Negative sputum results without treatment

I've been taking 600mg of NAC (Jarrow N-A-C Sustain) twice a day for about 5 months now or my MAC without starting antibiotic treat yet.. It took a couple of months, but I went from debilitating coughing all day to hardly coughing even lightly now. I don't know how that affects my MAC count, but I feel so much better. Here's a recent study, published in April 2019 about how NAC has been shown to help for bronchiectasis and may disrupt the biofilms in MAC: https://respiratory-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12931-019-1042-x. I also take one tablet of apo-Lactoferrin (by Life Extension) each evening to kill the MAC. I try and take the NAC on an empty stomach with a little bit of pink grapefruit juice. I don't know if the grapefruit juice increase the effect or not.

@deborahwolf Hi Deb! How was the conference? Do you have anything to share about it?

Hi Shari -- I have posted the slide on the use of filters -- the speaker was referring to water filters and she claims that they are bad if you are susceptible to MAC. Having said that I was at a support group yesterday and I brought this up. As it turns out there was an engineer in the group who disputed this. I have never used water filters of any kind and don't plan on doing so. However, I think it does give one pause, given the ubiquity of these products. The manufacturers claim that they filter out 99.9% of bacteria and as the speaker said, the .1% is the mycobacteria. I have not heard of chlorine being bad and that using a filter there would help. The speaker did not mention that. I think it prudent to avoid things known to be bad for us -- hot tubs, humidifiers, street misters, indoor pools etc. I take very quick showers now and try to keep everything ventilated. I may soak the shower head in vinegar one of these days. I guess it all comes down to how much you are willing to change your life and how much of a burden it is to institute those changes.
Mary

@annya @eileent
That is so great to hear. I wish there was more research on these products and other lifestyle factors that may help convert us to negative and keep us that way. Someone mentioned at the conference that there was really no data to back up the effectiveness of airway clearance devices... Isn't that strange? Reminds me of the stories from a few years back that there was really no research data to back up the effectiveness of daily flossing! And yet, dentists and the like keep asking you to do that. Mary

@sayaboleh Hi Mary, I enjoy and appreciate your insightful comments, thank you. You were at the conference, correct? Can you tell me was there any discussion of soft tissue/skin NTM infections?

@sayaboleh
Mary
Thanks for info on water filters!
For now I will not put up the shower filter up to remove the chlorine.
I guess I will keep taking short ventilated showers like you. I know I am super sensitive to chlorine smell or any chemicals or scents for that matter. I do have asthma also and can feel my lungs react negative to them.
I do drink spring water as I heard that's better than filtered water.
I will watch for the conference to be put on YouTube. I guess I heard it will take a couple of weeks to edit it.

Shari

There is research on air clearance devices like the Smartvest. It shakes the mucus lose. It decreases hospital visits and exacerbations.

@annya Yes. There were 3 different versions at the conference, one of which (afflovest?) had a compressor built-in. I actually tried the Smartvest at the support group meeting a few days ago which was provided by the sales rep. I am not sure that it does anything for me although it works for a lot of folks. I don't think the doctors at the conference were saying not to use them -- on the contrary. Just that there was very little data to support their effectiveness. They also do not recommend any particular one over the other, except to experiment and see what works for you. I find the nebulizer and 7% works quite well for me provided there is mucus -- I suspect I have very little. The Aerobika doesn't really do much for me either. Interestingly, one of the participants in the support group said her pulmonologist at National Jewish told her she did not really need the vest since she is so active. I feel that if you know you have mucus and has trouble getting it out and have not tried the vest -- it is worth investigating and trying it out. --Mary

@pfists Shari -- I forgot one other thing the engineer said about shower heads. He does a monthly hot water routine -- turn the tap on as hot as possible and let it run for 10 - 30 minutes (very unscientific!) I know that Mycobacteria is killed by 140 deg. water so maybe it works. Apparently he has not any any reinfection and he claims that doing that does the trick. The Australian speaker also advises letting your taps run at very hot temperatures for about 5 minutes before using for the day -- to clear out overnight stagnation. Even longer if you have not turned on your water for a long time. I'm afraid I'm not too good at remembering to do any of this. Mary

@brigby Thanks for your kind words! Yes I was at the conference. And no I did not hear any discussion about skin infections other than anecdotal mentions of rashes which may be antibiotic side effects.Mary