gj, I was dx'd with Bronchiectasis 8 -10 years ago following sudden onset of episodic retching coughing triggered especially when in a reclining or recumbent posture, although they also occurred at other times seemingly without "provocation." It was primarily just a nuisance until it began to result in acute bronchitis attacks a couple of times annually. My doc Rx'd Cipro which always seemed to clear up the bronchitis. At some point though my doc referred me on to a pulmonologist who thought I also had MAC but was unable to achieve lab confirmation of the Dx. So for a few years I just rocked along doing the Cipro thing a couple of times each year.

As years passed the bronchitis flare ups became more frequent and a bit more resistant to treatment. I also moved on to a different pulmonologist who was able to obtain a Respirtec percussion vest (aka, THUMPER). By that time I was old enough to have Medicare coverage and believe it or not, Medicare paid for the thing. I've been using it two years, twice daily for half-hour sessions along with a sodium chloride nebulizer. I've always been a bit puzzled that I have never enjoyed any irrefutable evidence that it really does any good. I do bring up mucous but it's not at all correlated in time with the Thumper sessions, in fact I have no memory of ever producing increased mucous immediately following (or during) a thumping session. Similarly, I have no evidence that the nebulizer is helpful. My hope has been that I would enjoy a decreased frequency of bronchitis flare-ups but frankly they've continued pretty reliably to occur twice a year; troublingly more difficult to resolve as time as passed.

Though I have no evidence that it's helped, I'm afraid to stop, fearing that maybe it is helping and stopping might result in an irreversible set-back.

Initially I worried that being tethered to the contraption twice a day reduced my "usable" day to 23 hours. However, I soon began to use the time to read and have probably expanded my intellectual horizon a bit in the process, despite the somewhat tortuous task of reading bouncing words.

BTW, On a recent CT scan the pulmonologist reported that my MAC condition has actually improved without treatment. I sorta jokingly said, "I must be doing something right." Truth is I may be. For year or so I've been fermenting my own Kimchi and eating a few ounces daily. Recently I read that there exist a "gut/lung axis" suggesting a healthy gut my have a salutary impact on the lungs. And fermented foods are supposed to be faves of our gut microbes. So always in the market for a silver bullet healthwise, I promptly concluded that my Kimchi is curing MAC. Hope this lengthy post doesn't violate a forum maximum rule. Don

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