Whether I’m resting after a long day at the infusion center or busy working on my next big project, my TV is almost always on. It’s mostly background noise, something familiar so I don’t have to pay attention. It could be a “Law & Order” marathon or a…
Search results for:
I stumbled upon sarcoidosis in 2002, and still wake each morning wondering what’s in store. It doesn’t follow a set path when it invades our bodies, making it just as baffling today as when I was first diagnosed. If I had named this disease, I would have called it “everything…
Measuring the levels of the blood marker soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in patients with suspected sarcoidosis offers more sensitive diagnostic guidance than other commonly used markers, and allows physicians to identify patients with multiple organ involvement, according to a recent study. The marker also was seen to correspond to disease…
A few days ago, I celebrated the five-year anniversary of the first of my two spontaneous pneumothoraces, a result of pulmonary sarcoidosis. I can’t believe it’s been five years, but I’m happy to celebrate. By all accounts, I’m stable and doing fairly well. About eight months after my…
Your comfort zone keeps you comfortable. That’s where the lie begins. Earlier this year, I bought a new SUV. Well, not brand new, but newer than what I had before. It’s not like my other SUVs in that it doesn’t have a sunroof, but I can live with the minor…
Sarcoidosis is a rare inflammatory disease in which clusters of white blood cells, called granulomas, form and potentially damage various organs, affecting how well they work. Cardiac sarcoidosis is name given to this disease when granulomas affect the heart, and is reported in anywhere from 5 percent of systemic…
Sarcoidosis 101 Have you ever tried to explain sarcoidosis to someone? First, you have to phonetically walk them through the funny-sounding pronunciation. If you still have their attention after that, it’s usually gone by the time you hit the term “granuloma.” After being shellshocked by a sarcoidosis diagnosis,…
Researchers recently linked pulmonary sarcoidosis to a receptor activated during certain infections that may contribute to disease development via the release of an inflammatory factor in immune cells. The study, “Functional Toll-Like Receptor 9 Expression and CXCR3 Ligand Release in Pulmonary Sarcoidosis,” was published in the American Journal…
News
Male Sarcoidosis Patients, Those on Immunosuppressive Agents Face Higher Risk for Severe Infections
Male sarcoidosis patients and those who use immunosuppressive agents — particularly Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) — are more likely to get severe infections than women with the disease and those who don’t take such medications, a French study suggests. The study “Severe infections in sarcoidosis: Incidence, predictors and long-term outcome in a cohort of…
People with sarcoidosis who live in the U.S. are most concerned about their disease worsening, developing in more organs, or not lessening, according to the results of an online survey developed by both patients and doctors that was used to query more than 1,000 individuals. Per the findings, patients…