(MAC/MAI) Mycobacterium Avium Complex Pulmonary Disease: Join us
I am new to Mayo online .. I was hoping to find others with .. MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM COMPLEX PULMONARY DISEASE (MAC/MAI) and/or BRONCHIECTASIS. I found only 1 thread on mycobacterium accidently under the catagory "Lungs". I'm hoping by starting a subject matter directly related to MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM COMPLEX PULMONARY DISEASE (MAC/MAI) I may find others out there!
I was diagnosed by a sputum culture August 2007 (but the culture result was accidentally misfiled until 2008!) with MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM COMPLEX PULMONARY DISEASE (MAC/MAI) and BRONCHIECTASIS. I am now on 5 antibiotics. Working with Dr. Timothy Aksamit at Rochester Mayo Clinic .. he is a saint to have put up with me this long! I was terrified of the treatment . started the first antibiotic September 3, 2011 ... am now on all 5 antibiotics for 18 mos to 2 years. Am delighted at the very bearable side effects!
I wrote on the 1 thread I found: If you google NON-TUBERCULOUS MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM COMPLEX PULMONARY DISEASE (MAC/MAI) you will learn a LOT about the disease. But PLEASE do NOT get scared about all the things you read .. that is what I did and nearly refused to do the treatment until after a 2nd Micomacterium was discovered! Educate yourself for "due diligence" .. but take it all with a grain of salt .. you are NOT necessarily going to have all the terrible side effects of the antibiotics! Good luck to you!
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January 2017 Update
One of our great Connect Members .. @Paula_MAC2007 .. had a wonderfully helpful idea that I wanted to share! Her idea .. as you read through the pages to gather information on our shared disease of MAC you can develop a personal "file cabinet" for future reference without the necessity of reading all the pages again!
If you have the "MS Word" program on your computer:
- Document Title Example: Mayo Clinic Connect MAI/MAC Information
- Then develop different categories that make sense to you such as: Heath Aids .. Videos .. Healthy Living .. Positive Thinking .. Baseline Testing and Regular Testing .. Antibiotics ..
Tips for
- As you read the pages .. copy/paste/save things of interest into that MS Word document under your preferred categories for future reference.
Then as you want to refer back to something in the future .. YEAH! You have now created your own personal "file cabinet" on MAC/MAI! Go to it!
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the MAC & Bronchiectasis Support Group.
What made them decide to test for that?
Aurora Cardiovascular Services/Electrophysiology
146 E Geneva Square
Suite G
Lake Geneva, WI 53147
2801 West KK River Parkway
Suite 777
Milwaukee, WI 53215
Phone: 262-249-5430/Fax 262-249-5437
Somehow, after I was diagnosed with COPD.... I ran across alpha1, found a way to be tested for free.... so I sent in my sample and it came back positive, then had to have a blood draw sent to them to confirm it.
Hi, I'm new to this forum. I was first diagnosed with MAC in 2001 and was treated with the 3 antibiotics and prednisone for a year. I recovered, but now it is back. I had radiation in 1988 for stage 4 breast cancer which pretty much destroyed my left lung. I beat the cancer but the radiation made my lung vulnerable. This year I was first diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, then bronchiectasis, and COPD. I'm still waiting for the lab report for the MAC bacteria. My symptoms are lots of mucous, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, periodic low fever and chills. I am now 89 years old and trying to learn to live with this. I mostly sleep a lot. The doctor says he won't treat me because of the severity of the antibiotics. Also, I read that a recurrence is very hard to cure. I live close to Stanford, but they seem to be working with Amikacin (antibiotic) which has serious side effects. They have been running clinical trials. I might ask for a referral to them if I thought they could help minimize my condition. I'm hoping that a minor antibiotic might help. Does anyone have any information about someone in my position? The Kaiser doctor says that the MAC won't kill me but pneumonia would. So I am staying close to home. Thanks for any input. Robyn
@robynmar Hi
Robyn. I know that inhaled cipro has been in clinical trials and looks very
promising. It is supposed to be released in the next six-12 months. Not sure,
but you may have to go to somewhere like Stampford to get that trial. - Terri
M.
@robynmar Robyn,
you can also ask about the regimen you and I have discussed before at your next
appt.
@waterboy So what does this mean for you? are you learning all that you can
about it?
@jkiemen As of recent times, all pulmonologists are supposed to test you
for Alpha-1 deficiencency. It is supposed to be protocal.
@jkiemen Most Drs that I have seen in the last 7 yrs have
tested me for Alpha-1 or asked me about it. But the results are now in my
records so I don't have to worry about that anymore.
I wondered about this. I just assumed they just knew from cbc tests or exams.
Interesting. I am having a lot of sinus pain, infection and ringing in my ears.