Table of Contents Information on Cystic Fibrosis? How Common Is Cystic Fibrosis? Cystic Fibrosis Symptoms Suspecting a Child May Have Cystic Fibrosis Cystic Fibrosis Symptoms & Diagnosis What Makes Cystic Fibrosis a Genetic Disease? Cystic Fibrosis Treatment How the Gene Mutation Causes Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy as a Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Detecting Cystic Fibrosis in an Unborn Baby Can Cystic Fibrosis Be Prevented? How Patients and Their Families can Cope Keeping on Top of Your Conditio

Cystic Fibrosis Symptoms

People with CF lose excessive amounts of salt when they sweat. This can upset the balance of minerals in the blood, which may cause abnormal heart rhythms. Going into shock is also a risk.

Mucus in CF patients is very thick and accumulates in the intestines and lungs. The result is malnutrition, poor growth, frequent respiratory infections, breathing difficulties, and eventually permanent lung damage. Lung disease is the usual cause of death in most patients.

Cystic Fibrosis can cause various other medical problems. These include sinusitis (inflammation of the nasal sinuses, which are cavities in the skull behind, above, and on both sides of the nose), nasal polyps (fleshy growths inside the nose), clubbing (rounding and enlargement of fingers and toes), pneumothorax (rupture of lung tissue and trapping of air between the lung and the chest wall), hemoptysis (coughing of blood), cor pulmonale (enlargement of the right side of the heart), abdominal pain and discomfort, gassiness (too much gas in the intestine), and rectal prolapse (protrusion of the rectum through the anus). Liver disease, diabetes, inflammation of the pancreas, and gallstones also occur in some people with CF.