<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>dbsholes</b></i> Keely, Your post really pulled at my heart-strings. I feel so bad for you. But something is almost certainly going on to cause this sudden (and severe) drop in your PFTs. All the advise you have received so far is excellent. What a great group! I would like to know what various nebulizers you are on, whether you are using The Vest or not, and how much sputum you actually bring up. If you doing your treatments and some form of chest percussion and are not bringing much up, that indicates that you have more of an inflammatory issue. If you aren't bringing much up but also aren't doing your full course of treatments then you need to really crack down on your treatments and see if that changes what you bring up. If you are bringing a lot up and still feel this bad then it's possible you have contracted a new bug that you're not aware of. I would DEMAND a sputum culture immediately, since you indicate that you haven't had one for awhile. Regarding the hypertonic - have you tried cutting the amount of salt in your mixture? Perhaps your recipe is too strong for you. Perhaps give that a try. Also, regarding blood sugar and possible diabetes, I know that you would have to fight for this from your doctors, but my endocrinologist strongly believes that ALL people with cf should be on insulin whether they are diabetic or not. Insulin effects the body in all kinds of ways that nobody fully understands. It is an anti-inflammatory, it helps with food absorbtion, it helps with depression and attitude, etc. Even a very small amount of insulin a day - like one or two units - could have a positive effect. Keep up the fight Keely. David Sholes Bennington, Vermont 45 yo male DDF508, CFRD, etc etc.</end quote>Thank you David for your reply! My Nebs are: -Ventolin around 3 times a day (at least 2 a day)-Pulmozyne twice a day-Tobi for 28 days then;-Colomycin for 28 daysI do have a Vest, which I use once a day for 20 minutes. I haven't used it for about the past month or so because I was too sick and would end up coughing so much I'd vomit. I'm out of hospital two days now after IV's, so I'll probably start using it again tomorrow. I would bring up maybe 50-60mls (don't ask how I worked that out!) of sputum in the morning and maybe another 20-30mls throughout the day. I cough a lot in the morning but then it basically stops after physio. (As well as the Vest, physio includes Pep Mask and clapping from my mum)Oh, I definately do every single treatment there is. My mum's like a maniac when it comes to CF- everything has to be done and it has to be done 100% perfect! I did have a sputum culture around a month ago- I'd say in the past two years I've had over a hundred done because they test me all the time. I just don't remember what was on it! Moderate pseudo I think and nothing else that was worrying. I had the IV's for pseudo.The HypertonicSaline I was using was called MucoClear and came all ready made and what-not, so I just took it and didn't realiseitcould be taken in smaller doses, as when I said it at the hospital they didn't suggest that, they just told me not to take it anymore. (I just looked up the website and saw they have 3% versions, so I'll try those)The view your doctor has on insulin was very interesting!My doctor barely believes in treating you for severe chest infections, so it's niceto hearyour doctor is trying to improvePWCF's lifes!Thank you again, Keely.
