Virus triggering Bronchiectasis
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi,
My Husband is 40 and has severe asthma and bronchiectasis.
he has had bronchiectasis for at least 7 years but we have only just found out. We assumed his symptoms were poor immunity and asthma - he has been in and out of hospital for his asthma since he was a child. He is also allergic to everything so we have spent the last few tears trying to find the allergen.
He gets virul infections roughly every 3 weeks during the winter months and ends up being bed bound, not able to talk, gasping for air and tied to a nebuliser. He loses weight, coughs constantly and cant walk around easily i.e. going to the toilet. When he is well, he is the fittest person I know, he's incredibly athletic, very strong and no one can keep up with him but when he's ill even his doctor said he has more severe symptoms that anyone at our surgery, and it's a large surgery to cover the town centre.
As he is still having tests done, we know nothing about his current state.
I wondered if anyone could tell me if the Bronchiectasis is triggered immediately after being infected by a virus or does this happen a little later on, once he has been fighting the virus for a little while? I'm just wondering because he has coronavirus and the last time he got it, he started to recover and then suddenly it hit him hard and he become seriously ill. he is starting to recover this time round but i don't know what's waiting round the corner for him and I don't know whether he should start antibiotics to stop his condition flaring up. I know asking a doctor seems like the obvious answer but our GP's don't seem to know a lot about it (hence why it was missed for so long). He was supposed to receive antibodies intravenously but unfortunately the programme was full.
I would be grateful if anyone could let me know how it works in terms of when the condition flares up after being infected by a virus... I hope that makes sense?
Thanks a lot.
0 likes, 1 reply
fern04981 keeleyJB
Posted
We are usually told that a long ago virus caused our bronchiectasis, and that most often the virus wasn't memorable. That was before COVID-19 came along. Since I already had a diagnosis and remember the virus in the '80s that started all my lung problems, i have no way to know what they say now. But often the reason folks don't remember is because the virus happened when they were kids and just looked like a cold. Whereas mine happened in my 30s.
It sounds like no one has told you exactly what BX is: It is dead space(s) in the lungs, which are a perfect breeding ground for everything under the sun because those areas are warm, moist and dark, and nothing gets moved up and out because cilia in those areas are dead/gone.
So ask yourselves why he gets so many viral infections. Quite often the answer is proximity to children, who bring home everyone else's sneezes and coughs. If they're your kids, that's hard to deal with but can be done.
Many things including any bad thing in the air can cause a flare up of bronchiectasis, which is one of several lung issues that fall under the label of COPD. By bad things in the air, i mean things like smoke from any source, dust, Saharan dirt, mold spores, pollens, room "fresheners," burning candles and especially scented candles, incense, cat dander which occurs on their fur due to a chemical change in their saliva after 20 days (& is a completely different thing from being allergic to cats), perfume/ aftershave/perfumed deodorant, perfumed laundry products, etc. Many of these things fall under the heading of volatile organic compounds, "VOCs" for short. Our permanently damaged lungs can react to these things without being allergic to them. So allergen testing could yield zero results but he might feel better and suffer fewer flares if he takes a good OTC antihistamine, regardless of whether he's allergic; I use several products because where i live there are multiple things in the air every day. I also keep good air purifiers going non-stop. There's a big one in the living room/dining room, and a smaller one in the bedroom.
Since it seems he doesn't have a pulmonologist/lung consultant, you two will either have to go somewhere where he can see one, or start figuring some of this out yourselves IF you can get rock solid diagnoses. I mean this in the kindest possible way but being the sickest person in the surgery is a huge red flag that the doctors there should've recognized and acted upon, because they and your husband are in way over their heads. The docs should've admitted that, long since.
There are many red flags in your remarks regarding your husband's care. If he has asthma, it sounds like he's not on the right rescue meds or hasn't been properly trained on them. If he isn't using a spacer, he might benefit from using one correctly. That or else you live in one of the most polluted places on earth.p
Another strange thing is that he uses a nebulizer all night long? A nebulizer is a delivery system for liquid lung meds that come in ampules. I use 3 different meds up to 4 times daily, in sequence rather than in combination. But i do not use it while i sleep except for one 15 minute set/night when confined to hospital after major abdominal surgery. Either you mean he uses a CPAP/BIPAP* machine at night, or an air mousturizer, or you get the lung meds in half gallon containers? My pulmonologist would go through the roof if he read this description of treatment. (* CPAP & BIPAP machines are used to treat sleep apnea, which most folks have without having BX; I happen to have both apnea & BX.)
As to BX, it can only be diagnosed via CT, or can only be officially confirmed that way. Has your husband had a CT scan ("cat scan") or Computed Tomograph scan of his lungs?