Sorry for the painful humor, it is just my odd sense of humor that comes out every once in a while. Consider yourself warned. O.k. really now, onto the summation of why it is important for you to take a supplement known as E.P.O. or Evening Primrose Oil.
We all know we need healthy fats in our diet, right? Well, EPO is a very important one that you are not going to find readily available in foods, expect for some nuts and a few grains. That being said, in order to get the amounts you need to do what it needs to do, I highly recommend you consider looking at a quality supplement of EPO.
Why this fat? Because of it’s ability to reduce inflammation. It also can help with aiding precursors to glutathione, a very important anti-oxidant which is often low in people who have CF.
Each tip that I write about will likely be connected to decreasing inflammation. That is our biggest goal, as the body works it’s best when it is not having to deal with the effects of inflammation. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you want an inflammatory response, to fight off infection for example, but as you may (or may not) know, with CF the inflammatory cycle keeps on repeating into a viscous cycle making it difficult to get rid of the thick and sticky mucus that is accumulating as the bodies way to capture an infection. So inflammation backfires in this disease, and the body gets backed up with the mucus thereby trapping the very infection it is trying to get rid of.
Please, grammarians, if you will overlook the fact that I just ended that last sentence in a preposition. Probably a bad run on sentence too. I know. I know. Anyhow, moving right along. Grammar was never my strong point.
ware of this supplement being important for my son until he was old enough to swallow capsules, so I don’t have any suggestions on the liquid form, except that there are some. You could wait to take this step until your child is old enough to swallow gel capsules, they go down easier anyhow. Be sure to find out the size of the gel capsule you are buying before purchasing to ensure it is small enough if giving this to a child. As always, I must remind you that I am not a doctor and I don’t play one on t.v. nor on my blog. These are just methods that I have used with my son that gave us awesome results. Please read on for the scientific article regarding use of this supplement in CF:
When my son was just 2 years old his pediatrician found a heart murmur when we went for his annual “well baby” exam. It sounded awful, as I pressed my ear up against his chest to understand what the doctor had told me was an irregular heart beat. He said we needed to see a cardiologist, but before I could get an appointment, I was in to see my D.O. for some pretty severe hormonal imbalances and fatigue. 
It has been a crazy amount of learning that has taken place over the last 11 years with my son being diagnosed at 2 weeks old with having the two genes for Cystic Fibrosis. DD508. What I didn’t know then was, well, everything.
Vitamin C is a corrector for the second step down from the gene if you will. Similar to the big drugs coming out these days for changing the face of CF. Would you believe me if I told you that Vitamin C could also accomplish this? Read on if you would please.
What I am going to share, I believe is only part of the puzzle. The other parts of the puzzle for changing the face of CF will be in future articles. One step at a time is how to impact CF and make lifestyle changes that will impact the thick and sticky mucous situation. The longer you have had the thick mucous around the longer it will take to detoxify your body, but do not give up. The results will be well worth it. Change is possible. Inspite of what you may have been told.
So let’s get on with the layman’s summary of the science articles listed at the end of this blog. Taking Vitamin C in functional doses in order to target the amount of liquid that gets into the surface of the airways in the lungs is what it is all about. See, the body does not make Vitamin C, so if you are not taking it in a supplement you are missing out on a very important function that it does.
Vitamin C targets the lungs. In other words, when you take it, it knows to go to the lungs as it’s primary function. When it gets to the lung tissues it draws in water to itself thereby increasing the liquid on the surface of the epithelial tissue. This is crucial in thinning out secretions.
When this happens, it helps to correct the fold in the protein which is the problem created by the genes that cause Cystic Fibrosis.
That is the very short story of why you need Vitamin C in your line up of supplements to take on a daily or twice daily basis. My son took 1.5 g of vitamin C twice a day as part of his regimen making all the difference in clearing secretions. That, along with many other bio-hacks that I will share in future writings. Stay tuned…
Below are the links to articles used to backup my writing here today aka references: https://www.pnas.org/content/101/10/3691
