“With the obvious accounted for, we turned to the obscure, the area of medicine where judgment and experience come into play. Fortunately, we received sound advice and guidance from the infectious disease physicians. Stick to the basics, they stressed, only do them better. We continued our patient on the first-line anti-TB drugs he had been on, this time at a slightly higher dose, and added one dose intravenously since he had inflammation in his abdomen and likely wasn’t absorbing a lot of the medicine he had been taking. We supported his immune system with appropriate calories through a feeding tube and kept the pressure in his lungs low on the ventilator. In this case, there could have been an urge to change the plan radically, to alter the anti-TB drugs or give steroids or other immune modulators. The art of medicine is knowing when to give up and start anew versus when to stay with the basic plan, executed better. In this case, we stuck with the basic plan.
It often feels entirely effortless, but that doesn t mean breathing is simple: There are about 10 pounds of muscles surrounding your lungs that help you inhale and exhale at least 17,000 times a day. Some of these muscles you re familiar with, such as the diaphragm; others you may have never heard of, like the intercostals, located in the spaces between your ribs. They all work in synchrony to bring oxygen into your body and expel carbon dioxide. This process not only keeps you alive but also affects your digestion, blood pressure, mood, cognitive function, athletic performance, even your immunity and experts believe that
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