I have "mild bilateral bronchiectasis" and no specialist in my medical system. My doctors would have said nothing about my bronchiectasis had I not pestered them; they were more concerned about the small nodules and granulomas in my lungs, because they DO have specialists to track those, but only as a cancer risk. (If I had a specialist I'd ask if I had "nodular bronchiectasis," since I fit the profile, but no one in my health system is experienced enough to tell me.)

A local friend who is a doctor is mentored by another doctor who has bronchiectasis and nebs saline, and he told me about that as soon as I mentioned what was on my CT scan. If I had relied solely on my own doctors they would have let me get infection after infection until I developed MAC/NTM and then put me on antibiotics.

I don't know if my current health is due to daily nebbing, or fastidious masking, or both. I do know that time I didn't neb after a big bike ride, I woke up coughing like I used to. That's only one data point but more than enough to keep me huffing the salt mist.

I have read many stories from others who didn't treat their mild bronchiectasis until they developed MAC/NTM, and I do not want that to happen to me. I've also watched webinars of bronchiectasis specialists (wishing I had one!) talking about hypertonic saline nebulization and sharing evidence of its efficacy as well as their own experience with patients. Many liken daily nebbing to brushing your teeth, emphasizing maintenance and prevention. So that's what I do! I like breathing.