Trapped Lung Remedies
I have a 'trapped lung' - this is when a fibrous membrane grows around a lobe (or 2) or the lung and prevents it from expanding. Allopathic medicine tells me the only solution is a complex operation to scrape it off the lung.
I am wondering if anyone knows of any natural way to dissolve this membrane. I have seen TCM practitioners and none can help; same w/ Ayurvedic practitioners. In the thousands of years that the Chinese and Indians have existed I find it hard to believe that this has not been seen before but evidently, it's not very common.
Any and all help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Pinkbirds,
Fairly rare condition so useful studies are limited at best. Looking at Fibrothorax as the severe form of fibrosis that it is, these two studies may be of interest to you as they discuss two supplements that tend to be protective of the lungs and potentially fight fibrosis :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9143957/
Here is a relevant quote :
' Zinc plays a crucial role in human enzyme activity, making it an essential trace element. As a cofactor in metalloenzymes and metalloproteins, zinc involves a wide range of biological processes, such as gene transcription, translation, phagocytosis, and immunoglobulin and cytokine production in both health and disease. Zinc has gained considerable interest in these lung diseases because of its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immune, and metabolic modulatory properties. Here we highlight the role and mechanisms of zinc in the pathogenesis of asthma, COPD, CF, acute respiratory distress syndrome, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension. '
And this article to add corroboration to the above study :
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/zinc-found-to-play-an-important-role-in-lung-fibrosis/
A relevant article quote :
' Investigators from the Women's Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai have discovered that zinc, a common mineral, may reverse lung damage and improve survival for patients with a deadly age-related condition known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). '
Granted this is not Fibrothorax, but fibrothorax is a a severe form of fibrosis.
This next study suggests that Selenium L Methionine (SLM) may also be useful as a type of lung protectant :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7040518/
A relevant graph from the study regarding fibrosis :
Look specifically at the fibrosis caused by radiation exposure and then look at the column that shows how much fibrosis remained after the addition of SLM to the radiation treatment. Notice that they specifically used the type of selenium called Selenium L-Methionine in this study.
This last review of melatonin highlights its protective effects related to various lung diseases including COPD and Pulmonary Fibrosis :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8892605/
Here are two relevant quotes from the review :
' Melatonin may have a beneficial effect on pulmonary fibrosis due to its immunoregulatory effects and inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-17A, stimulating type 1 collagen expression. The inhibitory effect of melatonin on Wnt/β-catenin signaling suggests that melatonin inhibits Wnt/β-catenin/TGF-β-induced expression and deposition of type I collagen, a factor required for matrix stiffening in pulmonary fibrosis (130). '
' Preclinical data suggest that increased TGF-β1, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, NLRP3, oxidant and mucus production, as well as reduced sirtuin-1 and antioxidant levels, suboptimal mitochondrial activity and dysfunction in the endoplasmic reticulum are important in COPD (96). All of them may be substantially improved by melatonin therapy. The protective effect of melatonin on COPD relies on targeting MT1 or MT2 (97, 98) Melatonin improves the necroptosis by altering the LPS-induced disordered pathways of alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism (99-101). '
These three supplements may be worth discussing with your doctor to see if they may be worth trying for your Fibrothorax.
Art
