It's quite obvious that you don't know what it's like to have CF unless you have it. Even then, everyone is different. But something it took me a bit to realize is that I will never know what it's like to love someone with CF. I do know it can be scary if you're friends with someone with Cystic Fibrosis and suddenly that laugh attack you both were having turns into the CF friend needing to do a breathing treatment because they legitimately laughed so hard that they couldn't breathe. Here are a few tips for you if you are someone who is friends or family of a CFer.
When someone who has CF is coughing, as nice as you may be trying to be, do not repeatedly ask "are you okay?" I know that may sound weird to most and I know a cough that comes from a CF body can sound super alarming but I can assure you that I am just as fine as I was the other 20 times I coughed today.
When you're sick, please let me know. People with Cystic Fibrosis catch colds and other things very easily. When we do get them, it's also much more serious than just resting and taking cold medicine. Even if you are feeling "much better," you could still be contagious. So just be cautious when you're feeling a bit under the weather. Which leads me to my next one.
Don't constantly complain about being tired, especially when the reason you are tired is that you were out until 4 a.m. partying. Most CF people continue to go along with everyday activities and push themselves too hard just so they can play it off like they feel okay, or at least I do. So when a CF person is trying so hard to keep up with "normal person life" and that "normal person" is constantly complaining, quite frankly it just gets a bit annoying.
If your friend/family member with CF is sick and doesn't tell you, don't get upset. As nice as it is that you want to make sure they are okay and keep a check on their health, becoming sick as a huge toll on someone with CF mentally and physically. If they don't tell you right away, odds are they are still trying to come to terms with it themselves and trying to come up with a plan on how to get better with their doctors.
My last and most important "tip" is one that I am most passionate about. Do. Not. Smoke. If you truly care about someone with CF, a disease that makes it difficult to breathe and just overall gives you sucky lungs, please explain to me why you think it's okay to smoke cigarettes. You were lucky enough to be given healthy lungs that don't struggle nearly every day so why are you destroying them?
