A long ordeal

Question

Hello,

I am writing concerning my husband, who is now 31 years old and has been having problems for four years. It started with sinusitis at the time… Since then, he has been suffering from viscous phlegm in the sinuses and particularly also in the lungs. He constantly clears his throat, has been coughing almost regularly in these four years, and in effect has been having yellow phlegm constantly as well. The lung pressure has been deteriorating in the last three months. He is being treated at a lung clinic but all diagnostics keep leading the doctors to the conclusion that he has asthma and that he has to learn to live with it. In addition, a mite allergy would cause the problems.

However, my husband and I feel that that cannot be the only thing. He is underweight, has very little body fat and does not feel fit.

He himself got the CF idea and told his doctor about it, who dismissed it. However, upon researching the internet, I found several articles that specified almost exactly the same symptoms, with atypical CF as a cause. The enlarged spleen, which has known of for three years, could be explained this way.

Can you give us a recommendation as to what we can do in order to have diagnostics done for atypical CF?

Many thanks for your help.

Answer

Dear questioner,

Many thanks for this interesting question. Indeed, your husband seems to suffer from the so-called “United Airway Disease” (disease of the upper and lower respiratory tracts), of which a “mild” form of CF is definitely one possible differential diagnosis – apart from other pulmonary diseases, of course. The next step would certainly be to do a pulmonary check-up at a CF clinic of a university hospital.

Kind regards,
Dr. med. Markus Hofer
Adult CF clinic
Pneumology Clinic
Zurich University Hospital

08.05.2012