My name is Ian, and I am an Emergency Medicine physician.
I am currently looking at trying to improve mucus clearance for people with bronchiectasis.
My team and I would need some help surveying people suffering from bronchiectasis and find out reasons they do or do not perform mucus clearance, and if they use any devices to do so.
Would truly appreciate a few minutes of your time, either from phone/skype, or just an email survey! Please do respond, as your help would be truly beneficial for us, and for patients with bronchiectasis!
In UK I have had 8 lots of antibiotics in past 8 months and find mucous clearance very difficult. Like coughing treacle. Diagnosed by lung scan in Sep this year.
I can cough for hours per day and cause real damage to my throat to cough up the smallest bit if mucous about half size of small finger nail
Do postural drainage every morning
Take honey, lemon, ginger and turmeric in paste form twice a day which helps
On holiday in Vietnam at the moment and hardly coughed at all. It is 30c temperature and 86% humidity so perfect condition for me
I have BX, COPD, and Sjogren's, so my mucus is especially thick and everything inside my body is as dry as the skin on the outside ,,, except in those crucial lung areas.
Per my pulmo I take 1200mg of tablet guafenisin twice daily with 8 oz water each time. Twice daily, I use Duoneb followed by Budesonide in the nebulizer, then use a SmartVest. I am supposed to use Duoneb 2 more times daily but can sub Combivent for those treatments because the blasted treatments take up 3-5 hours/daily altogether, depending on how many times I stop to cough, if I do all the nebulizer sessions. Due to the Sjogren's, it's been a rare day for decades that I didn't consume at least 40-56 oz of water.
I'm stable now but was on ABs almost every month from early Aug. '16-May '17. Got the new pulmo in January. Am 63 & in the States.
I have reported this before, and I know that not everyone can handle this process, but it sure works for me...
I was diagnosed about 10 years ago, and had numerous chest infections, until I purchased an inversion table. I have used huffing, exercise balls, hanging over the bed, etc., but until I was able to invert fully, my lungs never cleared effectivly. I hang for a few minutes, and repeat the process 2-3 times. I do this once or twice a day. I have been infection-free now for two years. I am not so naive as to think that this would be easy for everyone. I am 71, I'm slim, and keep myself physically fit. However, for those that can handle it, I would highly recommend that they try this.
I am more than happy to help, it is of mutual benefit.
72 yrs young guy with recent (ish) BX diagnosed, however 40yrs++ medical guesstimate of asthma..I think minor but uncertain degree of BX & COPD...sticky gunk a problem even with v recent postural drainage. ...Fire service at era of 'be a man and be a smoke eater' culture probably hasn't helped.
Please message me and we can talk via skype or similar.
I'm in States and do albuterol neb then airway clearance machine twice daily to clear Even if feeling good to prevent junk from getting into lungs then infection sets in Has helped do much as you can do yourself Lots of water daily helps too
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
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.