Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)
What is ILD?
Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is a group of lung disorders that affect the tissue and space surrounding the air sacs in the lungs. These disorders cause thickening, scarring, or inflammation of the lung tissue, which can make it harder for the lungs to work properly.
ILD can be caused by many things, including environmental factors such as exposure to certain chemicals, infections, or autoimmune diseases. Sometimes the cause is unknown.
ILD is a progressive disease, meaning that it gets worse over time. There is no cure for ILD, but there are ways to manage symptoms.
In This Article:
What Causes ILD?
ILD can be caused by any number of factors, including:
- Genetics
- Some treatments, like radiation or chemotherapy
- Autoimmune diseases
- Pneumonia
- Certain lung infections
- Inhalants, like toxic chemicals
- Asbestos
- Molds, fungi, or bacteria
Some cases of ILD don’t have a clear cause.
Diagnosing ILD
Common symptoms of ILD include dry cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of weight or loss of appetite. Usuallytheyare mild at first but get worse over time. Depending on the cause of ILD, some people may also experience other symptoms, like low oxygensaturation.
To determinewhether symptoms are caused by ILD, a doctor will order a chest x-ray or CT scan to look atyour lungs.A doctor may also ask you to perform a pulmonaryfunction test, which measures your total lung capacity. Sometimes a biopsy is needed to diagnose a particular type of ILD.
Treating ILD
Treatment for ILD often includes corticosteroids to decrease inflammation and antifibrotic therapy, which slows down progression of disease. Antifibrotic drugs often cause stomach upset, so be sure to speak with your provider and the company who supplies the medications to discuss your options.
Oxygen therapy is also a common treatment. This is because ILD causes oxygen saturation to decrease quickly,often with physical activity. People with ILD should carefully monitortheir oxygen saturation especially when participatingin physical activity.
Pulmonary rehabilitation is used for many people with ILD too. Pulmonary rehab can help reduce symptoms, increase lung function, and improve quality of life.
How ILD Affects COPD
It's possible to have both COPD and ILD, but they affect the lungs in different ways. COPD causes the air sacs in the lungs to over-inflate, while ILD prevents the lungs from inflating and deflating as usual.
Because COPD and ILD affect the lungs differently, they require different approaches to treatment and management of symptoms:
- People with ILD might need different doses of corticosteroids and other medications
- Traditional COPD medications, like nebulizers and inhaled medication, don’tusually help with ILD. Neither do airway clearance devices, because people with ILD usually have a dry coughand not a lot of mucus.
- Pursed lip breathing is a method of breathing in which you inhale slowly through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth, pursing your lips. It helps control shortness of breath and gets more oxygen into your lungs, but it may also make someone with ILD cough more. You should still use it to control shortness of breath, but do not exhale as long.
What You Can Do Today
- Speak to your healthcare provider about any symptoms you have
- Take medications as prescribed
- Continue to see your healthcare provider as recommended
- Use the Wellinkspulse oximeter to monitoryour oxygen saturation
- Ask your Wellinkscoach about pulmonary rehabilitation exercises
Resources
https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/interstitial-lung-disease
https://foundation.chestnet.org/lung-health-a-z/interstitial-lung-disease-ild/
https://uvahealth.com/services/pulmonary/interstitial-lung-disease