Succeeding With Cystic Fibrosis: A Warriors Guide

photo by Sulejman    

What makes a warrior? Is it his ability to conquer others through perseverance and strength? Or is it his deep will and determination that drives him to achieve greater accomplishments? I believe that what distinguishes a warrior from the rest of us is his ability to conquer himself and transform himself from being a victim of circumstance to become a master of intention. This conquest is not for the faint of heart or the weak spirited. It will test your faith and push you to the limits of what you consider within your realm of comfort. So if the easy path is what you desire then go buy some consumer goods and drink a starbucks in your prefabricated dream home because writing your own story in life is much harder than having it written for you.    

The great Aesop once said, “Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth - don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.”    

This guide is intended to give you specific things to do in order to gain control over your Cystic Fibrosis and build your life and health into precisely what you desire. The strategies covered throughout this article will consist of several main categories, including Exercise, Diet, Medicine, and Perspective. They are in no particular order and rank in equal importance. Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and that this information is intended for informative purposes only.

- Exercise    

The first step to becoming a warrior is to master the art of self discipline through pushing your body to its limits. It is also the only way for you to gain more lung function and lung volume than you had before. “Wait!” you say, “People with lost lung function cannot just gain it back?” That is exactly what my doctor told me too when I left the hospital with a FEV1 of 22%, having just finished a round of I.V. antibiotics. He told me that my lungs are permanently damaged and that they will not get better and that I should get on the lung transplant list. Fortunately, being the warrior that I was, I decided to write my own story and 6 months later I was running 4 miles at a time and hiking mountain peaks.   

Cardiovascular exercise will be at the forefront of your workout routine, as it utilizes the lungs. This can be through running, swimming, hiking, biking, or whatever you please. I suggest starting slow. If you run out of breath just walking then start out walking around the block and then increase your walking speed and length to where you are always pushing yourself, eventually achieving the goal of running. The goal is to get yourself to a point where you are coughing up mucus and utilizing parts of your lungs that usually do not get oxygen. The way the human body works is it adapts itself constantly to change. You need to keep pushing yourself beyond your realm of comfort in order for your body to further adapt. I have found the best transformational tool in terms of increasing lung function to be cardio. There will be a point where you plateau and feel like you can’t do any better so in order to constantly push myself I have found that having a normal, healthy running partner is extremely beneficial. They, most likely, have much better lungs than you and the ability to run at greater lengths and speeds. Trying to keep up with them will make you push yourself beyond your realm of comfort and therefore, will force your body to adapt through the utilization of lung tissue that was once un-used and clogged with mucus. If you succeed in following an increasingly difficult cardio regimen then I can guarantee you will find it to increase your lung function by leaps and bounds. I recommend doing cardio 5 days out of the week for about 30-60 minutes.    

Weight training is the second part to your exercise regimen that will allow you to put on quality weight and muscle mass. Conventional medicine suggests for people with C.F. to eat mass quantities of calories in order to keep weight on. I agree with this to some extent but it is definitely not as simple as that. I find that the only way for me to gain weight is the combination of strength training and a high caloric diet. Another important factor is the quality of the weight you put on. Quality weight takes a lot longer to put on than junk weight and will stay with you for longer too so if you do get sick, you wont lose it so fast. You can get by with only 30 minutes of strength training 3 times a week. Be sure to include important exercises like squats which work your whole body, even your lungs.    

As with any workout regimen, be sure to start slowly and not to hurt yourself. Seek advice from a physical trainer for proper technique on cardio and weight training exercises.

