your experience and opinion about bronchoscopy

I had symptoms (cough, shortness of breath,and chest pressure) for 2 years and several CTs. Both were getting worse despite several treatments. A bronchoscopy was done finally and it revealed MAC. After less than a month of treatment for MAC, my cough is mostly gone and my stamina is already improving. Without a bronchoscopy they were guessing at what to treat so I am grateful for having done it. I had no problems associated with the procedure.

Jim...
Others have said treatment helped with the "cough". Did you bring up mucus each time you coughed. ??? I do not consider what I have to do to be, what my understanding is of, a cough per say.. I have to draw it up and out, more or less, suck it up and out. What comes out is a gel like white substance that I assume it mucus, sometimes with white bubbly looking moisture.... at times. Did, do you, have mucus each time you cough(ed)?? Is, was, it gel like and some with moisture??? I have not been told to start treatment, as yet. I have been told I have MAI and I am waiting for the latest sputum results. For me it comes up after I eat and is worse after I eat and then will somewhat suside until I eat something again. Was, is it that way for you??? Barbara

Ventilation and Perfusion. You are injected with a nuclear material and the blood and oxygen exchange is measured in each lobe by a series of scans.

Barbara, your experience sounds very similar to mine, except mine is sometimes triggered by eating and sometimes not. After a spell of coughing, the mucus starts to move up and out, as you described. Usually the gel-like, similar to egg whites, has very small bits in it that vary from yellowish to light green. Other times it will contain larger light green blobs and I may have a slightly elevated temp (close to 99 degrees). I think when the latter happens it may be what for some people, becomes an exacerbation, needing treatment, but so far my immune system seems to be handling it. My last 2 sputum samples were negative for MAC, after I was on 6 month clofazamine trial. Thanks for sharing your experience. It's so hard to know what is "normal" for those in this group, and helpful to compare notes. Where else can one discuss sputum? Anna

Thanks Anna for reading and responding. I am still waiting on the sputum results. i have a gut feeling it might be time to start treatment even if no excerbation.... Hopefully I will have a message from the Doctor this week. Yesterday marked 8 weeks of the sputum in testing.
Barbara

Hi Ling. I have had many bronchoscopies because I’m not a spitting kind of gal. They have diagnosed MAC and later aspergillosis when a biopsy was done with a robotic surgery. You can have them under general anesthesia or mild sedation where you won’t remember anything . My first bronchs were done the latter way and now I have to have general anesthesia as I had a problem a few years ago. I have many nodules as well and some are quite large. The only definitive way to determine what is going on is with a bronchoscopy or minimally invasive robotic surgery. Bronchoscopy is a safe procedure. I would not worry. Irene5

Irene and I have a remarkably similar experience with all this while a 1000 miles apart

Hi jlm0614. What kind of treatment did you have for your MAC and for how long? I'm glad you're feeling better!

I had a broncoscopy when I was 16 that resulted in a diagnosis of bronchiectasis. (I am now 74) I recently had a broncoscopy that revealed I hav

I have a collapsing trachea, which is common when you have had bronchiectasis for many years. I too bring up sputum after eating.