Looking for a little help?.

Hi Lawrence. My name is Sue. I know there has been a lady on lately who was initially told she had very mild Bronchiectasis only to have another doctor tell her she is clear. I was diagnosed with mild Bronchiectasis 6 years ago and was told that it was hardly noticeable on the ct scan. Don't know if that helps, but you will get support from this group. Welcome and I know it is depressing feeling constantly ill. I find the worst feeling so far is the "air hunger" where you feel as if someone has their hand over your mouth and nose. I take  my  inhaler when this happens. It doesn't  really  help a lot but at least I feel as if  I have some kind of control.

 

Hi lawrence,

No cough, no regular mucus production and nothing showing on a CT scan. Never say never with any of the chronic lung conditions but nothing in your picture paints bronchX to be honest. All of us who have problems with the oxygen conversion aparatus in our bodies seem to have some tiredness to some degree or other and occasional pains. The constant pain on one side would be a concern but I've not heard fellow bronchX sufferers major on that and I would have thought your doctor should not be dismissive on that one either - what does (s)he reckon about the pain and what's the recommendation?

Personally I don't get crackles when I breathe in deeply with my (relatively mild or early stage - time will tell which) bronchX, but can always raise a minor internal symphony when I breathe out to full expiration level and that usually stimulates a cough.

Wait for others to comment to see if they can find parallels. Lung diagnosis seems to be a bit of an art form as well as analytics. My Thai pulmo wasn't really able to pin down what I had when I started on this path post a successful treatment for a malt lung lymphoma, so he gave me drugs that I think mostly are more relevant to asthmatic patients than bronchX - Symbicort inhaler, a doxyfilline ('Puroxan' - doesn't seem to feature in developed countries but I found it to be preferable to the older western ones) and 'NAC Long' acetylcysteine to thin mucus. I've stuck with them ever since as they seem to suit me well.

Probably no harm in using the bronchX mantras for lifestyle management whatever your lung conditions are, but I would check it out with your medic first:

* regular excercise

* good hydration

* good sleep

* good diet - maybe just coincidence but my journey this last year into reduced inflammatory and anti-inflammatory foods (including reduced gluten and minimal dairy) seem to be reaping noticeable rewards

* lung physio - but that one definitely needs checking out before applying it as I don't know what impact that has on asthamtics and COPD sufferers and you owuld maybe need some physio input given your regular pain symptom

*seeking help from fellow sufferer groups or counseling if you find you can't escape the despair of thinking about the future might-bes (we all have sympathy with that one); increased stress always counter-productive

Good luck in finding some answers. apologies - easy for a lighter-weight sufferer to come on here and try to be all-positive!

 

Hi I have Bronchiectasis asthma I often choke on food and drinks which can happen I get and bit of a crackle then for a short time I did say at the hospital that at times I get a pain in my right lung they said it can’t hurt and said it could be cause by a muscle 

Hi Lawrence and welcome.

Sorry to hear you have so many questions but I guess most of us do too.

I recently had a CT scan which showed the bx in the bottom and sides of both my lungs...same as last year when I was first diagnosed,

A couple of months ago during a 3 month flare up I had pain in one of my lungs which turned out to be pleurisy. I assume that completely cleared because the pain went but recently I have a lot of tenderness in that same area. 

Re crackles, my respiratory consultant said that (in my case) there are always low crackles in the lungs because of the bx. 

Yes we learn a lot from others here and I think we need to be proactive with our questions for the consultants too. I told mine that when she first said it was bx I just didn't understand what she was talking about...she quite understood of course and is very good at answering my questions and explaining things. 

I hope you get the answers you need too. 

Thank you to all for giving me some insight. and very much needed helpful tips. My internet has been wonky so i have not been able to get back online for a bit. I have an appt with my pulmonologist coming up in the next couple weeks. Hopefully be able to get more answers, I think that's one of the harder parts is the not knowing whats going on or why i feel the way i do. Mark thank you for the ideas im going to start looking at my diet and eat less inflammatory foods. I hope everyone is have a wonderful day of feeling great.. thank you