I found that adding a neb of albuterol, levalbuterol or duoneb (irpatropium bromide plus albuterol) just before the saline then doing airway clearance with belly breathing and "huff" coughing helps move the deeper stuff out.

And when I had an exacerbation, I did it 4 times a day for a few weeks and really brought up some deep, old nasty looking stuff from my lungs. Now I plan to do it 2-3 days in a row about every 10 days.

Going from .9% to 7% made a huge difference. But our clinic (my brother, daughter and I all go to the same, but 2 different docs) have become 7% converts over the past 2 years.

It may be that you need the big 3 for a while to knock the bacteria down, then switch to saline. I recently found an article that says saline alone doesn't work well for cavitaty Bronchiectasis, only the nodular kind. My cavities had healed over before I switched.

You need to be your own advocate - MAC plus Bronchiectasis is classified as a rare condition, so not a lot of docs have experience treating it.

Let us know what the doc says.
Sue