FoBoT
No Lifer
my dad has been having trouble with his lungs/mild exertion and his voice is rather raspy/labored, after seeing several doctors, they found out he has a genetic problem
to have the severe form of this, as my father does, both your parents have to have the recessive gene. my mother is going to get tested soon. it is unlikely she is also a carrier of the gene, but if she is, i'll have to get tested also, as i would then be likely to have this problem in ~20 years.
What is Alpha-1?
my grandfather died of what they thought was emphysema at the time (late 1970's) , he died fairly young, in his early sixties. he worked in construction (highways) and smoked when he was younger, so at the time they figured his lung failure was due to those environmental factors. they didn't know about this genetic problem back then , but in retrospect, it is likely what killed him.
my mom said there is a treatment, intravenous protein augmentation therapy, i think this is similar to a blood transfusion, my dad will have to have a weekly treatement that takes 1-2 hours, but they can do it at home.
his insurance has approved him for 52 weeks of this treatment. i don't know how it helps, whether it will stop the progress of his lung degeneration or if it might improve his lungs/regenerate the loss of function. i need to do some more reading on the web site (linked above)
my dad is a bit of a "health food nut" , so i always figured he would live into his 80's or 90's (his mother is 92)
🙁
to have the severe form of this, as my father does, both your parents have to have the recessive gene. my mother is going to get tested soon. it is unlikely she is also a carrier of the gene, but if she is, i'll have to get tested also, as i would then be likely to have this problem in ~20 years.
What is Alpha-1?
my grandfather died of what they thought was emphysema at the time (late 1970's) , he died fairly young, in his early sixties. he worked in construction (highways) and smoked when he was younger, so at the time they figured his lung failure was due to those environmental factors. they didn't know about this genetic problem back then , but in retrospect, it is likely what killed him.
my mom said there is a treatment, intravenous protein augmentation therapy, i think this is similar to a blood transfusion, my dad will have to have a weekly treatement that takes 1-2 hours, but they can do it at home.
his insurance has approved him for 52 weeks of this treatment. i don't know how it helps, whether it will stop the progress of his lung degeneration or if it might improve his lungs/regenerate the loss of function. i need to do some more reading on the web site (linked above)
my dad is a bit of a "health food nut" , so i always figured he would live into his 80's or 90's (his mother is 92)
🙁
