Welcome to our group! Glad you found us. Sadly, your journey to bronchiectasis is not that uncommon. We seem to all have stories involving long lengths of time to diagnosis. In my case, my initial diagnosis was asthma. The bronchiectasis diagnosis came years later.

To produce more sputum, how about trying 7% saline? It might make you cough a bit, seems a bit hard on throat at first but I find it helps bring up the gunk. I was advised by a RT to take small sips of water throughout clearance to keep the throat/trachea lubricated. You might take 1200mg of long acting mucinex with large glass of water 2 hours prior to clearance.

Then there's airway clearance. Since you're newly diagnosed perhaps you can meet with a respiratory therapist for instruction and guidance. Here's a link to everything you wanted to know and more about airway clearance: https://bronchiectasis.com.au/physiotherapy

Lastly, check out the thread here on the ABC's of bronchiectasis for lots of more information on our shared disease.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/resources-for-the-abcs-on-bronchiectasis-and-mac-ntm/?pg=7#comment-1346071