Treatments, yikes. There are so many. Two big categories (at least in my head) are nebulized meds and chest therapy. There are others I discuss briefly below. Oral meds, IVs, etc.
The most popular nebulized meds:
Pulmozyme
TOBI
Colistin
Pulmozyme is a mucus thinner. TOBI is an antibiotic, as is Colistin.
Options for chest therapy:
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.aeropharmaceuticals.com/products/acapella_web3.jpg">Acapella </a> You breath into it and it vibrates down into your lungs.
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://papapoo.com/gad-flutter.jpg">Flutter</a> Same basic principle here. The big difference is that the Flutter does it with a ball that floats in the air when you blow into it, where the Acapella is kind of a seesaw effect.
A big popular one with people is the <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.abivest.com/images/standard_photo_wText.jpg">Vest</a> The Vest is something you put on. It fills with air and vibrates. The reason most people like this is that it allows for independence and does a full job. Acapella and Flutter don't do as thorough a job.
The last main one (to my knowledge) is manual therapy. This is the one they always used to do. It doesn't allow for as much indepedence, but it does a more thorough job than the Acapella or Flutter do. Someone basically hits you with cupped hands for a certain amount of time in several positions (back, sides, chest, stacked on pillows elevated, to allow gravity to work). This is the one I personally use, because it works the best for me. My boyfriend has been doing it for almost a year now, and rarely misses.
Then there's also oral meds, and those are plentiful. Pancreatic enzymes, special water-soluble vitamins, acid reflux meds, antibiotics. I know I'm forgetting some, those are just the ones I take. Oh and after you get certain bacteria, they start occasional IV antibiotics. There comes a time when oral antibiotics don't work as well anymore. I myself go on IVs <i>about</i> twice a year, and I still have 70% lung capacity, give or take.
If you're curious as to why I discuss antibiotics with a genetic disease, let me run by it quickly for you. CFers are prone to all sorts of lovely bacteria because our lungs are wet, warm, and sticky. Perfect. The most common is called pseudomonas. Almsot every CFer will get this at one time or another. It's in so many places. Many healthy people have it in them at any given time, but it doesn't affect you so you don't know. And after a CFer starts culturing it regularly and continually, it's pretty much impossible to get rid of. I have 2-3 strains of this right now. There are others, but the two main bad ones that people tend to worry about are MRSA and burkholderia cepacia. MRSA is methacillin resistant staph aureus. It's fairly rare, but resistant and annoying. It's not the end of the world though. I've had it since I was 16. Cepacia is a b*tch. No sense telling you otherwise. It's not <i>necessarily</i> an immediate death sentence. Some people live with it for years. But it sucks, and most transplant (tx) centers in the US will not do a tx on a CFer with cepacia.
As for tx, in case you don't know (I don't know how much research you've done)... there comes a time where a CFer has two choices: Try for a double-lung tx and hope to get one, or die. The death may not be immediate, but it's not 10 years down the road. Many many CFers opt to try for a tx, many do not.
Continue to ask any questions.
