Guest guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 Joy, I so hear what you are saying about getting the doc to actually listen to you. WHY would anyone go to doctor after doctor after having severe symptoms (of anything) to be told it is nothing. I had so many say I was just depressed, I was ready to hit someone. I am still running to a bunch of doctors, as I seem to have myriad pulmonary, neurological and gastrointestinal problems, but still have a feeling no has a real grasp on the entire situation so am counting on my internist to be the one to pull it all together as I have all test results sent to her. I am seeing the pulmonary doctor today and need to see gastro guy for results of MRI of liver, and to find out why I can't eat because it too painful when the food goes down. Sick of being sick, Marilyn Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 Cassie You asked a question when you first joined this group about Bronch being reversible if caught in the early stages of the disease....which was a question many of us had! After much pressing, I finally rec'd an answer from my Pul specialist....(this would be probably about the 10th time I asked this question) here was her answer. By the time that you are diagnosed it's already to late for any reversal....Once you have the diagnosis you have to learn to live and cope with all of its ups and down! I think by now we all have come to this conclusion, I just thought I would share with you her opinion! I'm still hopeful to keep it minimal as we all are. We the guinea pigs of this disease! Cheers Have a Wonderful Day To Joy Hi Joy, Thanks for your response regarding probiotics and glad to hear you're feeling better. Sounds like your new specialist is pretty good -- I'm also taking a mucus clearnace device like the Flutter (Acapella) and azithromycin (Zithromax) which is supposed to help reduce inflammation. Both seem to help quite a bit and I hope they do the same for you. Since a week or two, however, I've been having an exacerbation of my sputum (although other than feeling a little tired, no other symptoms). The sputum culture shows a heavy growth of strep pneumoniae and fungus but the sensitivity report isn't due for a couple of days so I've been holding off on the abx until the report comes. Do you usually wait for the sputum culture results before taking abx or do you immediately take abx once your sputum changes? On the one hand, I don't want to breed resistance by taking abx (especially broad spectrum ones) every time I feel an exacerbation coming on. On the other, I don't want to have things get worse especially when it takes a while for the culture to show something! Just wondering what you do in these situations . . . Have you ever taken abx solely because your sputum characteristics and/or volume have changed (even though you don't feel any physical symptoms)? Thanks, Cassie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Hi Joy, Thanks for your response. Do you think that the inhaled steroids work for you? I use them (4 puffs, 2 x a day) but it doesn't seem to reduce the sputum production like erythromycin does. The dr. wants me to continue taking it though because he says it helps reduce inflammation which is vital to keeping lung function okay. I think you mentioned that you have gotten candida before. Just curious, had you been using SB FlorActiv prior to getting the candida? Have you ever gotten any complications (ie, candida, gut problems, etc) since after using SB FlorActiv? I heard that if you're immune-compromised, SB FlorActiv might cause problems if it gets in you systemically (ie, fungemia, etc.). That's wonderful news that you're able to use more abx now! How did this new doctor discover that? Through more sputum cultures? Funny how the first doctor told you differently. I think I told you that strep pneumoniae is resistant to erythromycin for me. Therefore, I'm debating how much longer I should take erythromycin for fear that it will become resistant to other bugs too! Curious to know what your new dr thinks about 7-14 versus 5 days being enough abx for an exacerbation. Take care, Cassie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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