The Vest vs Volara

I don't have any experience with the volara machine but it was only after chest (aka respiratory) therapy that my routine of 7% saline nebulizing got up enough sputum to culture (positive for Mac). After that, my doctors prescribed the smartvest. People here report different experiences, but the vest is what finally helped me get more mucus up more easily. I found that doing the saline nebulizing at the same time as the vest, with breaks for huff coughing, works best for me and I dispensed with the aerobika and postural drainage which weren't helping. My doctors approved. I have mild bronchiectasis which has been mostly stable, and Mac which did not resolve with 11 months of antibiotics. Because I had mild hearing loss we discontinued the antibiotics.

I had a happily dramatically improved pft (lung function test) last week so I'm now on 3 more months of watch and wait, and we may then decide to tackle newly developed (or newly surfaced?) asthma which doctors now think may be more responsible for my symptoms and signs including high eosinophils over several months with more coughing and deep fatigue, now hugely improved. Right now my only lung prescription is a breo ellipta inhaler (short-acting like Albuterol plus steroid) once a day.

Long & short: for some here the vest has been wonderful. Experiment with all the modes you can.

There are a couple of threads that talk about "vest therapy".
Go to the words Mac & Bronchiectasis above in blue and click on it.
Then put in the search box "vest therapy."
Hope this helps in giving you some more information and answers to help and think about when you read some of the posts.
Barbara

I have volara and try to use it every other night because I think vest is better for me and cleaning the volara tube is a problem( I am not comfortable only washing, soaking and rinsing again only) it cannot be sterilized. So I am afraid to use it although doctors at NJH recommend it . My pulmonologist at NJH even said to use it while doing the vest if you can stand it. I think it’s too much for me so just to make him happy I do it every other night- with volara I don’t get any sputum out though. May be it moves it inside me but nothing comes out after huffing/ coughing. Vest is gentler bu for me more( not much though) effective.

Could someone help me out? I don't know when you know you need a vest. My infectious disease doctor never mentioned it. Is it to get sputum out, and/or because you're having trouble breathing with all the mucus? I'm sure this was answered before, but I'm not great at navigating the system.

Does the vest squeeze your chest and force the sputum out, or does it draw it out?

Confused,
Mokie

I have AeroFlo vest - feels good. Insurance paid for it. Look for my com ment under Mullein.

@mokie i used the vast twice a day. I have to stay hydrated. The vast cheeks your chest to loosen the mucus, then you have to work at getting it up and out with huffing, acapella, etc. I use an inversion board and let gravity work too. Moving the mucus up and out is what improves your breathing.

@vstankie that was supposed to say the vast shakes your chest

@mokie, @vstankie
After a horrendous 3 1/2 months of persistent pneumonia, including hospitalizations and sepsis, I got the vest, plus I'm now on the Big 3, and I've started Brinsupri. I didn't think the vest was doing much, but after 2 months of consistent use, I now understand that at the start of using it, my mucus was so sticky, it wouldn't shift. Now with treatment (including mucus thinners), the mucus is responding to the various treatments and I can rid myself of a lot of it by nebulizing, the vest, airway clearance and exercise. Loads of work, but the rewards are showing. This past week is the first time in 4 months I haven't had fever and malaise and purulent mucus (i.e. pneumonia). @mokie, you asked how you know if you need the vest? Well, my case is a no-brainer, but I was so used to feeling crummy from a years long, low-grade MAC infection, that I wasn't a good judge of knowing what I needed. I definitely needed that vest a long time ago!

@ursala7
Which mucus thinners?

@irenea8
Whatever products I have on hand. In the morning, I drink mullein tea with breakfast. I don't need a mucus pill right away in the morning, because at around 10pm the night before I've taken Mucinex 600mg extended release (or the Walmart brand). After breakfast, right before my walk, I take a 400mg generic, immediate action guaifenesin (360 brand, Walmart, very cheap). Later in the day I will take another of these immediate action 400mg. And at around supper I take 1000 mg NAC. So, I'm getting plenty of thinners, but that's the only way I can get those thick secretions (stagnating in the bottom of my lungs) to thin out and move up. I often cough a lot of stuff up in the middle of the night, which is better than before, when I slept entirely through the night (no cough) but felt so SOB in the morning due to pooled mucus obstruction.