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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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HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the MAC & Bronchiectasis Support Group.
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@sounder27 Hi there! We have a salt room two miles from my house. My friend went a spent a session there and she said she could feel a clearing sensation. I do not know that it wasn't simply a placebo effect. Doing the inhaled saline is along the same lines only it delivers it straight to the lungs.
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1 Reaction@sounder27 Hello. Is an ablation procedure a possible solution to your afib? I used to have a lot of symptoms similar to afib; it is called superventricular tachacardia. I have had it for 40 years. That is the thing that used to land me in the hospital. My HPM would go to 180 for many hours on end until medically stopped. I was consequently put on Diltiazem 240 mg and that did the trick. That, and oxygen at night. If this med didn't work, then an ablation procedure was going to be next. It is not easy figuring all of these health issues out. I am glad that you are here with us. You definitely are not alone with this journey.
@windwalker sounds great!
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1 ReactionHi. I went for an ablation just before this past Christmas, was admitted, readied for surgery, and then the anesthesiologists put s stop to it because of the excessive mucus that I was coughing up due to my Mac and brochiectisid and narrowed esophagus. They told me I couldn’t have the ablation until I cleared up those conditions. I am discouraged and still coughing. I have gone part time with my job which is working with the public designing kitchens in a big box store. I have to tell my clients that I am not contagious. They all think I’ve got bronchitis or pneumonia. My pulmonologist has put me on doxycycline for 30 days which I will start tomorrow. I slso have untreated sleep apnea and gerd, so I sleep on my back on a wedge and this dries my mouth out badly. I was not able to tolerate a c p a p. I’m not sure where to go from here so I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going without thinking about it as much as possible.
I went in for my CT Scan yesterday and the radiologist was the same one I had last time. She makes side comments. At the end she said the doctor will call me in a couple of days. I said I have an appointment next week with the pulmonologist so we will discuss it then. She said or your doctor will call you in a couple of days. This upset me very much. Am I reading to much into this? The last time they also found a lump in my breast and gall stones. Gall bladder is gone now and breast they are watching. I have been diagnosed with MAC but am not doing the Big 3 yet.
I would love the form of question to ask. Thank you.
@tinaesims First, it's important for your health that you now allow less than optimal situations upset you; if you have faith in your doc, that's all that matters and you'll go over all with him. Your appt is next week, no next month, so feel confident in your decision and move on!
@sounder27 first...no one had a clue that you weren't a candidate for anesthesia when they knew of your conditions? Doesn't give me lots of confidence in your docs... That said find out which condition needs the immediate attention in order to get your procedure so you can get on it...and get more opinions
Thank you. You are right. It seems all my doctors are just not coordinated. In my state of RI there are several healthcare networks and they do not share records without all kinds of paperwork and written permission
@sounder27 this all natural cough syrup I order from Amazon has saved me!
Broncolin/Propolis and they also have cough drops!
Amazing stuff!