No more PA

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Havoc

New member
Pseudomonas is one of the most commonly cultured bacterias in the CF population, mostly because it's friggen everywhere (you dose yourself with it every time you shower). CF mucus is different that normal because the mutant CFTR affects ion transport, and therefore osmosis, across the epithelial cell membrane, but it only affects consistency and not volume.

One of the body's defenses against microbial invaders is to increase mucus production to try and flush out the bacteria or virus with the mucus, only with CF patients, this just leads to tons of gunk in the lungs which bacteria love to colonize.

So yes, having less infection should translate loosely to less gunk. Historically, I do not have a constant cough and I feel pretty well with regard to my lungs. I started culturing PA when I was 23 and it went away sometime within the last 8 months.
 
H

Havoc

New member
Pseudomonas is one of the most commonly cultured bacterias in the CF population, mostly because it's friggen everywhere (you dose yourself with it every time you shower). CF mucus is different that normal because the mutant CFTR affects ion transport, and therefore osmosis, across the epithelial cell membrane, but it only affects consistency and not volume.

One of the body's defenses against microbial invaders is to increase mucus production to try and flush out the bacteria or virus with the mucus, only with CF patients, this just leads to tons of gunk in the lungs which bacteria love to colonize.

So yes, having less infection should translate loosely to less gunk. Historically, I do not have a constant cough and I feel pretty well with regard to my lungs. I started culturing PA when I was 23 and it went away sometime within the last 8 months.
 
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kole

New member
Congrats! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

I have only cultured PA once and that was in 2008. I had hardcore IV's for 14 days and then it was gone. The other thing is that i started HTS a week or so before the IV's and IMO that has also been a part of keeping PA away.
 
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kole

New member
Congrats! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

I have only cultured PA once and that was in 2008. I had hardcore IV's for 14 days and then it was gone. The other thing is that i started HTS a week or so before the IV's and IMO that has also been a part of keeping PA away.
 
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lilmac7

New member
I once "got rid" of it for a couple years also, however cultured other things in that space. How it was explained to me is that some of the other bugs may have been in competition with it and sort of won the battle so to speak cause I didn't do anything different per se. Also the "got rid" I was told at the time may not necessarily be so as the colonisations may just have been dwindled down so much to the point that I just wasn't bringing the suff up from the areas of my lungs that might've had it. My Doc said it wasn't to rain on my parade but just to break reality to me, sure enough some time passed and back it came so can I really say I got rid of it, I don't know but I surely didn't culture it for a good while and to the question of did I feel any better - not really.
 
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lilmac7

New member
I once "got rid" of it for a couple years also, however cultured other things in that space. How it was explained to me is that some of the other bugs may have been in competition with it and sort of won the battle so to speak cause I didn't do anything different per se. Also the "got rid" I was told at the time may not necessarily be so as the colonisations may just have been dwindled down so much to the point that I just wasn't bringing the suff up from the areas of my lungs that might've had it. My Doc said it wasn't to rain on my parade but just to break reality to me, sure enough some time passed and back it came so can I really say I got rid of it, I don't know but I surely didn't culture it for a good while and to the question of did I feel any better - not really.
 
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Tisha

New member
Congrats, Jonathan! I've had them non-stop since 1985 and really looking forward to getting rid of them. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
 
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Tisha

New member
Congrats, Jonathan! I've had them non-stop since 1985 and really looking forward to getting rid of them. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
 
M

Melissa75

Administrator
My guess is: Inflammatory response. Irritants and infection cause inflammation. CF lungs you get thicker mucus. Non-CF lungs you get easier to clear mucus, though eventually infections/inflammation with mucus-lite can also damage the airways, hence non-CF bronchiectasis. It's a vicious cycle--I think you can start anywhere in this loop: pooled mucus causes infection infection causes inflammation in the airways and mucus production inflammation in the airways and continuous presence of mucus cause damage to the airways damaged and inflamed airways allow produce more mucus and allow it to pool (actual pockets and squashed or gone cillia) more pooled mucus causes infection Some bacteria are known to elicit a greater inflammatory i.e. damaging response--PA being one of them.
ETA: Congratulations, Jonathan! :)
 
M

Melissa75

Administrator
My guess is: Inflammatory response. Irritants and infection cause inflammation. CF lungs you get thicker mucus. Non-CF lungs you get easier to clear mucus, though eventually infections/inflammation with mucus-lite can also damage the airways, hence non-CF bronchiectasis. It's a vicious cycle--I think you can start anywhere in this loop: pooled mucus causes infection infection causes inflammation in the airways and mucus production inflammation in the airways and continuous presence of mucus cause damage to the airways damaged and inflamed airways allow produce more mucus and allow it to pool (actual pockets and squashed or gone cillia) more pooled mucus causes infection Some bacteria are known to elicit a greater inflammatory i.e. damaging response--PA being one of them.
ETA: Congratulations, Jonathan! :)
 
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katethekid

Guest
Congrats Jonathan. That's awesome news <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> Only thing I am culturing right now is non-tuberculosis mycobacterium... Though I'm not entirely sure what that means for me.
 
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katethekid

Guest
Congrats Jonathan. That's awesome news <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> Only thing I am culturing right now is non-tuberculosis mycobacterium... Though I'm not entirely sure what that means for me.
 
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lilmac1177

New member
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>Havoc</b></i> Thank you. Kinda kills the theory that once you are colonized it's always there.</end quote>
<span style="font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #3366ff;">could PA be like MRSA in that once it's there, it's there but lies dormant until it decides to rear its ugly head???
 
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lilmac1177

New member
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>Havoc</b></i> Thank you. Kinda kills the theory that once you are colonized it's always there.</end quote>
<span style="font-family: tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #3366ff;">could PA be like MRSA in that once it's there, it's there but lies dormant until it decides to rear its ugly head???
 
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Kristen

New member
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>lilmac7</b></i> Also the "got rid" I was told at the time may not necessarily be so as the colonisations may just have been dwindled down so much to the point that I just wasn't bringing the suff up from the areas of my lungs that might've had it. My Doc said it wasn't to rain on my parade but just to break reality to me, sure enough some time passed and back it came so can I really say I got rid of it, I don't know but I surely didn't culture it for a good while and to the question of did I feel any better - not really.</end quote>
This is what I was thinking as well. I cultured it for 8 years, and then stopped culturing it for three years. Now I am culturing it again. Makes me wonder if it was just in such low quantities that it wasn't detectable. My doctor agreed this was a possibility. I definitely didn't feel any different when I stopped culturing it, but I DID notice a difference when I first started culturing it 12 years ago (my cough increased).
 
K

Kristen

New member
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>lilmac7</b></i> Also the "got rid" I was told at the time may not necessarily be so as the colonisations may just have been dwindled down so much to the point that I just wasn't bringing the suff up from the areas of my lungs that might've had it. My Doc said it wasn't to rain on my parade but just to break reality to me, sure enough some time passed and back it came so can I really say I got rid of it, I don't know but I surely didn't culture it for a good while and to the question of did I feel any better - not really.</end quote>
This is what I was thinking as well. I cultured it for 8 years, and then stopped culturing it for three years. Now I am culturing it again. Makes me wonder if it was just in such low quantities that it wasn't detectable. My doctor agreed this was a possibility. I definitely didn't feel any different when I stopped culturing it, but I DID notice a difference when I first started culturing it 12 years ago (my cough increased).
 
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