@lreid51 Hi Lynn, Bronchiectasis is primarily the result of chronic inflammation. There are many diseases that can cause BE: asthma, cystic fibrosis, COPD, chronic infections, etc. I would think if the blood clots were causing irritation, they were also causing inflammation. Disease symptoms like inflammation and coughing will make BE worse. So BE will progressively get worse (though for many the new drug Brinsupri is hoped to stop the progression). As for the asthma, have you had the Exhaled Nitric Oxide test? The Methacholine Test? Do you have a NJH certified BE Clinic in your area? NJH is considered the top pulmonary clinics in US for BE and many of us on this site have gone there. Extremely thorough. In fact, one of the conferences I viewed, Dr Daly from NJH stated that most of the patients that got to NJH are referred by the certified BE Clinics. I still have my local doctors, but my NJH doctors are my specialists. My local ID doctor told me she has my NJH ID doctors cell phone number in her phone contacts-and they talk. You should be able to find a good info on Brinsupri and how it works. Just google: "How does Brinsupri work".