@tdrell From what @windwalker Terri has said about GERD, I get the feeling that majority of the people with MAC have GERD. I was just wondering if I have it or not. I know I don't have the typical symptoms for GERD. But it would be helpful to know whether there are cases where GERD patient do not experience obvious symptoms. If I don't have symptoms, does that mean I don't have GERD or it only means that I need to go through tests to find out? You say you have reflux/aspiration from stomach to lungs, can you tell that is happening physically or is that the conclusion by your doctors after tests?

@ling123, Ling, there is silent gerd as well where it presents no symptoms. I had symptoms galore because mine was so bad and chronic for years before it was caught. My esophagus burned so bad that I could hardly walk. When I would walk, it would burn more. I do not know the correlation between moving and my esophagus hurting more. After I had the nuclear scan done, it showed severe erosion at the bottom of my esophagus from years of stomach acid coming up. Probably due to hiatal hynia. I doubt you would need the 24 hr swallow test to prove gerd, they have other ways to check for that. An endoscope is one way, a scan is another.

@windwalker Terri, thanks a million for the explanation. I have read so much about GERD from this group. It seems to be a prevalent issue with people with MAC. I never thought I had GERD because I don't have the symptoms. But reading your post, I think I should talk to my pulmonary doctor about it when I see him next Thursday.

This is Pam again... have a question for the group: I flew from Boston to SF last week and - direct flight - 6 hours in the air. The plane was empty so I had 3 seats to myself and lay down and went to sleep for about 4 hours - almost fully flat, not sitting up. When I got up to use the restroom I noticed I was very breathless when I walked back to my seat. I took out my oximeter and my level was between 79 and 82 - the stayed that way until the plane began to descend for landing. They went back to 97 then. I never felt like I could not breathe, but it did take me by surprise. I do have sleep apnea and use a cpap and maybe because I was lying down without the cpap my oxygen dropped? Has anyone in the group had this happen while flying? Pam

@pamelasc1 Hi Pam. Yes! I have that happen every time I fly. It happens at the peak altitude in the flight pattern. The air pressure is greatest at the higher altitudes and it compresses your lungs. I have had to fly with oxygen for years. My most recent altitude test showed I could fly without it. So, I tried it, and sure enough my oxygen levels dropped severely and I was on my way to a panic attack. I will not fly without it again. I have an Eclipse personal oxygen concentrator that I use for travel. I have it for travel because I need oxygen at night too. This model is the size of a carry on piece of luggage and has wheels. The smaller models will not work for sleeping because they do not have the forced air flow. It is good for flying and sleeping with.

Terri - thank you... I found my post and your answer. When your oxygen got low that time you almost had a panic attack, what was it? Was it below 80? Did the airline try to assist you? Pam

@pamelasc1, Pam, mine dropped to about that. Between 80 & 84. I felt oxygen starved and began to panic. My husband just rubbed my arm and kept telling me to take deep breaths, etc. I did not ask for assistance. That happened during the highest altitude of the flight. I have sworn to never fly again without oxygen.

@ling123, Ling, do you think you may have contracted your MAC infection from your local water source?

@tdrell, Hi Terri. Do you think you contracted your MAC infection from your local water source?

@windwalker Terri, so far there is no definitive answer. I just saw my pulmonary doctor today. He has ordered a CT scan so he can compare the results with the first one that I had in 2014 when I had the scare of coughing up large amount of blood and diagnosed with MAC. I did have a chest X-Ray before my appointment with him and he thought the image of my lung looked pretty normal from the X-Ray. In my previous visits with him, he thought I could have gotten MAC from either the water or the soil as I do work in the garden doing planting, or trans planting, or mulching in spring and fall. But on today's visit, he said he had talked to another doctor and came away with the impression that it was likely that I got it from the water. I also asked him about the possibility that I may have GERD. He said based on my first CT scan in 2014, it is unlikely that I have GERD. But that doesn't mean that I might not have some level of acid reflux without outright symptoms. He said that if I got MAC from water I drank, it might have been aspirated into my lungs due to acid reflux through the night. He suggested that I stay away from tap water a couple of hours before bed to try to prevent that from happening. But he still thinks that the possibility of getting MAC from the soil cannot be excluded at this point.