@ainekrech Hi Elaine. I'm not usually in lung discussions, but I do have allergic asthma, and I do have a physical problem with chest tightness that interferes with clearing phlegm from my chest. This set up a situation where I got lung infections repeatedly always starting on the left side which is the tight side. I even had more phlegm production because of my body reacting to metals in dental work. I know that only because when it was all removed, my asthma improved immediately, and then when I broke my ankle and got more metal in my body, my asthma got worse again with more phlegm. I have since had the ankle hardware removed and returned to being metal free again. One thing I learned when going through surgery was to use antibiotic ointment inside my nose to prevent infections after surgery as requested by the surgeon. He gave me Mupiroicin which is generic for Bactroban and I was to use it with a pea sized glob 2 x daily for 5 days? I can't quite remember, but I tried this when I would get a sinus infection or one that spread to my chest and it worked great. I do it only at night when I go to bed so I won't have it running down my face. That may be something inexpensive to try and your doctor would likely give you a prescription for that.

Besides antibiotics, what helps me breathe a lot better is to address the physical issues of tight muscle and fascia that are restricting the movement of my chest wall. Physical therapists can help, and mine does myofascial release which is specialized training to stretch the tight restrictive fascia. The tight fascia can even extend into the lungs themselves making the airways tight inside them and trapping phlegm. For me stretching the front of the chest and neck against the tightness extending toward the sternum has released tightness inside my left lung and let the mucus clear out right away. It had felt like mud in there and felt different than the rest of the lungs. Now it seems about the same. I also have a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome that causes chest tightness that contributes to this problem.

You may want to look at our discussion on myofascial release to learn how this can help so many physical conditions.

Neuropathy - "Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
There is a provider search for MFR therapists at https://www.mfrtherapists.com/

Does this MFR therapy sound like something you would want to try?