What is Dry Bronchiectasis?

I have dealt with acid reflux for years and an endoscopy confirmed I had a sliding hiatal hernia. If you cough while lying down, you are likely to have the hernia slide. I found a YouTube post by a chiropractor, Dr.Kulla, from Synergy Wellness and have implemented one of his reflux prevention techniques before sleeping. I chose the manual compression of the stomach downward from the xiphoid process to the waist a few times each night to keep my stomach from sliding upward. I have done it for 3 weeks and have had no gastric reflux episodes since. I did not do well on Prilosec as it caused me insomnia and the proton pump inhibitors have many side effects like osteoporosis. Hope this helps, we are all in this together!

I have never been able to produce much. It IS exhausting and frustrating. Getting a sample is almost impossible also!

I was diagnosed w brochiectasis in 2017 and it’s been up down. Recently I started having persistent dry cough with almost no mucus. It’s exhausting:-( it gets worse when I speak and eat. Anyone else dealing with the same? Thanks
Rosa

I was diagnosed with Bx about 10 years ago after many years of undiagnosed cough and possibly mild asthma. I have been nebulising for last 3 years and the sputum volume seems to be increasing. Yesterday I produced 2 x7oz cups.

The sputum volume is becoming scary. Saw specialist last August and they still maintain my Bx is mild, the 2x sputum samples which showed MAC at beginning of year cleared by then (perhaps a benefit of large sputum clearance?) and that asthma is a factor.

I have just ordered Lignosis which I had delivered today...hoping this will reduce sputum volume. Will try to remember how to create a post about Lignosus. 🙏
I

I agree - the volume of sputum you are producing seems quite a lot. I'm not sure I would wait until August to talk to the pulmonologist about it.

May I ask what you are using to nebulize, and what kind of airway clearance exercises you use? Also, are you on any medication to manage your asthma?

Thank you, Sue. It was last August I saw specialist.
I have been using 6% hypertonic after salbutamol. The specialists over years have complained that I am non compliant with their steroids for asthma. I did recommence Symbicort some months back in order to retry it. It seems to help if I am doing extreme exercise, but other than that I can't see any benefits for my Bx and since I don't notice my asthma, once again I have stopped it.

Specialists seemed to think mucus volume caused by other than my mild Bx.

2 doses of Lignosis now and I can feel the difference! However it is very expensive.

Have you been tested for GERD and hiatal hernia?
Another thought- maybe your routine is causing some of the mucus production. Have you considered stopping the salbutamol neb and just doing the Symbicort inhaler or its generic version? I found Salbutamol very irritating to my lungs. I switched to Levalbuterol, first nebbed then inhaled and it was better, but now have dropped that for Symbicort- even better. Also cuts neb time by half. Since you are negative for MAC maybe even try 3% saline to calm things down.

Have you been tested for GERD and hiatal hernia?
Another thought- maybe your routine is causing some of the mucus production. Have you considered stopping the salbutamol neb and just doing the Symbicort inhaler or its generic version? I found Salbutamol very irritating to my lungs. I switched to Levalbuterol, first nebbed then inhaled and it was better, but now have dropped that for Symbicort- even better. Also cuts neb time by half. Since you are negative for MAC maybe even try 3% saline to calm things down.

It sure can be hard to get a diagnosis with a sputum culture, but most docs are right to hesitate on doing a bronchoscopy - these are definitely not without risk, especially in someone who has already had hemoptysis (coughing up blood.)
Has anyone ever talked about doing an induced sputum culture? Under the supervision of a respiratory therapist or assistant, you use a nebulizer to inhale 10% (hypertonic) saline solution, which typically induces coughing and brings up sputum.