Discussions
Discussions
surgery and exercising
I was diagnosed last week with bronchiectasis. I am a physical education middle school teacher and am 49. I used to work out fairly regularly until I had to have a parathyroidectomy/thyroidectomy in the summer of 2017. It took half the year to get my life back together! I gradually began to work out again and was looking forward to a summer of health but the last day of school in 2018 I came down with an upper respiratory bug that then turned into bronchitis. I was so very sick. I found a pulmonologist in july and he put me on a barrage of meds (symbicort , spriiva, zrytec, singular, flonase,...the list goes on). I began to improve but it was slow. I made it through the winter even though I work in a petri-dish! But then in March I felt the same way I did the previous summer! I was super sick. The pulmonologist put me on prednisone and antibiotics but it took over 4 weeks. Needless to say, working out wasn't happening and hadn't been happening all school year. Two weeks ago I caught my husbands cold and it ended up starting to go to my chest. This time I didn't wait to see if things would clear up. I went back to the pulmonologist. That's when he tells me that the CT scan he had ran on my over a month ago shows I have bronchiectasis. He also said to find a new job! Shocking. So here's my thoughts...I've seen on this panel many comments about the benefits of exercise. After over a year of not really working out (yoga and spinning were my thing and I was very consistent for most of my adult life) did that keep this bronchiectasis diagnosis at bay. The doctor said it's kinda like the chicken and the egg thing. Which came first; the bronchiectasis that brings on the infections or the infection that brought on the bronchiectais! I'm just wondering if I hadn't stopped working out would I have not gotten to where I am? Not that I can change things but it might help me navigate my thoughts about working out again. I have to have surgery in 2 weeks and I'm wondering how concerned should I be about things. My doctor said not at all. I know this was super lengthy....I apologize. And I thank everyone that was willing to read to the end!
Replies
Hi Sindi
I am older than you but I was diagnosed several weeks ago with Bronchiectasis too after many years of chronic bronchitis. From what I have learned, it is important that you ask your pulmonologist to do a sputum culture to determine what bacteria is causing your bronchitis, so you can then take the correct antibiotic that will combat your infection...and minimize future damage to your lungs.
Additionally Prednisone is great if you really have exacerbated bronchitis event, but it has sone nasty side effects, not the least being that prolonged use can compromise your immune system and make it easier for those “petri dishes” at school to become a provider of bacteria that brings on bronchitis.
The correct antibiotic to fight your unique lung bacteria with topical steroids like Symbicort should help you!
Good luck and take care!
Greg
Comments
Hello! Welcome to the site. As your doctor stated, they really don’t understand if it was the chicken before the egg or visa versa.
Yes, exercise can assist in prevention of this disorder; however, I don’t think that you can blame yourself for getting sick since you were not exercising for awhile. There is a genetic component/ 7 commonalities which exist which predispose many patients in getting Ntm/ Bronchiectasis.
Good luck with the surgery. Take care care of yourself in the interim
Hi Sindy. I am a bronchiectasis patient. There are many causes of bronchiectasis, such as genetic, low immunity (primary or secondary), past infection, tumor, foreign body in the airways, etc. When someone had a past infection (such as whooping cough at childhood, TB) it could lead to bronchiectasis.
I think it's really okay that you didn't have exercise at that time. Your previous surgery must be tough. Wish you the best for the future surgery.
It's okay if you couldn't do exercise right now. We can do exercise little by little. I also don't do much exercise. Maybe doing yoga or walking a bit.
Comments
Sindy,
Hello! Yes, I had an awful experience with a high dose of prednisone years ago as well..
I understood how baseball players went berserk after using steroids after being on prednisone.
Good luck w the flutter valve
Sindy, Made,
Changing jobs depends on many variables- history of recurrent lung infections, age, etc.
It is all individually based whether or not a person should stay in a role where they are frequently exposed to infections
Definitely keep working out. There is no harm unless you on rare occasions you cough up some blood (then it's probably not a medical emergency but they will probably advise you to ease up a bit until you're clear again). But there are so many benefits to exercise, including helping clear your lungs.
Do you think maybe there's an office job you could do? Does your state pay into its own retirement or can you go to another employer?
Sorry to hear about your new diagnosis.
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