PF Awareness Month
September is Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, and in honor of that, we’re rounding up what members of the PatientsLikeMe community have shared about pulmonary fibrosis on our blog. First off, for those who don’t know – what is pulmonary fibrosis (PF)? It’s a chronic, progressive scarring or thickening of the lungs, which makes it difficult for oxygen to transfer from your lungs into your bloodstream. It may be caused by certain medications, environmental exposures or underlying diseases of the autoimmune system (such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or scleroderma). Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), the cause of which is still unknown, is the type of PF most people might’ve heard of, but there are many other forms of PF, such as sarcoidosis and cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. Now let’s take a look back at some blog posts about PF. In 2013, member Ian shared about his journey from having “stiff lungs” and getting diagnosed with IPF to undergoing a lung transplant. “I was bloody determined to have a transplant,” he said. Read more here. In 2014, member John_R discussed his adjustment to his “new normal” of living with IPF and using supplemental oxygen. “My oxygen use was quickly accepted at work,” he said. “There were a couple of double takes when people …