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← Return to Albuterol to open airways
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Yes, I remembered her comment about NTM hanging out at the periphery, so when my pulmonary therapists explained what Albuterol does, opens the airways so medications (saline) can get in deeper, I thought “oh, ok, I think I want that”. Still, I haven’t noticed any difference in AC with or without. I do follow her suggested protocol of doing saline before and separate from vest, Aerobika, active breathing. One thing that Dr McShane suggested that I haven’t tried yet but is next on the list is to try doing two vials of saline, to really wet things down I believe is how she put it, before moving on to the vest/Aerobika/active breathing, etc. That of course increases the time needed which as you point out is already increased by doing the saline separately. I am still somewhat of a newbie to everything and working to get more efficient at all the things, but I have very little mucus, if any, so trying the extra saline seems worthwhile to me. Congratulations on finishing your antibiotic protocol, wishing you all the best!
Replies to "Yes, I remembered her comment about NTM hanging out at the periphery, so when my pulmonary..."
IMHO, you are doing the right thing -- experimenting with what works best for you. I often say our journey with NTM/BE is as individual as our fingerprints, and so what works great for one person may not work at all for another.
My vest is a Monarch, so it uses magnets, not compression. After Dr. McShane's presentation, I split nebulizing apart from Aerobika and vest for a couple weeks. Then I did every other day in tandem or separately to compare and honestly didn't seem to have any difference in production. I do them separately whenever I feel I need to be a little more thorough, though, just out of an abundance of caution.
In my group, some people have more success with the Pari Trek and the cups that come with it over the Aeroclipse and Ombra. Some folks don't really clear until sometime after nebulizing and then by using postural drainage or cardio workouts. Keep experimenting and you'll find your solutions!
AFA albuterol, I don't necessarily notice any greater production either. But I keep it up, mainly because of that comment. I guess if my smaller airways are not compromised, they wouldn't necessarily produce more mucus, but I do want to keep them as bacteria free as possible!
Thanks! Hoping that my "drug vacation" is a very long one. 🙂
Laurel
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@bayarea58
I don't have much mucous either. I have tried doing two vials of saline but I didn't notice much difference. Now, whether you should see a difference right away or after trying this several times, I don't know. I do know that it is difficult to tolerate the extra time spent though. It's a long time just doing it the regular way. Let me know how it goes for you.