The respiratory system symptoms include very salty sweat

People suffering from CF exhibit different types of symptoms. The respiratory system symptoms include very salty sweat, difficulty in breathing due to blocked airways, which also cause frequent coughs that contain thick sputum, and at times, it contains blood, infections that fail to respond to local antibiotics, sinusitis, pneumonia, bronchiectasis, some patients grow nasal growths. Digestive system symptoms include, foul-smelling greasy stools, constipation, diarrhea, excessive gas, poor growth in children and in young children blockage of the intestines may occur. Children also have stunted growth because enzymes that help in nutrient absorption are blocked and thus do not function properly. In severe cases liver disease, diabetes, gallstones and pancreatitis. Reproductive system symptoms are infertility in men as they are born minus the vas deferens. Women conceive with difficulty due to blocked fallopian tubes. Other symptoms are dehydration, tiredness, heart stroke, weakness, clubbing of tips of the fingers and toes due to lack of sufficient oxygen in the bloodstream and osteoporosis (NHLI, 2009).