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Clearance - yellow sputum

Posted , 11 users are following.

ida44484
ida44484

Hi all,

Thanks for this great forum. It helps a lot to be able to learn more about bronch and how you all deal with it.

I have mild bronchiectasis, but I have become obsessed with clearing my lungs when I'm not sure I even have to. 

Since I'm afraid of leaving anything in my lungs, I work very hard at getting out even just a few specks of yellow sputum.

Does anyone know if it's ok to leave in just a bit of yellow sputum? 

A respiratory therapist told me that we all have some yellow sputum and that I can cause more damage by forcing coughs.

However, every other month or so, I'm able to bring up more yellow sputum - maybe like 4 -5 tablespoons. I clear it out and then I seem fine.

I'm just confused and hoping that someone here has more experince as to whether you can work too hard on clearing out stuff that might not be necessary to remove and if the yellow specks are not even related to my bronch.

Thanks and best to all,

Ida

2 likes, 18 replies

18 Replies

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  • Russell27NOLA
    Russell27NOLA ida44484

    Posted

    Ida, my experience is that I have about 2 tablespoons of sputum that I am to able to express each evening. I normally do my nebulized saline treatments along with vibration of my chest walls and then postural drainage. This allows be to cough up the sputum (usually 2 tablespoons) without much  trouble. While saying this I assume that each of us has their own way of achiivng this task. This is what finds works well for me.

    Russ

     

  • chris13705
    chris13705 ida44484

    Posted

    IT seems from looking at the posts that I only have a very mild form of bronc  but, for what it is worth I have fond that the most effective way of clearing my chest is to lie down in a hot bath, within minutes I start to cough up sputum. After about 10 minutes production stops and I then shower off the sputum that may be sticking to me! Sounds disgusting but it works for me.
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