Totally off topic, but do you happen to know anything about capsaicin?
I began eating hot peppers a few months ago and it had a dramatic impact on my condition. CF is rooted in a defect in a cell channel, the CFTR, which handles trafficking of certain molecules into and out of the cell. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers, forces a different channel open at lower than normal temps. I asked around and got a snippet or two suggesting some indirect relationship between the types of things the two channels process but nothing conclusive. Capsaicin has worked effectively as a biohack for me, especially when combined with walking (and a zillion other things I was already doing for my condition). Yet I have turned up little in the way of solid information as to why/how.
If you like spicy things they are actually really good. It's kind of like a combination between drinking a Snapple and getting maced in the face by the cops.
Yes, it stands for cystic fibrosis. Average life expectancy in the US is currently around 36 or 37, way up from age 18 roughly 18 or 20 years ago. I was diagnosed just before my 36th birthday with a milder classification of it which is emerging and is most often called "atypical cystic fibrosis". I spent a year at death's door. It's been a long haul back from there.
It's not really a lung disease. It's a genetic disorder. All cells in the body are impacted in their function. Mucus membranes are the most obviously negatively impacted. Lungs happen to be lined with mucus. So is the gut and malabsorption and lack of adequate weight gain is another major issue which is frequently life threatening but gets less press than the high incidence of lung transplant.
I began eating hot peppers a few months ago and it had a dramatic impact on my condition. CF is rooted in a defect in a cell channel, the CFTR, which handles trafficking of certain molecules into and out of the cell. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers, forces a different channel open at lower than normal temps. I asked around and got a snippet or two suggesting some indirect relationship between the types of things the two channels process but nothing conclusive. Capsaicin has worked effectively as a biohack for me, especially when combined with walking (and a zillion other things I was already doing for my condition). Yet I have turned up little in the way of solid information as to why/how.