do something that reminds you of CF, do you all of a sudden start looking at their finger nails or their chest to see if it is barelled or not, or try and lesson to them talk and see if they sound like they have a stuffed up nose, or check if they are really skinny or not? I find myself doing that once in a blue moon, if someone catches my eye like that, and after examing them, I wonder do they have CF?

I was wondering if anyone of you guys do the same thing.

 

[Diane]

well, this reminds me of a time a while ago i was in church and a woman and her daughter were sitting in front of me. The little girl kept coughing and would cough stuff up into a tissue. Made me want to ask, but i didnt. I also look at peoples nails and stuff like that. I mostly always listen for a stuffy nose or a cough or sneeze so i can get the heck as far from that person as i can..........lol

 

[thelizardqueen]

Everytime I see someone coughing all the time who doesn't look sick, or has a husky voice (you know - the CF voice from being congested), I wonder a bit. Its more like, when I see someone who I know has CF, but doesn't look like it - I'll try to see if I can pick out CF things in that person. Like the people in the pics that we've been posting.

 

[princessjdc]

Its actually kind of hard to pick these out sometimes, I think because when were not sick and look very healthy is when its the hardest.

 

[coltsfan715]

Yes I do this alot. I normally try to look at people's nails if I hear them cough and it sounds gunky like mine can get. I also try to look at whether they are skinny or not, but I know that can sometimes be deceiving. Normally though I tend to ignore the nasty cough if I look around and see it coming from a little kid. I tend to think little kids carry around a bunch of germs and have a bad cough when they catch something regardless of them having CF or not.

Lindsey

 

[CowTown]

When the cough sounds familiar, then I start to wonder. I don't hear a similar cough often though.

 

[Lilith]

I don't look for that kind of thing usually, but I do keep an eye
on one of my friends.  She has this nagging cough sometimes
and gets horrible allergies.  Plus, she's thin as a rail and I
wouldn't be surprised if she had a mild case of CF.  So I find
myself keeping an eye on her.  But as far as just passing by
someone in the store or something, I don't usually take notice.

 

[Scarlett81]

I do that too. In fact, once I was watching TV and this girl came on and she opened her mouth to speak and I was like-she has Cf. My friends said to me-oh how do you know? I said, just wait-and a minute later she started talking all about it.
It's happened to me a few times. I know what you mean! But I still am on the lookout more for sickies so I can stay away!

 

[EnergyGal]

This has happened to me where I had similar thoughts as well. When I was in my twenties, I remember this very old lady who had massive clubbing. When I saw her she never coughed so I do not know and I tried to avoid her at the stores. She must have been in her late sixties but maybe older. There is congenital clubbing and it is not cf related. Some people have heart disease that causes clubbing.

I do remember seeing this guy at my gym who worked out and his voice was of a cfer and his fingers looked slightly clubbed. I tried talking to him in detail but never came out and said, do you have CF. That is just bloddy rude.

I saw him in the hospital one time when I was getting a clean out and I was right. He looked very healthy otherwise and to this day he is doing great.

There are people who have a CF voice but do not have cf. Some of my friends with cf do not sound like they have that husky voicce.

My mother and i were having lunch and this little precious girl coughed and my Mother turned to me and said it sounds like she has cf. I said to her Mom, just please do not say anything.

There are plenty of people with poor posture who are thin who can pass for the description of cf but they probably have other health conditions.

this is a very interesting topic. The face of CF has changed a lot in the past twenty years.

 

[Emily65Roses]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>Risa</b></i>
I do remember seeing this guy at my gym who worked out and his voice was of a cfer and his fingers looked slightly clubbed. I tried talking to him in detail but never came out and said, do you have CF. That is just bloddy rude.</end quote></div>

Totally irrelevant, but it's only rude if the person perceives it as such. If someone heard me coughing and asked (mind you, they would have to ask in a curious manner, and not an obviously mocking one), I'd be surprised they knew, but not offended. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[EnergyGal]

Emily, it is all how you are spoken to and how you perceive. This took place a long time ago and it was in a crowded (dating like atmosphere) place so it would have been inappropritate to mention cf at that time. Probably rude as well.

