My dr.sends me to the pilmonary dept. at the hospital. They give me a nebulizer with saline solution which brings up sputum deep in the lungs

@cila, I have great difficulty in bringing up mucous, too. Have you tried doing a nebulizer treatment prior to collection attempt? Drinking a hot tea & breathing the steam in sometimes helps. Taking a warm/hot shower helps me, too. I know they want it to be the first in the morning sputum but I figure it's good whatever time it is... it's better than nothing.

But since I couldn't produce sputum for culture, we had to do a bronchoscopy. They clean out "copious" amounts of mucous yet I can't cough it out!!! It's an extreme way to collect sputum for culture. We only did it that way because I was in need of it due to poor ability to breath & oxygen saturation dropping & threat of respiratory failure (which happens a few times a year). But whatever it takes to get a sputum is what you have to do! Try the ideas I mentioned along with whatever tips people mention here on Connect! The folks on Connect sure have a lot of good information to pass along! Good luck! Best, Jen 🙂

I don’t seem to have any either.  Is that bad?

Jo Ann