Pseudomonas flare up

[Barb1073]

Hello everyone. I'm new at this so I hope I'm doing this right. I was recently diagnosed with bronchiectisis with pseudomonas. Prescribed cipro and it seemed to help. I noticed 2 weeks ago brown discolorations and was prescribed cipro again. Just finished it a couple of days ago. Is there anyway to tell if it's under control? I've had a great deal of discomfort in my upper back between my shoulder blades, does anyone know if this is another symptom ?

[Carnival567]

I have bronchiectasis and often get upper back pain, but as I have other problems I'm not sure whether it is the bronchiectasis so best get it checked out I would think. xx

[Hidden]

mine seems to be behaving itself of late pain in the back can be a sign of the psuedonoma not behaving itself if you are overly concerned see your doc

[Hidden]

I had pain between my shoulder blades just before my exacerbation a few weeks ago. I get pain everywhere in my lungs so tend to ignore it unless I have other signs of an exacerbation. If you are still seeing brown bits in your sputum in a few days time, in spite of doing extra lung clearing to get rid of any residue from the infection, i think that you should go back to the doc as it can be a sign that the infection is still having a party.

It is important that your consultant is a bronchiectasis specialist as we have to have much larger doses of abs for longer than those with COPD and our general treatment is different. Unfortunately most general rsspiratory consultants know very little about bronch and GPs even less.

At least cipro is the right ab for pseudomonas. I have lived with it since 1986. I nebulise ceftazidime permanently to keep the numbers down, take cipro when it gets out of hand and have had IV three times.

I hope that helps. We are here for you

[ol-ly11 in reply to Hidden]

They can test with a sputum sample. I am lucky as in touch always with respiratory nurses at my hospital. I have had to have 3 lots of IV antibios this year just finishing the 3rd today! Blood test can also see if the 'markers' are back to normal. Good luck

[Hidden in reply to ol-ly11]

Poor you. I hope that you come out of this bad phase and feel better soon. I don’t trust the sputum tests. Having had thousands done over 64 years of bronch. One lab will show nothing, another, pseudo. One will say it is not sensitive to cipro. another will say it is. Anyway it sounds as though you are having good care. Our respiratory nurses can’t even say bronchiectasis. It’s COPD or nothing!

[Barb1073 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for such a quick response. Every one has been so helpful! I have seen some have been on Iv's and since I am new to this, can you tell me what your symptoms were that you were put on iv's? I generally don't have congestion and use the flutter valve regularly. I do cough up sputum but I wouldn't say a great deal so how do I know when it's time for an IV?

[cofdrop-UK]

It's hard for us to say if this is just remnants of pseudo infection - don't forget following an infection the infoammation takes a while to settle. I wouldn't wait too long though to get this checked out. Samples can be a useful guide but often they are not accurate, in that they can come back with a false neg for one reason or another. Are you in contact with your consultant or do you have an appointment soon?

Hope this settles or gets sorted soon for you.

cx

[Chyrysilis44]

I also have the same as you and experience a deep pain in the centre of my back. I am having further scans etc soon and meeting with my consultant in two weeks. I shall ask him if the pain is connected to my bronchiectasis. When I get an answer I will let you know.

Chrysallis44

[Barb1073 in reply to Chyrysilis44]

Thanks so much, I'd really appreciate that. Everyone has been so helpful. I've just been so depressed about all this and the support really helps. Good luck to you!