Bronchiectasis with Little or No Productive Cough?

[Guest guest]

From what I've been reading about bronchiectasis, a productive cough

is a pretty universal symptom. I was diagnosed a few months ago, after

a period when I had a lingering cough following pneumonia last July.

However, by the time I was diagnosed (based on x-rays and CT scans), I

was coughing very little. I could barely produce enough sputum to test

in three separate tries at the pulmonologist's office. He's absolutely

sure that I have bronchiectasis, but most of the descriptions of the

disease that I've read don't seem to apply to me.

My question is this: If I have bronchiectasis but no productive cough

to speak of (not much of any cough most of the time lately), does that

mean I have a bunch of gunk in my lungs that I need to loosen up so

that I *can* cough up some sputum? Or does it mean I'm really okay--at

least for now?

In prepping for the sputum test, the doctor had me taking Mucinex

(guaifenesin only). Eventually (a week or two *after* the test--and

after I'd stopped taking Mucinex--I did seem to be coughing up a

little more sputum, but now it's back to the way things were. The

doctor said that after the test, I might as well stop the Mucinex, but

now I'm wondering whether I ought to be taking that or doing something

else to loosen up whatever mucus is in my lungs.

I have a lot of other health problems (as I've noted in a previous

message), and I don't want to make a big deal out of nothing. Maybe I

just have a super mild form of bronchiectasis and should, as my

brother likes to tease, " shut up and be grateful. " But I really would

appreciate feedback about this.

Thanks in advance.

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