Gardening with Bronch and MAC

I am also an avid Gardner and have been all my life. I also had horses for 34 years and lived next to a mushroom farm in California for 22 of those years. I'm sure I had MAC way before it was discovered 3 years ago. I do the same and now wear a mask when ever I'm doing yard work.

I wonder if a survey was done on a thread how many of us are/were soil turners most of our life would say yes to that question. Mine began as a child with helping Mother in the flower beds, much peat moss, and continues, somewhat, to this day.

I also hooked the guy into the 'love of being a soil turner' with having hired him to do most of it for me now. He acknowledged how much he enjoyed doing it and the beauty of it and then went on to building a flower bed for enjoyment elsewhere.
Spring is around the bend!
Barbara

A lot of great comments! I also found the 3M N 95 surgical type mask it’s blue and spatter proof. Has anyone used these? I do not want to give up gardening and outside work as moved to Florida to be outside! We have a pool outside with spa that has water fall. Even though I had all water tested and no MAC is detectable, I poured 5 gallons of vinegar during spa repair to decon and bought a 425 nm UVC light which interrupts DNA of MAC . The SPA flows into pool so water is never stagnant. So between masking all the time working outside and if I go in outside spa which helps my arthritis just doing what we can and trying to be smart about it.

I have MAI and am not a gardener so I don’t know how any doctor can say such a thing. Not that I don’t think we need to be careful outside under the circumstances, as usual Sue gives great tips for gardening, but it’s very hard to say how any one of us got infected. We can’t even say how long we’ve been infected. We guess, we theorize, but we don’t know.

I think in my case it was a very logical assumption on the pulmonologist's part. I moved to a place at my winter home where there were feral chickens and many wild birds in my yard, gardened in the heavily contaminated and often dusty soil, and within 3 years had a raging case of MAC. And in addition I was an avid gardener up North, often working with peat potting soils, another big source.

With our always being outdoors and involved with the parts of the environment directly and indirectly with all the possibilities of what is in the air from the ground up and breathing it all in, especially on a windy days, we could be breathing in bacteria from the soil, etc. or breathing in other matter to cause MAI and not realize it.

For me....first I had two serious pneumonias at the same time in the 1980's, legionella (water based) and mycoplasma (air based). A good start for BE.

As I had mentioned in another thread I specifically have three incidents just prior to what I call "the straw that broke the camels back", for me.
First, I was cleaning out the backyard bird houses and specifically said to myself, "oh my gosh you just breathed in all that dust and debris.".
Second, I opened a bag of peat moss and particles raised up and I said to myself, "you just breathed all that in".
Third, I blew the winters dry leaves away from the foundation of the house and for sure there was dust, debris and mold that I did not realize how it could be affecting me as I blew it all up and away from the foundation of the house.
All this was just before I began to having to clear a substance from my throat all day long and carrying a spit cup to the doctors office and saying something is wrong.
True I believe I had had Bronchiectasis before the three things I did above in the yard. I also believe I had a MAC infection at least three years before I was diagnosed with BE/MAI because I was having to clear my throat in the mornings only and sometimes a colored piece of mucus would come up and out. I told the doctor and he said "not a problem."

It wasn't until after doing the three things I did above that I started having to clear my throat of a substance all day long. BE diagnosed by the same doctor only after I had lost 30 lbs. and he ordered the C Scan.
So for me I do believe it was all this that finally brought me to my having to deal with, and live with, BE and the MAI.

Just as the medical field is not sure of the why and how of many things but they have come to recognize the problem and all that has to be found out....we are not 100 per cent sure of how we brought the infection into our system and fortunately they have a way of knowing it is there.
Frustrating is the word for it all and learning to take further precautions and live with it, is the key. Hope so anyway.
Barbara

@sueinmn Thank you Sue and other writers, for the valuable advice in this thread. I have been living with MAC and bronchiectasis for 7 years now, and have just been told I may not do any gardening. After adapting to a strict GERD diet, getting an adjustable bed to sleep sitting up, and enduring a twice daily huffing + vest + Volara inhaler program to clear mucus, I just cannot wrap my mind around giving up gardening - something I've been looking forward to doing more of in my retirement. So your comments have given me hope.
My question: what do you think about wearing a HEPA filter while gardening? I see one kind that sits on the collarbones like a necklace, and one that feeds into a mask. Are these good products? Thank you!

@lmasch22 That seems like way too much to me!
I wear a N95 respiratory mask with the exhalation (one way) valve - easier to breathe in and cooler than the unvented ones. The 3M one is my go-to for gardening, mowing, potting, etc.
For infection protection, my long-time favorite is the unvented 3M N95 mask.
My ID doc recommended these masks, and I have avoided reinfection for over 6 years now.

@sueinmn
I was diagnosed with MAC and BE in July '25. I also have always loved to play in the dirt and I have spent alot of time playing tennis on often very dry and dusty clay courts. I had a single bout of pneumonia 15 years ago, otherwise no other lung issues. I started showing symptoms about one year prior to diagnosis. My weight loss, chronic cough along with my love of gardening helped reach the diagnosis relatively quickly. I also had hemoptisis.
I've often wondered how many other MAC gardeners have similar stories.
My IDS doc suggests I am ok to go without a mask while taking the Big 3 (thoughts?) I wear one anyway. I want it to become habit plus it's been so dry and dusty. I like knowing I'm protected.
cissa

@cissa I must say that whether on antibiotics or not, I am selective about masking. I live in two worlds, 1500 miles apart.
In the South, I probably acquired MAC from the feral chickens in my yard, as well as the migratory birds. Here I mask, even when weeding, for fear of reinfection.
In Minnesota, I mask while mowing and weedzwhacking, where particles fly. Most of the ti e, while weeding and planting, I wet everything before I begin. I now leave the digging, soil dumping and mulching to my younger, stronger assistants.
My ID doc strongly encouraged me to keep gardening, which I have been doing since I was 9 years old 😅.
Also, to avoid bringing the outdoors in, I dump garden clothes in the laundry room, if not right into the washer, and leave shoes outside.