Phlegm is mucus produced by lung tissue. And your lungs (or vagina) being filled with pus would be a very different thing.
Women routinely have vaginal discharge of various sorts that is not normal, healthy mucus. The fact that women with CF have both substantial vaginal discharge and vaginal dryness severe enough in some cases to "ruin" their sex life strongly suggests that there is a difference between what is produced in quantity by the mucus membranes of people with CF and normal, healthy mucus.
I'm saying that difference is that it's a form of discharge due to infection, not an overproduction of mucus per se. If it were the same thing as mucus, women with CF should not be simultaneously reporting vaginal dryness that interferes with sex and vaginal discharge.
Note that if, as a medical researcher, one managed to identify an underlying causal agent for CF, that would be career changing.
Also, your vaginal dryness theory is only true if CF-related discharge works as a responsive lubricant. That could be, as you suggest, due to a difference in kind, but it could also be a change in composition, differential overproduction, or a complex interplay of several other factors.
I don't have a vaginal dryness theory. My point is that CF is genetic and impacts all cells of the body. The way it works vaginally and in the lungs ought to be consistent. Women with CF consistently report vaginal dryness. They also report vaginal discharge. This discharge appears to not be mucus, given the rest of their testimony.
The reports of women with CF concerning their reproductive tract should cast some light on lung function and is not consistent with prevailing theories that people with CF are "drowning in their own mucus."
"the way it works vaginally and in the lungs ought to be consistent." - not necessarily, and especially not when you're describing symptoms (vaginal dryness resulting in uncomfortable sex), because the mucous of your lungs and sexual lubrication serve very different purposes.
And other symptoms of CF in women, such as more difficulties conceiving, are consistent with mucus overproduction.
The discharge might not be mucus, but that doesn't mean that's not the root of what CF is doing.
I don't think I've said that anywhere and that's not what I'm trying to say.
CF is a genetic disorder. It's root cause is a malfunctioning cell channel, the CFTR, that is defective due to a genetic defect.
But I do think a lot of what we think of as CF is really a consequence of being sick and malnourished your entire life. If those issues can be addressed, outcomes can change.
I found this article [1] that seems pretty consistent with the dehydrated mucus hypothesis. I don't know if it's reputable, and I only read the summary, because it quickly got over my head.
I generally did not have pain during sex because I got married at 19 to my "high school sweetheart" and he and I accommodated my vaginal dryness without making a big deal of it and I didn't realize how much we were doing to accommodate it until after I finally had a diagnosis and was getting divorced. It was our "normal" and we were oblivious to the fact that it wasn't normal at all because neither of us had much experience prior to getting together when we were both 17.
So I will suggest that lack of reports of pain during sex may say more about a woman's sex partner than about how much vaginal dryness she is experiencing.
I said in another comment -- one you replied to, so presumably you read it -- that reproductive issues in CF are likely more complicated than just this one factor, so I think this characterization of my remark is completely unfounded.
I think there is a lot more going on with CF than lack of adequate mucus. I was merely trying to provide a fairly straightforward example of what seems like an obvious error in logic for a biology mental model.
Since mucus has an immune function and people with CF have a terribly compromised immune system, the assumption that we overproduce it seems flawed on the face of it and fails to be consistent with widespread reports of vaginal dryness.
Thank you for the link, but this kind of argumentation is usually not helpful.
This is no more a failure of a mental model than the fact that autoimmune diseases, which also involve a heightened immune response, can leave people more vulnerable to certain infections.
But, as noted elsewhere, I don't particularly think this exchange is going to leave either one of us content. I wish you the best in finding a treatment that works for you.
I'm well aware of that fact.
I'm not really a fan of the entire concept of autoimmune disease. There are things that go on with CF where they also claim that "overreaction" of the immune system is a factor, though I can't recall a specific example because I left all the CF lists years ago. I don't think ideas like that are helpful, so I made no effort to remember the specific examples.
Cystic Fibrosis is a misnomer rooted in an older mental of the condition which has since been abandoned. It was descriptive of the state of the pancreas in autopsies of people who died of the condition. I think in French they call it mucoviscidosis, which would be medically more accurate.
We have a terribly poor understanding of a lot of medical conditions. "Gulf War Syndrome" just meant you were sick in some mysterious fashion and had served in the Gulf War. Last I checked, they had distinguished three different syndromes, still without identifying an exact cause.
Malaria just means "bad air." It was so labeled because of it's association with swamps. It was only later that it was determined to be due to a parasite where mosquitoes are the vector.
Medicine is shockingly imprecise and organic and a lot of fancy labels in medicine are not as informed as laymen sometimes assume.
When I was asking a former RN one time "So, what exactly does this medication do at the cellular level?" She told me "We don't actually know. That's not how studies are done. You are asking questions that medicine can't answer."
But, as noted elsewhere, I don't particularly think this exchange is going to leave either one of us content. I wish you the best in finding a treatment that works for you.
What I'm doing for my health is working remarkably well. As stated elsewhere, I'm not seeking agreement from the entire world. I'm seeking meaty engagement. So I've been quite content to talk with you, overall.
But you have zero obligation to engage me further. Have a nice (whatever time of day wherever you happen to be).