- Diet   

Years ago I embarked on a journey that I later regretted and paid for with my health. This was the journey to find the perfect diet. I was a vegan for 2 years, fasted several times, and tried numerous natural diets which ended up weakening my body’s natural ability to fight off infection. It’s a good thing in the respect that you will not have to go through the same mistakes that I made. Please take my advice on this subject and don’t hurt yourself with diets that promise to “cure” disease. You need a lot more protein than the normal person if you intend on constantly fighting off the infection in your lungs. Out of all of this I did learn a few important things such as the importance of fruit and vegetables and the dangers of processed and fast food.     We are now in an age where people with C.F. are living well into old age through advances in medicine. This is opening a whole new door of possibility in terms of long term health for C.F. patients. We have the ability to die from other preventable diseases before the symptoms of C.F. may take over. Other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are all things you should be aware of. 10 years ago all doctors were telling us to eat cheeseburgers and milkshakes every day in order to keep on weight so we had a fighting chance to make it into adulthood. It is my theory, as well as many nutritionists’, that we should now focus on eating as healthy as possibly while still getting a high amount of calories in order to appropriately prepare for the long lives ahead of us. The idea is to eat natural foods that are high in calories and minimally processed. Some foods with a lot of fat in them are Avocados, Almonds, Walnuts, Beef, Cheese, Dairy, Olive Oil and Eggs. Whole grains are always more nutritionally complete than refined flour and should always be eaten when possible. Brown rice is a favorite of mine along with oatmeal and starches like potatoes and yams. If you can afford organic food, this should become a majority of your diet due to the non-use of pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, and other harmful chemicals. Organic food has been found to have higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals than conventional food which is important for people with C.F. because of their low absorption rate.     Fruits and vegetables should no longer be foods that you reject in your search for the highest calorie foods. They are essential for your immune system to effectively keep you healthy and safe from illness. They are high in antioxidants, enzymes, and cofactors which all contribute to a body that has the tools it needs to stay healthy. Green vegetables are extremely important for bone development by being rich in calcium and phosphorous and have been proven to be more absorbable by your body than other sources. If you find you cannot eat enough green vegetable then you need to buy a green powder concentrate which can help supplement your diet in this respect.    

Dairy has become a widespread taboo in the realm of holistic medicine. Specialists say that it causes mucus production and is generally bad for your health. I went 3 years without eating or drinking any dairy products and I can honestly say that I feel better while consuming dairy regularly. I drink organic milk and put organic butter on my toast and have cheese pizza every once in a while. It adds much needed calories to your food and has a high amount of calcium. Unless you are lactose intolerant, I would recommend eating dairy regularly.    

One thing you will notice is that once you start your exercise regimen and combine it with your high calorie diet, you will be able to eat more food than ever before. This is good! Your body needs this food to build muscle and fight off infection. As long as you stay away from fast food, include fruits and vegetables in your diet, and eat primarily unprocessed and natural foods, you will be on the road to crowning yourself as the king of your health and ultimately, the master of your destiny.

- Medicine   

Ah, medicine. The forefront of our health system is based on these pills prescriptions and ointments. The sad fact is that most people rely on medicine as a form of treatment for problems that are easily preventable through diet and exercise. People with C.F. do not really have the luxury of taking preventative measures being as we are born with our illness. It is important to realize, though, that the overuse of medications can make you dependant on things that you don’t particularly need or may be better without. I feel that the worst thing you could do is to take every prescription that your doctors recommends without even giving it a second thought. I will go through the medications that I feel offer more help than harm and are worth taking in order to increase the length and quality of your life.    Enzymes are absolutely necessary in helping you digest your food and absorb your nutrients. You should always remember to take them at the beginning of your meal. One thing many people don’t realize is that they might be taking too many enzymes. You might want to try decreasing your enzyme intake little by little to see what amount is appropriate for you. The less you take, the more your body is doing its own job of digesting and it’s best to keep your body working.    

