Allergic reaction to meds

@deb182 We,come to the group - we have had members with an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, I hope someone will answer you. I'm sorry you have to deal with this - have the hives gotten better off the medication?

A few questions for you - when you started the meds, did the doctor have you add one at a time over a month to see how you responded? It may not be the Azithromycin, but instead the combination that you reacted to.

Were you taking the antibiotics 3 times per week or daily?

Finally, are you doing daily airway clearance with saline to also help knock down the infection and clear mucus from your lungs?

I started taking all meds at the same time taking them 3 times per week. We will now start to reintroduce one at a time starting with the rifampin then ethanbutol then either azithromycin or replacement. We are going by what dermatologist said the rash indicated to be the azithromycin.
Being an ex-smoker, i have low dose cts yearly. I had a
bronchoscopy 2 yrs ago for mac but test came back negative. This time positive. I do not have congestion or cough. Therefore I do not do any airway clearance.

Regardless of whether you have a cough or congestion, airway clearance is one of the pillars of managing MAC and Bronchiectasis. There are many discussions in this group about airway clearance, and why it is vital, but I most frequently suggest that you watch the video by Dr Pamela McShane, one of the foremost experts in managing MAC. You can find it here:

Thank you for the info. Was seriously thinking about not going back on.
90degrees and jogged 2 miles. Little short of breath but, hey, I'm 70yo.
Deborah Kessel

Are you considering doing airway clearance with saline? My pulmonologist calls it the "game changer" for getting rid of or at least suppressing MAC without antibiotics.

PS I'm 74 and did an hour of,PT for my shoulders, then mowed my 1/3 acre in 90 degree heat. Just finished airway clearance.

Yes. I am considering airway clearance. I already have the nebulizer that my husband used for his copd. Talked to pulmonologist yesterday and we decided to hold off on meds till my appt in August. Sounds like he will be sending me to infectious disease specialist.

I'll just chime in to agree with Sue about airway clearance. I was thought to have MAC, but it didn't grow out on the bronchoscopy cultures. Like you, I don't bring up sputum. When the Mayo doc called the negative result,she agreed that I could decrease form the twice daily airway clearance to once daily because I don't bring up sputum. She wanted me to continue it to prevent my bronchiectasis from worsening. I was finally able to get into Penn's bronchiectasis and Mac clinic and my doc there has me to do it as well to try to prevent infections. This past fall, he had me add hypertonic saline because the winter before I'd had several viral respiratory infections. I did have fewer. Good luck.

I recently saw a pulmonary therapist at NYU. He gave me guidance on effective Airway Clearance and I have to say it has helped me a lot. I hadn't used postural drainage while using the Aerobika until I saw him. I find these positions and breathing techniques helpful. It takes a bit of time but he told me if I'm short on time, do at least three out of the 6 positions. If you find you have more productive sputum clearance in certain positions, you can repeat or even play around with the order in which you do them. I got his permission to share this information.

Yes!! I saw the same therapist! Before he helped me I was not bringing up enough sputum for a good culture. Once I had seen him for a few visits, I started producing enough to test positive for MAC
🙁
I don't produce with postural drainage but with the vest + saline nebulizing.
I tell everyone to try to get respiratory therapy if you are anywhere near enough to one of the BE centers with experienced specialists.

Thanks for this. Great stuff. Interesting it says never to breathe in through the mouthpiece. I saw a video from Trudell that says to breathe in through the mouthpiece. Wonder why the discrepancy. Of course it's the exhale that loosens mucus.