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Chronic cough & sinusitis

Lung Health | Last Active: Apr 2, 2020 | Replies (5)

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@ethanmcconkey

Hi @anunez that must be so difficult to suddenly have this chronic cough and sinusitis after years of excellent health.

@tinaesims and @nannette both have experience with chronic cough and may be able to offer you support.

Since you mentioned bronchiectasis I wanted to share this link to the MAC & Bronchiectasis group on Connect where you can interact with others who are being treated for bronchiectasis: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/mac-bronchiectasis/

Back to you @anunez and your story, are you comfortable sharing some of the antibiotics or medications you have tried in the past?

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Replies to "Hi @anunez that must be so difficult to suddenly have this chronic cough and sinusitis after..."

Hi Ethan, thank you for your reply. I had wanted to post before but wasn't seeing the link to post. I am aware of the MAC & Bronchiectasis group and have read many of the stories there. I was not able to post there. In response to your question about medications. I initially I used Augmentin for the recurrent sinusitis and bronchitis. I was also prescribed an inhaler for asthma in 2017. Also a variety of allergy medications, flonase, azelastine nasal spray, OTC allergy pills, sinus rinses. It wasn't until September 2018 when I was referred to my sinus surgery doctor that my antibiotic was changed to Cipro after he did a culture and found pseudononas. I have had several sputum tests. A few have been positive for MAC but mostly negative. I have also been prescribed prednisone bursts a few times and antibiotics and steroids in my sinus rinse.

I am currently on two inhalers and started nebulizing 3 weeks ago with with 7% saline. I recently saw a infectious disease specialist. She was alarmed with how much I have been prescribed antibiotics. The nebulizer may help clear my air passages and prevent new infections but I continue to cough up phlegm and have constant irritation in my throat. I had a pretty good summer and early fall but my constant cough, sinus which won't drain due to thick mucous have been worse since late November. I have also had weight loss which may due to loss of appetite.

My pulmonologist was finally ready to consider a bronchoscopy when the COVID-19 crisis hit. Now it is a wait game as elective procedures are on hold. Also I would not want to go near a hospital now. Right now my primary goal is to stay safe.

I am looking into the possibility of changing insurance soon. It would not get me to the Mayo Clinic but perhaps Stanford or UCSF.

Thank you