I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis and MAC by ER on 11/23. I felt something bubble up in my chest and made myself cough.
I coughed up a handful of blood clots. no sputum. could not tell you last time I so much as had a cold but it was precovid. I was told to see lung doc and told I had MAC and started on 2 of the 3 required antibiotics. could not get in to see pulmo doc for year so saw
infectious disease doc. he did extensive blood tests but other than elevated RA found nothing. told me to STOP taking antibiotics immediately because you have to have 2 positive sputum cultures for diagnosis. also send me fir another CT. went to Rheumatologist who redid test which was within normal limits and found nothing else wrong.
eventually saw pulmo who did lung function. 1/24 I had CT again! (each CT is equivalent to hundreds of xrays!) no one is interested in scoping to get sputum. I never cough. no one has mentioned ANY of the treatments that I see in here.
I am 72 yrs. weigh 91 pounds.
actually infectious disease said if I could move out of Florida I might reduce my bacterial load.
easier said than done! thank u for reading.