Very few people with CF are out spoken about there illness and given the right place and time anything is possible.

 

[Emily65Roses]

Again, depends on the person. Dating atmosphere or not, I wouldn't find it rude. Maybe I'm one of those very few open people, but I know I'm not 100% alone in that.

 

[anonymous]

You are very unique

 

[Allie]

Ry was also one of those 100% open folks. Anyone who knew him even semi well knew he had CF, he talked to the nursing and pre med kids about having CF, and all that. So they are out there, he was just raised to think there was nothing wrong with having it.

 

[EnergyGal]

That was me the anonymous person who forgot to sign on who stated that Emily is Unique.

I am not saying that I am ashammed of talking about CF to others, I just do not think it is polite to ask someone if they have cf unless you have talked to them for a while.

We are talking about two different subjects here.

I have given countless speeches, talked to newspapers, tv and have my own public website and talk to strangers in the street and if I mention transplantation, I feel totally comfortable and embrace all questions and comments.

I just would not ask someone a personal question without knowing more information about a person. I would never make a comment like, "You look so thin do you have diabetes?" That is the same thing as asking someone, "you are so thin and your cough sounds like Cystic fibrosis." That is not my style.

Or if someone lost their spouse and they were alone at a party and I was not sure that they lost their spouse, I would not bring up the subject unless they did first.

Time and place equals common sense for conversation.

 

[princessjdc]

I agree with Risa, I think it is rude to go up to someone and ask, bc wouldnt it be embarrassing on your part if you were wrong, and then the person you ask might think that they look like their sick or something. I know if someone came up to me and asked me I would be ok with it, talk to them about it, but then it would prolly worry me thinking, do I really look SICK! I wouldnt want that. I always like to hear, wow you look really healthy.

 

[Rokiss12]

i dont know the physical characterists too well like the posture/nails b/c i dont really have that yet so i dont know what to look for. knock on wood. but i do wonder all the time. sometimes when i see a really skinny person who i dont believe to be anorexic then i'll wonder... but thats pretty naive(not sure if thats the word or not to use) because i know there are many reasons people can be skinny and not have cf or anorexia.

but i do wonder all the time!

 

[EnergyGal]

Not too long ago, we had a discussion on this forum how upset one gets if somebody asks them if they are pregnant, when in fact they just have the belly of someone with cf.

Same point I was trying to make. You do not want to assume anything unless you have clues from a conversation and you feel the person might be receptive to talking about personal issues. Nobody likes a person who is nosy. It is all on how you address the subject as well.

 

[anonymous]

I used to work at McDonalds. Well one day this little girl and her mom come in. The little girl had an oxygen tank, a distended tummy and she was skinny with dark cirles... I knew she had CF. When They got to the counter I say she had a CF bracelet on adn I told them I had CF. You could see the look of hope in her mothers eyes. I mean I look healthy for a cfer people never think im sick just young. (she was like 8)

And there was this other time I was at the dentist and a few of the nurses come out and she was like you care if I put this video in, I was like no Well turns out her son had CF and when I told her I did too she cried... (he was 5)

But Yeah I wonder all the time who has it and who don't.

 

[welshgirl]

i do this a lot if i see a child who is VERY thin, on holiday this year there were two kids in the same family who were very thin and i got me thinking about bugs and stuff so at lunch i fertively lurked around their table to see if there was any creon there, there wasn't, i imagine they were just a thin family!!!!!!!!. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> with regards to being "secretive" about having cf joe has just started to feel this way. i am trying to discourage it because i don't want him to make a big deal out of it ( i know it is a humongous deal <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"> ) but he has cf and thats that. i myself went deaf at 22 yrs old and i am ashamed and embarrased about it so i don't want joe to feel the same way about something he has no control over . all you adults with cf if i am wrong in this attitude please tell me.