abx

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Hi Joy, I was hospitalized for severe, bilateral pneumonia 3 and a half years ago. I broke several ribs from coughing so hard. Since then, I've had a daily chronic cough w/ yellow sputum (and sometimes blood, streaks of blood). The doctors aren't 100% sure of my diagnosis but the majority of them believe I have mild bronchiectasis (the CT is somewhat subjective). Others thought I might have bronchiolitis or chronic bronchitis. The doctors also believe that I may have an immunodeficiency (ie, low cd4, lymphocyte count). Gosh, I really thought that medicine would be more black and white but apparently it's not! Because this disease is serious and I don't want my lung function to deteriorate, I'm desperately hoping to reverse this disease, or at the very least, manage it. What's worked for me? Well, I took

Prednisone and rotating abx for 9 months (tapered steroids and 10 days out of the month on abx). The first dose of abx eradicated about 80-90% of my sputum production but the effectiveness of the abx plateaud after then. I then went to National Jewish and stopped all this treatment. However, I kept getting exacerbations and hence am now on MWF Zithromax. It seems to drastically reduce the sputum characteristics (ie, less yellow, thick) but the frequency of spitting up sputum was/is still higher than when I was on rotating abx. Then, just a couple of days ago, my doctor recommended Combivent (albuterol plus an anticholergenic). This medicine seems to really help reduce my cough and sputum production. Have you ever taken a bronchodilator such as Combivent? At least for me, it seems to help quite a

bit. It's tough having a condition that's so persistent and so rare. And I know you've been through so many difficult times yet are so eager to help others. Anyways, I'm thankful for people like you who are empathetic and helpful. Thanks for being there, Cassie

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