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small study: high dose NAC might help bronchiectasis patients
MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Jun 26 7:52pm | Replies (52)Comment receiving replies
Hi Barbara
Have been thinking of you. We both have had excess mucus from memory...I was producing up to 3 cups a day.
Recently I started Pulmonary Rehab at a local hospital where a couple of physiotherapists run groups. I do lots of exercise anyway...but I had an appointment with them last week and they gave me a thorough going over...questionnaires watching my breathing and had me lay down and do some breathing exercises. It seems I have a shallow breathing disorder and they told me a lot of my coughing did not sound necessary. That I should stop and think before I cough. They thought my hypertonic saline use and constant coughing were part of a vicious circle creating more inflammation and consequently more mucus.
For the last week I have cut back on nebulising, consciously vetted my need to cough and have found at least for now, I am beginning to feel almost normal again.
I know this may not be relevant to you, but thought it worthwhile mentioning.
I was working too hard to correct the mucus issue and it seems inadvertently making it worse!!
Hope you are going well. 🙏
Replies to "@blm1007blm1007 Hi Barbara Have been thinking of you. We both have had excess mucus from memory...I..."
@narelled23 Y es, thank you......it is worthwhile mentioning.
As yet, I have not brought up 3 cups of what I clear from my throat each day. It can be as much as 3/4 of a cup each day. Only a very small fraction of it is the yellow mucus that will settle at the bottom of the clear plastic solo cup. Most of it is moisture/liquid that is not mucus. All the more reason why we need to be drinking liquid....water.
About a month ago I changed the nebulizing routine.
I am trying to see what might work better for me.
I nebulize every other day.
On the day I nebulize I only use half of the vile in the A.M. and the other half in the P.M. I cover the vile until the P.M. I run the compressor to clear out the tubing of any liquid that might be in it after each time I nebulize.
I do have to stop and clear while I am nebulizing to clear what comes up in the area of the throat. I believe for me it is the mucus, saliva, water/moisture from the lungs and possibly the stomach......... I do bring up mucus plugs quite often. They are specs to small pieces in size ....those small pieces however can "grow" if not cleared out while they are small . If mucus stays in the damaged lungs it creates a good size mucus plug...for me.
However, every day the first thing I do are my exercises. Simple leg and arm exercises and then I walk for 15 minutes which is about a mile a day.
Then I nebulize if it is my nebulizing day.
Everyday I do percussion therapy on myself and then do postural drainage. After several go rounds of both and during I clear what had come up to my throat.
I am also trying harder to get more glasses of water in a day, especially to replenish the moisture that comes up with the clearing of mucus and what my bladder releases with each cough, more so if I am not sitting. 😒
I also am trying very hard to slow down while I eat. I have been one of those fast eaters and I think that is something I have to change due to either the BE or possible Water Brash. .I am taking more time to eat by waiting longer in between bites. I say water brash due to the very first incident I had that I feel is related to one of my problems. About a year before I was diagnosed with BE while I was eating and had finished chewing and swallowing a large clear glob rushed up to my throat and mouth. I can remember saying to myself "What was that?"
I do now believe, that was my first indication that something was wrong. Water brash involves hypersalivation while acid is rising. One of the ENT doctors I did see before the BE diagnosis said he felt I had hypersalivation. He did not perform a special test to confirm it.
As we know all this takes a great deal of time out of the day.
Your rehab center sounds like they did good by you with all they took time to observe.
Regarding our clearing the throat issue.
I have been trying hard to think about what to do with the tendency to always clear what comes up to my throat. Rather than clear it I am trying to just swallow but it is a task that requires much change due to having cleared it out for the last 3 years. Most of the time I am not coughing to get it up just sucking it further up and out. I believe it is saliva/hypersalivation. I truly don't know for sure but it seems logical due to what I feel and see in the cup.
Wow "feel almost normal again" how wonderful for you. I'm not there but hope I can say the same thing in the near future.
Thanks for thinking of me. Interesting that we both are trying nearly to do the same thing.
Barbara
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@narelled23 Here is a lengthy discussion from last year on the topic of too much clearance.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/is-too-much-airway-clearance-damaging/
Remember, our airways are meant to be ''bathed'' in mucus for lubrication, trying to eliminate all of it means the body will rebel and produce even more mucus, setting up a vicious cycle. The goal of airway clearance is to remove some of the excess mucus, making it easier to breathe and giving bacteria less of a breeding ground.
I am glad you finally got respiratory therapy help. It was very valuable to me. What suggestions do you have for others at this point?