@sueinmn In the past 6mths I’ve started realizing that my local pulmonologist has left many holes in my treatment . To answer your question , whenever I felt something coming on and sick feeling ( it was never called an exacerbation ), I would tell her my symptoms & she would put me on azithromycin, sometimes a Medrol Dose Pack. Last December I went out to UT Tyler for a consult , and that’s where I was better educated on airway clearance , exacerbations , and started for the first time in 6 years sending in sputum samples.
Due to Tyler being a 2 1/2 hr drive, I’m in the referral process of becoming a patient with a pulmonologist at Baylor , Dallas , who will hopefully be a Recognized Center of Excellence before long . They are in the paperwork process So all that being said , I’m aware there hasn't been the best care with any of my exacerbations , unfortunately . Currently , my pulmonologist is out of the country , so I had to get treatment from primary care …very unsettling .
What I was really trying to ask, though , is if a NTM flare feels any different than a regular bacterial or viral flare ? Since I’m newly diagnosed with MAC, and in the thick of an exacerbation , I can’t help but wonder if the MAC could be worsening . Do MAC flares present any different? Side note, I’m waiting on recent MAC culture .