Help needed! mucus clearance!

I hope that you do it & stick with it. Can't help wondering how much better I'd be now if I'd stayed steady with twice daily albuterol nebs.

That was 9 years ago. Now I need duoneb/ipatropium+albuterol 4 times daily plus budesonide neb twice daily AND the vest twice daily, only my vest sessions take a minimum of 25 minutes, about the same as each separate men med. It's a lot of time, takes a lot longer if I'm producing tons of mucus. I am allowed to "cheat" on one or 2 of the duoneb treatments by using my combivent inhaler if I'm not at home.

I hope you avoid my situation.

Do you swallow the mucus down when it gets to your throat or is it too much to swallow? Do you cough it out?

I have heard reports that the vest is loud, and prevents you from being able to do anything else while attached.  Do you find a similar experience?

Cheers

Ian

Thanks Quintain!  I'll PM you. 

Well of course I cough it out. Otherwise I'd have nothing to contribute when we here play a round of What Color is Your Mucus.

Both machines are loud, nebulizer and SmartVest. The vest is 3ea. 5 minute bursts with 5 minute rest betweeen, and the compression gets more intense with each burst so the noise is louder. I can read, sometimes, while in the vest, and I mute the tv and watch sometimes. Unfortunately the tv in that room is small and has the world's tiniest closed captioning print, so tv is rather hit or miss.

I can now doze off using either machine. Under no circumstances am I supposed to do neb while in the vest.

Just wondering why you were told not to use the nebulizer and vest at the same time? Both my pulmonologist and respiratory therapist have recommended that I do so and it's working great.

I think they feel that in my circumstance I need everything softened a bit before getting in the vest. I have Sjogren's Syndrome so my secretions are extra thick and difficult to get up.

My advisers are testing me on   albuterol neb (which I understand to be part salt based)   2 weeks from now.

How beneficial do you find it.

You use it 2 x daily......how much time is taken to carry out the work...I am imagining a couple or so minutes each session.

Regards

Richard

I do the neb treatment before clearance vest to open airways to bring junk up easier   Neb is about 5 minutes then vest takes 20 minutes.  It takes time but if stops coughing it's worth it.  I only do once a day if I'm feeling good tho 

Oops, can't PM you.

How do you find the vest?  What are the issues you find with the vest that you wish you didn't have?

Cheers

Ian

I nebulize twice a day, first with albuterol and then with 3% saline. I do both while using my vest so it takes a total of 30 minutes twice a day. I use my laptop during the treatments and it works quite nicely. I do have to make sure the hoses are positioned correctly, however, so the giggling doesn't keep me from typing...  :=/

Thanks every one especially mary & barb

?Please supply a link for the vest which I am not to date aware of and also a link for any of (barbs1206) giggles which I am aware of but it would be nice to order them up for future use.

Quintain...

Here's a link to the vest I use: http://vest.respirtech.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2016-respirtech&gclid=Cj0KCQiAl8rQBRDrARIsAEW_To8ma1Zi0Phltg9bzdENdp_svE__JhNLpZglcEc5eP96tF1uvWheJQsaAkpMEALw_wcB  Here's the deal, though... This thing costs almost $15,000!  Fortunately, my insurance is covering all but about $1400 (for which I am extremely grateful!) I believe the  reason I got mine is that when my husband and I tried the postural drainage that my pulmonologist recommended I dislocated 5 vertebrae and 3 ribs! (It had nothing to do with my husband's thumping on my back but more about the awkward position of hanging over the side of my bed.) Bottom line... my pulmonologist recommended the vest and my insurance company agreed to cover it. I've heard from others that they've waited years to get one of these so I thank God every day that I have one. My BX is mild and I'm hoping to keep it that way. Hopefully you can get your doctor to recommend one of these for you!

As for the "giggling", that should have been jiggling! (Although giggling during a treatment might not be a bad thing..  :=/  )

Blessings to you! 

Just a heads up that I responded but since my message included a link it apparently has to be approved by the moderator. The link was to Respirtech, the folks who provided my InCourage vest...

Thank you Barb1206 for the vest information, it looks interesting and effective thankfully I believe I have no present use for it.

BTW I thought your post had been 'moderated' because we were talking about 'giggles' AND that would have bee a giggle.

I have no issues. Part of my day snd keeps me healthy. A bit loud but I just turn tv up!  My vest is called The Vest Airway Clearance System by Hill-Rom.  It's expensive but insurance covered most of it. It's helped me tremendously. It is heavy to transport but come with s large suitcase on wheels. 

Would portability be useful for you?  If you could do mucus clearance on the go.

And jiggle too.