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(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!
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i have been on the triple ABT therapy for 14 months now for MAC/bronchiectasis. In the last a couple of months I developed a rash and the itchiness is driving me crazy. I went to 2 dermatologists, an allergist/immunologist and to my pulmonologist. I had 2 biopsies, and did a lot of blood work but they could not find a cause of the rash. I tried Anti Itch Cream, a cream with steroids in it, prednisone, etc and it still persists. The dermatologist thought it might be medication-related as did the allergist. My allergist took the lead and told me to eliminate one of the antibiotics (Rifamkin) as 66% of people have the side effect of a rash. Then if the rash does NOT go away, he will eliminate the Ethambutol to see if that is the cause. I am hesitant to do so. I had him call my pulmonologist to discuss but he is on vacation. The allergist said to me that I have been on the treatment for 14 months. Who really knows if 14 months is not as effective as 18 months. They have not done more recent research to know that. So.. I am a little conflicted. I did not take the Rifamkin last night, as I can't continue on like this either. I live in New York and believe I have an excellent medical team on Long Island. Any suggestions?
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1 Reaction@judyem, Hello Judy. I have no answers on your rash. Hopefully it will subside soon. If it does persist, you may want to have it biopsied for MAC. In rare instances, it can spread to your skin. I don't mean to alarm you, it most likely is not that, but you should be aware. I feel for you, there is nothing worse than persistant itching. I got terrible hives from a sulpha medication once and thought I would go insane from the constant, intense itching over every square inch of my body. You can try taking a bath with one cup vinegar and one cup Epsom salt. Soak awhile. Those two things together draw toxins out of your body and soothe the skin. I do that occasionally; it is very refreshing if nothing else. I hope that you can still manage to enjoy the holidays, BIG HUG!
i had the rash when i took the pills, they are pretty toxic Igot a lot of other side effects also, and not all when away when I stopped the pills. It is very difficult to keep weight on even thought I stopped pills a year ago. Also eyesight pretty bad now and heart palpatations. But I can feel my lungs getting worse now. It's a toss up, keep the disease down ( pills not a cure) or suffer the side effects. We need something non toxic to inhale to get rid of disease, They are slowly working on it. Take them as long as you can to buy some time. Then get off when side effects too much and start going after pharma to start clinical trials. I always tell them I am on a large forum with thousands of members and they woud make tons of $$$
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1 ReactionKatherine, no words for how badly I feel that you are feeling so poorly! Hopefully your visit will provide some answers! Please stay in touch with the group and let us know how you are doing! Fondly, Mary Jo
TO THE GROUP! I receive emails from Bronchiectasis today and there was one that was very important to us as a whole! PLEASE READ THIS! There is a FDA decision on a new drug to treat bronchiectasis and NTM. They want our input but we only have a short time to write in. Please go to https://bronchiectasisnewstoday.com and look for the section on FDA and Linhaliq. It will show you the story and how to write into the FDA and the Advisory committee. The more people who input, the better. We have a very unknown and ,to me, ignored disease. We need all the help we can get to fight infections and stay alive and well. The drug would particularly help with PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA, which right now it very difficult to treat! Just please read the story. Have a wonderful holiday season . Fondly, mary Jo
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1 ReactionYepper...and it's up to all of us to keep this disease on decision-makers' radar...from docs on news shows to the FDA. If we do nothing to promote the need for effective, inhaled drugs, our complaints will be meaningless.
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1 ReactionAmen to that!
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1 ReactionThanks so much. Enjoy the holidays!
Absolutely!
I feel like I am going insane from all the itching... it is crazy. I will try the bath. Maybe that will help. Thanks for sharing.. Happy holidays to you too!