New To This

You don't have cough but sinus disease. You need to treat the sinusitis!

Hi Patti!

I, too, was recently diagnosed with a MILD case. I do have a cough, but I don't do a daily airway clearance either.

My pulmonologist told me not to do a nebulizer, not to worry about a vest or ANYTHING. He said the best thing to do is to not stress about it and take up meditation to manage stress levels.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I am trying to not be so hung up on "incurable lung disease" and trying to meditate daily to see if that changes anything.

Meanwhile the horrible cough is back and I really don't want to take steroids again.

I'm trying diet and exercise and meditation to see where that gets me.

Not sure any of this is helpful, but saw your comment and feel your confusion over here too! I took it really harshly and my doctor doesn't seem to think it's all that bad??

Good luck to you! Hope you're feeling better 😃

ellen

Hi Patti,

I was diagnosed about ten years ago with bronchiectasis and asthma. I also have sinus issues, I think it's pretty common to have all three problems. I was on tons of medicines and a nebulizer when needed. Now I just have an emergency inhaler.

The thing that helped me most of all, was walking. I fast walk a few miles every day to keep my airways clear. It seems so simple but it has worked wonderfully for me. My breathing used to sound like a horrible death rattle when I had flare ups.

The walking fast really makes such a huge difference.

Good luck and be well,

Murph

Hi, I was also diagnosed with mild bronchiectasis after pneumonia. I take a steroid inhaler twice daily (it took a couple of tries to find the right one) and it seems to keep it at bay. Exercise has been the key for me too, I started with walking, faster as I progressed & now I even run. If you can, I'd recommend it. But remember, all of our cases are so different, so be open to try whatever suggestions you get, and you will find what works for you. It might take awhile though. Good luck.

hi

just been diagnosed after 3 chest infections this year. latest has lasted 9 weeks and think now over worst. still got slight cough and chest sore. suffered from fatigue since april .strength returning but find am limited in what i can do and.got appointment at respiratory clinic. am 68 and very active , going to gym, swimming and playing and coaching sports. so this year has been hard

have read that exercise is good so am happy to hear this.

hi patti3780

I too am new to this and am reading and worrying . I wheeze and cough and find it hard to cough up mucus. im currently taking carbocisteine and will see my consultant again in 4 months and meanwhile ive been referred for physio

The first thing this means is that you got a very early diagnosis, which I wish that I had had. The second thing this means is THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS!!! You are not tied to daily treatments! Mine are four times daily: 3 meds in sequence the first time, then two meds in sequence, then the 3 again, then 1. I use a SmartVest at least twice daily immediately after the two big neb sessions. If things are bad, i'll do a 3d session with that machine after one of the other treatments. This is a phenomenal amount of time, year in/year out. It is also a vast amount of equipment and meds to schlep. I got some of my life back after i got a mammoth 50 psi compressor, which makes the nebulizer treatments go so much faster. But the 50 psi compressor can't be hauled around so when i travel, AKA when i have the energy to schlep all of it around, i have to take one of my smaller compressors. This means that i have to spend huge amounts of what should be vacation time just sitting in a room, sucking in meds & pounding my chest. (I also do some positional drainage.)

The 3d thing that's lucky about it being caught so early is that you might not have to worry so much about perfumes & fumes & off-gassing, and maybe you won't have to avoid being around little kids in winter, as many of us must. On the fume front, I've had flares from standing for 5 minutes near a very old pile of horse manure. It didn't even smell, but by that night, i was in trouble.

Mine is complicated by two other things, and perhaps a third. We know it is part & parcel with my chronic bronchitis, which causes me to produce buckets of phlegm. But having Sjogren's means all mucus membranes -- including lungs -- are much drier than they should be. It also makes all that phlegm that my lungs produce be much much thicker & therefore harder to expel. By the time that i was diagnosed, i sometimes spent half a day trying to get up & out what needed to get out.

One of my problems with GPs is that i mostly do not do a lot of coughing before 3 or 4 in the afternoon. American doctors being what they are, they assumed that i was lying about coughing because i didn't cough in front of them at 10 a.m. And because nobody ever told me that if you breathe thru your nose when docs listen to your lungs, they hear nothing of what they should here. And i had had lung docs before, and gave up on them in about '07. The one i have now gives strict instructions: inhale/exhale w/mouth open whenever any medico wants to listen to your lungs.

So i have a question for you: Why do you want to spend a ton of time sucking down meds if you don't need them?