Many thanks. I heard National Jewish Health in Denver is good. Somewhere I also heard Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia is quite good as well.

Terri, thank you so much for your reply. I was diagnosed in 2012. I have seen 2 different Pulmonologist and 2 infectious disease doctors. They seem ready to treat until the do a follow CT scan and say we can wait. My husband thinks it's starting to effect my quality of life.....only due to the fatigue. I don't feel sick......so it's hard for me to rationalize the need for treatment when I don't feel sick. Not sure if I need to go to one of the centers that specialize in MAC/Bronchiectasis. I'm just so confused because I don't feel sick. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone. I live in VA.....very close to DC and not too far from Baltimore. Are you aware of any specialists in this area I could talk to.

Yes, it all is very confusing. I was diagnosed four years ago and immediately became a patient of National Jewish Health. I had had multiple bouts of walking pneumonia and finally a smart PA decided to do a CT scan and it was actually MAC all along. They traced it back to another CT scan 7 years prior that was misdiagnosed at an emergency room visit. So treatment was delayed that long. After going to NJH I decided to treat it aggressively with 18 months of antibiotics, I could not tolerate ethambutol so they switched me to inhaled amikacin. I had hearing loss and ringing in the ears. I also had two middle lobectomies in Denver by Dr. Mitchell. The surgeries went well and I finished up my meds and was MAC free for one year. It then raise its ugly head again. I do think it never goes away and sits in wait for the right opportunity to attack us again. Of course, I have bronchiectasis as well. I am not on the meds again except this time I am on a trial of clofozamine. All three times a week. I am headed back to NJH in two months and have monthly blood work for liver function. I too, am constantly tired...I also have a pain across my shoulder blades that comes at the end of the day when I am tired. Not sure what this is..Anyone have that. I get depressed as I just retired and want quality of life as we all do. I try to exercise yet am too tired at times. Happy to answer any questions and I live in California..cheers

@src3acs Many of us with the same diseases didn't feel sick when we were diagnosed. My diagnosis came when I coughed up large amount of blood out of the blue 3+ years ago. I had just played tennis for 1.5 hours that afternoon. I felt something in my throat when I got home and thought it was just some phlegm that could be coughed out. When it came out, it was scarlet red. I spent the night in the ER. Doctors and nurses were all gowned up thinking I had TB. The entire time I did not feel sick at all except the blood kept coming up and the amount was increasing. The county sent a infectious disease nurse to my house immediately after I was released from the ER and collected sputum samples from me. Three sputum samples all came back negative for TB. When I visited the pulmonary doctor, he ordered another sputum test for MAC, which came back positive. I went back to playing tennis two days later. No more blood and haven't coughed up any since. I have not felt sick. Not for a minute. Everybody here has a different story to tell as to how their diseases were discovered/diagnosed. Some of us have other lung-related illnesses which may have caused them to not feel well. Some have fatigue and shortness of breath like what you are experiencing. MAC infection is really a mysterious disease in my opinion. There are no uniform symptoms. Like Terri said, we just need to equip ourselves with amble knowledge and seek multiple opinions from different sources if necessary. It's not going to be an easy road. The payoff is in our persistence. Very frustrating, yes. But I do believe the right doctor knows the answer to our situations. The trick is how to find them.

So sorry! Words can not express the frustration of being treated and then having it come back! Quality of life appears to be out of reach for many of us. God willing a real cure will be found soon. We all wait with anticipation for those “golden years” to do so many things and then get slammed with MAC. Just try to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and try to eat nutritious foods. (which is often difficult if we are nauseous). You aren’t alone in this! Hugs.

MAC usually occurs hand-in-hand with bronchiectasis. We all know that the MAC bacteria exist everywhere. But only certain section of the population gets the infection while the rest are not affected. My understanding is that having bronchiectasis is one of the main causes of having MAC infection because our lungs are weekend by the disease and the damaged bronchial tube walls interferes with smooth travel of the phlegm up and down the tubes. When the phlegm gets trapped in the tiny pockets in the bronchial tube walls, the bacteria in the phlegm can fester. People with healthy lungs are unlikely to be infected for that reason. And for the same reason, we can be re-infected by the same bacteria even after being treated with drugs.

@src3acs I diddnt feel sick either, just the fatigue and shortness of breath, but the CT showed a different story so I was put on the meds. Hope all goes well for you.

I have been doing a lot of reading today. From what I can tell bronchiectasis seems to cause a lot of the fatigue.

@src3acs, It really does. I never made it out of my pj's today. Have never made it off of the sofa today. I hate days like today.......

@src3acs, Funny, I am from Va. also. Since you aqre from No.Va. Have you considered NIH?