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Anxiety and stress with Bronchiectasis
MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Nov 2 7:07am | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
@blm1007blm1007 People don't have the same amount of mucus. The body secretes more when there's inflammation, especially in the setting of infection. Think about having a cold-there's much more mucus is present. Google inflammatory cascade. With an infection in lungs, more mucus is produced, especially colored mucus. Some people's immune systems overreact, causing chronic inflammation and even more mucus.
About 25 percent of us have dry bronchiectasis with little sputum production. Since my sinuses are under control, I have very little sputum. It's why some of us need sputum induction or bronchoscopies to get specimens.
Personally, I wouldn't call soft mucus a plug. A plug is usually mucus that is drier and harder than regular mucus and "plugs" airways. I had a few on CT's.
I do clearance in the morning. I figure it helps lungs stay clearer. Expanding lungs is easier and happens more naturally when upright during day. I'm also less likely to get busy and skip it.
Btw, it was the Mayo doc I asked about cutting it back 2 years ago. She called to tell me bronchoscopy culture for MAC was negative, a surprise to them. My Penn doc agrees it's ok.
Replies to "@blm1007blm1007 People don't have the same amount of mucus. The body secretes more when there's inflammation,..."
@pacathy Thanks.
Scoop also indicated to me that "mucus plugs" are drier harder. What I bring up that I call mucus is clear in the clear solo cup. As a matter of fact I realized recently that my white kitchen sink (that gets cleaned and bleached regularly plus boiling water for the drain) had no longer been looking stained yellow and I believe that represents the mucus going from yellow to clear!????
I see the pulmonologist this next week and will be taking in to him what I bring up to have him clarify what we call that which I am continuously bringing up..... small soft yellow/light green tinge soft pieces. I also took pictures of what I bring up to show him. So hopefully one way or another I will get the medical 'scoop' of what these are.
Thanks for the suggestion of looking up 'inflammatory cascade'. I had not come across that before.
Wonderful that your culture for MAC was negative. Hoping my second submitted sputum sample again tells me good news as the previous...."MAI not showing no respiratory pathogens".
Barbara
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@pacathy What do you mean by “sputum induction”? I know I have mucus because I cough it up, but I can’t seem to get it in my mouth where I can spit it out. I almost always end up swallowing it. Is sputum induction something the pulmonologist does, or is it a technique that one can learn?
Thank you for the helpful info that you so often offer.