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Breast cancer survivor, now I have MAC and bronchiectasis

MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Jan 22, 2022 | Replies (31)
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@hydrang3a

This is a great question. And a confusing one. From what I understand MAC can be culture converted which means sputum shows no signs of infection...this is the goal of the antibiotics....but I’m hearing that MAC most often returns and requires retreatment...and since the antibiotic treatment period is normally 18 or more months longer...it seems incurable. The problem often is underlying Bronchiectasis, a breeding ground for MAC, which is a lifelong condition.

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Replies to "This is a great question. And a confusing one. From what I understand MAC can be..."
kathyhg | @kathyhg | Apr 5, 2019

Thanks. I did a bit of reading and saw a few statistics, as reliable as statistics can be, that said that approximately 30% get it back again and those tend to be people who have bronchiecstatis and/or other lung conditions. I have bronchiecstasis so this could be me - very sobering thought.

It is a good thing that I'm learning about this gradually or it would be totally overwhelming.

I guess the best we can do is to do all we can to get through the medication period and build our immune systems, do what we can to keep our lungs healthy and improve overall state of health given that it is almost impossible to avoid sources of MAC in the environment. I always considered myself a healthy person so this changes my perception of healthy as well!

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