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Do you guys have to stop in the middle when you do airway clearance or inhaling arikayce or amikacin?
I need to stop now and then to cough up mucus. It keeps secreting during the process, so it takes me 1.5 hours + to do saline and amikacin everyday!!! Very time consuming!!!
Replies to "Do you guys have to stop in the middle when you do airway clearance or inhaling..."
Helen, it varies. Sometimes I need to cough up mucus while deeply inhaling and holding when I nebulize. When I don’t inhale as deeply and hold it a bit, it usually comes up with the Aerobika. I find that sometimes after the Aerobika, I later am able to bring up more mucus. Yes, it can be time consuming, especially when nebulizing saline, then using Aerobika, then nebulizing Arikayce. Thank good that Arikayce is not twice daily!
I think stopping due to cough while nebulizing saline is a good thing. Isn’t that the goal?
Is there a way to know if you’re coughing up mucus or saline?
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Hello. I would take 1.5 hrs a day. I was on 3 oral antibiotics for a year and a half for MAC. They became resistant to the bacteria, and I was put on IV Amikacin & Imipenem in June, 3 times a day. It usually takes at least 4 to 5 hrs everyday to get this done. I just had a Robotic lung resection to remove a cavity, which was continuing to grow despite all of the meds. The surgeon though that was where the bacteria was breeding. Surgery was on 8/5. I am a very active 69 year old and and I am hoping I can get back to where I was - playing tennis, riding and doing yard work. I am only on my 4th week post op, but I have been coughing my head off - it's a very dry cough and my breathing doesn't seem as good as it was before. Doctor's say it's from the anesthesia, tube, etc, and will get better with time, but let me tell you, everyday I question if I should have had the surgery. I know I am very impatient , I am not a good sit around and take it easy type of person, but I am trying to be good and go by the doctors instructions. The only symptom I had when diagnosed with Mac, was coughing, which I have done every morning as long as I can remember. My pulmonologist wants to keep me on these IV meds for another month, then switch to a different IV med and an oral medication for 9 more months. He wants 3 neg cultures before stopping the meds. I have an appointment with an infectious disease doctor next month to discuss all of this with him. I do not want to continue the IV meds for a year, so I am hoping we can come up with another plan.