Brinsupri follow-up

I thought it might be helpful to share where I am after starting the third month on Brinsupri. I started on 8/29. Started feeling positive effects during that first month.(as reported by others on this site). I still have lots of germy Grandchildren who I love and share viruses with! I developed a fever on Oct 9 which progressed to increased mucus, lo grade fever and sore throat and coughing. Did not despair, kept doing the airway clearance (upped to 3x daily) with 7% NS nebs. Took tylenol. and on October 14 sent in a sputum and a note to my pulmonologist asking if I may have an exacerbation. October 16, sputum grew moraxella catarrhalis, pulmonologist prescribed 10 days of antibiotic. At the end of 10 days my mucus levels were back to pre-exacerbation with no cough. I must say, this is the fastest I have recovered from an exacerbation in the last 2 years. Still hopeful about brinsupri. Also got a "Save the date" note from TAF (the assistance fund), for 2026 reenrollment December 3-19 at 12pm ET. (and a Pin #). Hope everyone stays well and wears a mask.

@cwal @irenea8 I'll do my best to answer these questions. Pulmonary treats the patient and not only the sputum culture. In other words, increased cough, increased and darkening sputum feeling crappy for well over a week, all these symptoms drive the decision to treat. My sputum culture showed: excellent specimen quality (no epithelial cells), increased polys means strong inflammatory response (lots of neutrophils), rare mixed bacteria (nothing dominant), no specific pathogen isolated, low level infection likely. Also waiting for tests on fungi and NTM (which take longer).

Could it be a viral thing? Yes. Often exacerbations start out as triggered by some virus. Then, it progresses to bacterial due to weaknesses in my lungs (bronchiectasis). Sometimes I can fight it off and sometimes not.

Do you think the Brinsupri caused the issue? I sort of doubt it. If anything the brinsupri helped as recovered more quickly than usual and did not get as sick.