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The Vest vs Volara

MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Aug 2 4:50pm | Replies (14)

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Profile picture for mokie @mokie

Could someone help me out? I don't know when you know you need a vest. My infectious disease doctor never mentioned it. Is it to get sputum out, and/or because you're having trouble breathing with all the mucus? I'm sure this was answered before, but I'm not great at navigating the system.

Does the vest squeeze your chest and force the sputum out, or does it draw it out?

Confused,
Mokie

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Replies to "Could someone help me out? I don't know when you know you need a vest. My..."

@mokie i used the vast twice a day. I have to stay hydrated. The vast cheeks your chest to loosen the mucus, then you have to work at getting it up and out with huffing, acapella, etc. I use an inversion board and let gravity work too. Moving the mucus up and out is what improves your breathing.

@mokie, @vstankie
After a horrendous 3 1/2 months of persistent pneumonia, including hospitalizations and sepsis, I got the vest, plus I'm now on the Big 3, and I've started Brinsupri. I didn't think the vest was doing much, but after 2 months of consistent use, I now understand that at the start of using it, my mucus was so sticky, it wouldn't shift. Now with treatment (including mucus thinners), the mucus is responding to the various treatments and I can rid myself of a lot of it by nebulizing, the vest, airway clearance and exercise. Loads of work, but the rewards are showing. This past week is the first time in 4 months I haven't had fever and malaise and purulent mucus (i.e. pneumonia). @mokie, you asked how you know if you need the vest? Well, my case is a no-brainer, but I was so used to feeling crummy from a years long, low-grade MAC infection, that I wasn't a good judge of knowing what I needed. I definitely needed that vest a long time ago!