Katherine, let me clarify the info i gave about my pulmonologist. When i asked her if she had many MAC cases, she said probably 15. Now she could have meant over a period of time. I do know she is very knowedgeable on Bronchiectisis and Mac. I had pseudamonas bacteria first. I had the two week IV antibiotic and its gone, but it was found through a sputum culture that I also had MAC. This may be lenghty, but i’d like to tell you about how i got to this point. I moved here to the Ozarks 23 years ago from Maine. I got bronchitis often and would go on antibiotics several times a year. When i moved here , I was put in the hospital thinking I had pnuemonia, but a cloud on my lungs caused doctors to suspect TB. After culture came back negative, i was sent to Springfield, Mo. to a pulmonologist, since we didnt have one here. That doctor put me on long term antibiotics, Cipro 500 for ten days, off for ten days, then Cedax 200 for ten days, then off for ten days. This was my routine every month for 21 years. Yes, you read that right–21 years! I had no side effects at all. At the end of each ten days, i knew , when the coughing got bad, it was time for the antibiotics. I saw this pulmonologist every six months. Got a breathing test and x-ray.. I went to the gym three days a week, did yard work hours on end. Rarely got tired. Did anything i wanted to do. I continued going to Springfield because we had five different pulmonologist at our hospital here. They seemed to come and go, and i wanted to stick to one. Well, last year i started feeling very fatigued and over all, nust not my perky self. I told my doctor and he ordered a broncoscopy, and saw bacteria and gave my lungs a brushing. Took me off the antibiotics, put me on another one for 30 days every day. At the end of that, i was not feeling better, so he said i needed to go into the hospital here to have it it done, since i lived 2 1/2 hours from him. He called our hospital here and talked to the pulmonologist( which, by the way, has been here 6 years) saw her the next day, put into the hospital that afternoon. Started the treatment, sent out a sputum culture. She knew about the psuedamonas ( which she was treating), but the culture showed MAC also. I really don’t think the pulmonologist I had all those years even knew anything about MAC. I realy believe my doctor now, knows . What happened is I became immune to the antibiotics and weakened my immune system to allow these bacterias to set up shop. Katherine, i’m sorry this was so long, but i just wanted you to know what a journey i’ve been on. This forum has been so good for me, because I can see I,m not alone. For the first month on the three meds, i was deathly sick and almost gave up. At first I was taking one of them in the morning, one at noon, and the one I thought was making me the sickest, I was taking at night. Well, I was sick all that day and the next day. Then I decided to take them all at once at 10:00 before bed. That meant I had 2 full days between and after my Friday night meds, i had 3 full days between, starting over again on Monday evening. That made it tolerable and each week I was less sick. Now I’m fine and with the exception of some fatigue, i’m back to my old self, activity wise. Thanks for listening, and I’m happy your husband is out of the hospital and doing well. Take care of yourself. Kathi(21042)
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