Fw: HP

[Guest guest]

I'm forwarding this to the board for ann

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

----- Forwarded Message ----To: mbmurtha@...Sent: Sunday, September 6, 2009 8:20:53 PMSubject: HP

Hi Alice,I could almost have written your letter. If you don't know what you are sensitive to, the first thing I would do is have the air ducts and furnace cleaned. At that time I would install the good Filtrete filters in the air return and, if you have Sears do it, they have a very good washable filter that will filter any air entering your ducts through your furnace. It was the single thing that helped me most. My HP is caused by mold. If you don't know it is a great place to start. Sears does a good job but a mold remediation service can do it also and seal off anything left in the ducts. We just had our 3rd duct cleaning. We even found a drain in our cold air return box! The furnace was sucking air from the drain and blowing it into the ducts. Needless to say it is now cemented in. If

you are interested, I've been going through this since 2004 and have learned a lot. I responded very well to prednisone. It is a real experience to take it but it reduced my symptoms 90%. As long as I stay away from mold (impossible) I do pretty well. Mine was a 5 month round beginning with 60mg for 6 weeks and then tapering by 10mg/month. It really worked. I live in St. , Utah since '05 after my diagnosis. I would be glad to keep in touch and share with you anything I have learned. I am 68 and a retired RN. Beth and Bruce are great sources for technical advice and tons of other things. You MUST find out what the offending agent is and get rid of it and avoid it when you cannot. Trial and error may be the only way.

ann, Interstitial pneumonitis '97, HP & PF 2004