What shower heads do you use with bronchiectasis and MAC?

Sorry to hear of the lingering illness. Were you able to drop off sputum sample during your latest illness for antibiotic targeting? It's possible you need additional treatment and the doxy and steroid is not enough to fight the particular bug you've got. The green mucus, the chills, sweats, extreme fatigue makes me think of pneumonia or a very bad cause of bronchitis. I suggest contacting your pulmonologist (either the one on call tonight) or your regular one tomorrow if you feel you can wait. They might want a chest X-ray and give you a more potent antibiotic. Until then fluids, rest, analgesics and airway clearance 3 to 4 times a day. I hope you start to feel better soon!

Regarding shower heads....I've never invested in one (a lot has been written here about them in this forum). Instead I opted to turn up my hot water heater to over 130 degrees, which according to Dr. NTM (Joe Falkinham) eliminates NTM in the hot water heater. I let the water run through the shower head for a several minutes at max heat prior to getting in the shower on those days that I shower.

I use an all brass shower head. I’m in the process of buying g an all copper shower-head, including the hose

For the first few years after diagnosis, I didn't change my showerhead. We had an open shower with a window and lots of fans. I did the fastest "sailboat shower" I could (turn the water off when not in active use) and honestly hated showering and was totally depressed about this huge change in my life.

I finally got an Aquamedix showerhead, using a prefilter to remove sediment and make it last longer. My life was so vastly improved by that investment, I kept asking myself why I didn't do it sooner. I like the Aquamedix, but I don't like you have to buy the replacement filters in bulk (or you did the last time I checked). But more important for me, it didn't work in our travel trailer. I bought a second one for the trailer and the water pressure wasn't sufficient.

I went on a big search for all showerheads with at least .2 micron filters and found Safe Water Products out of Belgium. They were actually selling on Amazon (and still do). I chatted in messages with the owner, Chris, and we settled on one of them for the trailer, which worked beautifully. You can order them directly from Safe Water as well (I'm not sure if it's appropriate to share the link, but the code NTM-25 will get you a 25% discount). I order directly because it's better for them than Amazon and you don't pay tax or shipping. I use them at home, and I have a travel bag with one in it. Ask for a hotel room with a handheld shower wand and you can swap it out for your .2 micron.

Everyone's experiences are different with the longevity of the showerheads. Depends on how much control you have over your water supply, etc. I've been super lucky and can get well past the 3 months. I keep my water heater at 132 degrees as well. If you send me a message, I think I can send you a document I have with all the showerhead stuff we put together a while back.

Laurel

Definitely need to submit a sputum sample and perhaps have a repeat chest CT for comparison. There is a shower head on Amazon which can be found under legionnaires shower head l believe. It has a 0.1 or O.2 micron filter. I am planning to also purchase this. It is as mentioned a safe water product. Hope you feel better soon.

I also had water heater turned to over 135. In addition, I took off the shower head and have a little thumb cut off (Amazon) on end of the hand held shower tube. I didn’t want to have to remember to deal with filters, too.

I have a shower head from ShowerClear. It's easy to install and really fabulous. It was designed specifically for people with lung issues. You can find it online. The website says it can't be shipped to California, but if you call them, they will process the order.

I use the Safe Water Products filters for my kitchen sink which I get on Amazon. It filters down to 0.15 microns which is great for MAC and Legionela. Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM8QCFVT I also use the Safe Water in line shower filter because I don't have a hand held attachment for mine. It also works great. Here is a link for that one: https://www.amazon.com/Inline-Safe-SS-882-Legionella-Water-Filter/dp/B0B2S89N5H I hope the links work. If not, just copy and paste into your browser.

With these products I finally was able to relax and clean in my kitchen, wash fruit and vegetables and use the water for cooking. And best of all, I was finally able to relax in the hot shower and not worry about breathing the mist. It's made such a difference for me. I have to change the filter for the sink about every 3 months and I'm still waiting on the shower filter since I put it on in January.

I really want one of these but the chlorine in my water is horrible. Would be great if they could make one that removes chlorine, lead, microplastics, etc. Our water is poison.

@ronneee Can you prefilter your water with a whole house system then add the filters at point of use?

Shower Clear.