My former pulmonologist would laugh if she learned I was encouraging others to use hypertonic saline! I complained about it from the minute I started on it back in 2011. I HATE it! I told her it was pouring salt on my wounded lungs. She put that in the notes I brought to my current pulmonologist! Hahaha

That being said, I was started on it as soon as the bronchiectasis diagnosis was made which was 7 or 8 years before the MAC diagnosis. I had stopped and started the 7% saline over the years and had stopped using it for a year before MAC was diagnosed. I have to wonder if I had continued it, would I even have MAC? When I started seeing my current pulmonologist, she did two things at that first appointment: 1. She wrote a prescription for 3% saline and insisted I use it 2x a day. I had been doing the 7% 1x per day when I did it. 2. She gave me a specimen cup and told me to bring in a sputum sample. My former pulmonologist had refused to test for bacteria although the frequent ct scans she ordered were suspicious for MAC.

While saline treatment MAY kill bacteria, the main purpose is to clear out as much stuck sputum as possible. Bronchiectasis and several other conditions lead to abnormal airways and mucus, which everyone has in their lungs, gets stuck in them. The body sends neutrophils, enzymes, etc. to the abnormal airways and this stuff joins the mucus to form sputum. Obviously, it is more difficult to breathe through sputum clogged airways than it is through clear ones. The sputum is also a breeding ground for bacteria.

So fellow sufferers, we need to neb that saline and cough up the sputum.