Staying Healthy

Management and treatment of CF is lifelong, ongoing and relentless. A person with CF may consume up to 40 capsules daily to help digest food and may need to do up to three hours of airway clearance each day. It is important for people with CF to visit a CF treatment centre several times each year so that their progress can be monitored.

Staying healthy begins with knowing yourself, your body and how you feel. Of course, for infants and children, parents need to observe their behavior and health symptoms.

Everyone, with or without CF, needs to “listen to their body.” For example, our bodies tell us when we’re hungry and need to eat, and when we’re tired and need to rest. Listening to our bodies helps us know how to take care of ourselves. People with CF also need to know how CF affects their body, which will help them understand what their body is telling them.

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Treatment generally involves:

  • Intensive daily physiotherapy to clear the lungs
  • Enzyme replacement capsules with food to aid digestion
  • Antibiotic therapy to treat lung infections
  • Aerosol mist inhalations via a nebuliser to help open the airways
  • Salt and vitamin supplements
  • A nutritious, high calorie, high salt, high fat diet
  • Exercise – important to help clear the airways and build core strength.

Everyone, with or without CF, needs to “listen to their body."

Avoiding germs

Germs are all around us. For people with CF, some germs can cause serious lung problems. Germs, such as bacteria and viruses that cause lung infection, can spread between people in many ways, the most common way germs spread is by contact.

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You should clean your hands often, especially at the times listed here:

  • After coughing or sneezing or blowing your nose
  • Before eating
  • Before and after preparing food
  • Before giving and taking medicine
  • Before and after breathing treatments
  • Before and after airway clearance
  • Before touching your face or eyes or putting in contact lenses
  • After being around someone who is sick
  • After going to the bathroom
  • After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
  • Before and after clinic visits
  • After touching surfaces in the hospital room
  • After touching garbage
  • After touching an animal or cleaning up after your pet

Cover Your Cough!

  • Many serious respiratory illnesses, including the flu, are spread by coughing or sneezing. To help stop the spread of germs, cover your cough!

People with CF are not encouraged to socialise with each other. The risk of cross-infection and exacerbation of lung conditions is too great.

Sticking to your treatment plan

CF clinic visits also give you the opportunity to talk to your CF team about how you or your child is doing. Ongoing, open
and honest communication with your CF care team will make it possible to continue adjusting the treatment plan to be the best for you or your child.

CF treatment plans change over time. Talk to your CF care team about how you or your child feels, and how you feel about the treatment plan. Sticking to your CF treatment plan may seem difficult at times. But when you take the time to eat well, exercise and be active; do your daily CF treatments and medications; and visit your CF care center regularly, you will find that you have more energy to do the things you want to do.

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Getting support