just saw a infectious disease doctor

Hi there! I have a question for you. Do you think that using the aerobika helps you to bring stuff up? My dr wants me to order one, but I feel like the 7% saline is doing it just fine. I see that you are apprehensive about going on the 'Big 3' antibiotics. I was too. You can click on my picture icon and my treatment plan will come up. You can read about how other drs decide to treat as an alternative. Fortunately, my treatment plan worked. Have been mac-free since 2014.

I am on the fence about my Aerobika. When I am nebbing the 7%, my lungs are very good at clearing without help. But when I was hurting, I did use it twice a day - I felt it did move things from the lower lobes.
Sue

hauoli, there is a chart that has been posted here in the past that was put out by NIH. They have proven studies that show that 7% saline strength is what it takes to kill mac. members in this group have printed it out to take to their doctor visits and show it to them, I will try to find it again and get it to you. Someone else may beat me to it and that is ok.

@hauoli here it is: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850692/ - Here is the link again to that research on 7% saline solution nebulized - [...] Scroll down to table 3 for the chart.

Lorifillipek, thank you for the sites and encouragement. Ill print it out and show it to my pulmonologist. 7% seems like what I need to handle my MAC.

Thank you Windwalker. Ill look at the site and hope that my pulmonologist will understand. My infectious disease Dr wanted to put me on the big 3 for 1-2 years. Every other day taking an antibiotic. That sounded too nasty for me! Thanks

Thanks Terri and all of you on the support group. So encouraging to keep going

How bad is your fatigue? Several of us here have very mild bronchiectasis/MAC, and have never done the 3-antibiotic treatment. Our “treatment” consists of nebulizing 7% saline 1-2x/day and, for some, taking 600-1200 mg NAC/day (N-acetyl cysteine) and/or other supplements and/or using Aerobika or Acapella. (It’s been harder to get NAC recently. It had been an over the-counter supplement.) What eventually led to the diagnosis of bronchiectasis and MAC (after about 1 ½ yrs) was that I coughed up about 2-3 TBS blood while lap swimming in 2017. The blood scared me, so I went to the ER, and they did a CT scan. My only other symptom is that I cough up minor mucus/sputum in the mornings. I exercise/walk 2-3 miles daily (more slowly than I used to...).

I like that you walk so much and use to swim. I also walk daily 2miles and do yoga and some jumping type exercise. I do have fatigue but I can handle it. I walk up 7 flights of stairs several times a day where I use to be able to bound the stairs. Thinking its a combo of my MAC and being 77years of age. So twice a day I nebulize with budesonide-.5 milligrams
and sodium chloride 3%-. I do cough up mucus/sputum after yoga inversion poses. The 7% saline sounds great and Im looking into it.
Thank you.

I use the Aerobika when I nebulize the 7% but I also use it about 3 hours after I nebulize. It works best for me when I lie on my left side or back and I can bring up a ton of stuff. I fell like it gets the really deep stuff. My bronchiectasis is in my middle and lower lobes. Congratulations on being mac-free for so long. How often do you do a culture to test for Mac?