I have found the drug Pulmozyme to be especially helpful in the thinning of mucus. This nebulized solution is inhaled into the lungs and works to break down the DNA strands that form mucus. My doctor recommends doing it twice a day but I find that using it once every 2 days seems to be enough for me. I cannot tell a difference from doing it anymore than that.     The drug albuterol can also be very helpful if you find your lungs to be restricted and tight. It opens them up and allows more oxygen to get into your lungs. This can be useful if used right before going running. I would not recommend making this drug a part of your daily routine if you do not have to because your lungs get used to it and when you take it away they feel worse. I have been doing albuterol twice a day, every day for a few years and recently decided to stop doing it. I found that at first I felt like my lungs couldn’t function as well without it but after a week or two, I was completely back to normal and now I feel better than ever. I urge everybody to make these types of decisions for themselves through experimentation. If it does not give you a noticeable benefit, then you should challenge the idea that it is good for you. If at any point you begin to feel worse when trying to go without a medication, you should resume it and maybe try again later, depending on your preference.    The holy grail of medicine that helps my lungs is 10% saline solution. It is just a simple salt water solution that is inhaled through a nebulizer. What it does is hydrates your lungs and allows the mucus to be thinned. It makes me cough up more phlegm than any other treatment. The doctor recommended me to use 7% saline but I had to mix it myself which was tedious so I just used the 10% saline instead. I do it 2 times a day, every day. Each time I do 15 milliliters which seems like a lot, but goes by pretty fast when I’m doing something productive like working on the computer. The thing I love about this medication is the fact that it is completely harmless and you can do as much as you want. I recommend this treatment above all the rest as the most beneficial.    

At some point, it might be necessary for you to go on antibiotics. Do not be afraid of their affects because they can be easily counteracted with probiotics to build back up your friendly bacteria. There were a few points in my life where I know I would have died if I didn’t have antibiotics to help me. While I know we should be thankful for the medical advancements in this field, I also know that these drugs can be overused and over-prescribed by doctors. If my doctor had it his way, I would be taking 2 different antibiotics indefinitely for the rest of my life. I do not like the idea of that and have decided to decline his request. I feel strong and healthy without them and feel that becoming dependant upon another drug is the last thing I need.    

If at any point your doctor tries to prescribe you a medication that you don’t feel you need or don’t know anything about then you should make sure and look it up before agreeing to it. There are many drugs with bad side affects that can be avoided. One such drug is called Fosamax. When my bone density scan came out below the norm my doctor said that this drug would help me build back bone density. I went online and found out about all of the horrible side affects it has and all of the lawsuits in place regarding this drug. I decided to pass on this and take a calcium supplement along with vitamin D and a concentrated vegetable drink. My bones are now fine without the use of this harmful drug.   

- Perspective

Changing your perspective will change your life. All of our thoughts become things and all of the things in this world are held in place by our will and intention. This has now become a scientific fact through the study of quantum physics in which particles behave accordingly based on what the observer thinks will happen. It is this fundamental understanding that will transform your world from a place of pre-determined laws, into a place of infinite possibility: a warrior’s playground.   

When you were first old enough to understand the concept of your disease, what were your initial feelings? Were they thoughts of anger, fear, or sorrow? Chances are that they were probably negative thoughts based upon our cultural upbringings and collective consciousness. You could have easily been excited or happy about your disease by seeing it as a learning method or a tool for your own learning purposes. You see, some cultures do not view these types of events as negative things but as opportunities to learn invaluable life lessons. You must learn to see everything in your life as a blessing, including the bad. We can only further our spiritual evolution by accepting the lessons life has to offer us.    

Learning to love and accept everybody plays an integral role in your quest to live a stress free life, dedicated to the pursuit of your own endeavors and dreams. Wasting time on the contempt of others is merely an exercise in recreating the same dramas over and over again. The things that bother us in other people are the exact things that we don’t accept within ourselves. So when we encounter this resistance within our lives, we must look into ourselves to find what is wrong with us that we cannot accept others for who they are. We are all exactly the same, just on different paths in our lives. The only way to help others is through being a living example and loving them for who they are.    

Without my disease I wouldn’t be who I am today. It has made me strong, compassionate, wise, and loving and has given me an appreciation for every moment of existence that we have. All we ever have is this moment right now. I feel I am better off than I would have been if I was never born with this disease. It has come into my life for a reason, because what it has to offer me is exactly what I am ready to learn and what I am learning is exactly what the world is ready to learn from me.    

I would like to thank everybody for taking the time to read my blog here at www.livingindubiously.com and please be sure to check in for more updates in the future. Until then, fight like a warrior, learn to love everybody, and continue to live indubiously.