3 Things I Avoid to Help Protect My Lungs with Bronchiectasis

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Some of the simplest things we do every day might quietly increase our risk of exposure to bacteria and perhaps acquiring bacterial infections. Hi my friends, I'm Linda Esposito from Be Clear with Bronchiectasis and today I'm going to share with you precautions that I take to reduce my risk. I was planning to share six, but I'm long-winded so instead I'm going to do three and then do a second part with three. I try to keep these videos under 5 minutes. I know that we all have a lot going on in our lives uh with airway clearance and all healthy cooking, exercise, all that good stuff. So um short and sweet and please stick around to the end because I am going to tell you about this device.

[00:00:49]Okay.

[00:00:50]So, the first thing that I do to minimize my risk is I do not take steamy showers. It used to be my greatest pleasure in the world. I tend to run on the cold side so I loved getting in the shower and just uh relaxing, right? I mean 10 minutes was nothing. However, I learned over time that there is a lot of bacteria in the in the shower pipes. Um we can wash, we can certainly sterilize our shower head every so often, take it down, soak it in bleach, or perhaps tie a bag of vinegar, uh white vinegar, not wine vinegar or balsamic around the shower head and leave it there for a longer period of time, even for the whole day. But with that said, we're talking about uh minimizing exposure mainly to uh MAC bacteria, that's mycobacteria avium complex bacteria and perhaps pseudomonas and other uh bacteria that are in the shower. And the thing is that they form a biofilm. It's sort of a gel that clings to the inside of our pipes.

[00:02:01]So, there's not that much to do about it.

[00:02:04]And I think one of the best things to do is to take a short shower. I also have a handheld shower uh head, so I keep that really close to my body because then it creates less mist in the bathroom. Um and sometimes, you know, it's really just about getting in and getting out. I did another video of um a 1-minute shower. I think people thought, "Oh my gosh, is this woman really going to get in the shower without clothes on?" No, I have clothes on. Um I have a bathing suit, which is uh difficult enough to to film over and over in this wet bathing suit. But um yeah, so I have another video specifically talking about this. The second area that I um make sure that I uh address is um mid- humidifying the air. So, I used to use a humidifier.

[00:02:59]Um who knew that there was lots of bacteria in a humidifier? Um so, now to minimize my risk, it's something I no longer do. I don't use a humidifier. Um what I try to do is be resourceful, be creative. I have a a kettle, electric uh teapot that I got on Amazon, and I leave the lid open, and all that mist goes into my home air, and that seems Actually, I bring it into my bedroom.

[00:03:26]So, this is what I do. Be careful. You certainly don't want to burn yourself.

[00:03:30]Um try to be resourceful in how to put humidity into your home air because a humidifier, whether it's ultrasonic with tiny tiny particles that can easily get into your lungs, or evaporative, it's really not something that we um want to be using.

[00:03:50]It's very difficult to clean. I'm sure there are people who feel they sterilize it well, but I am not one of those people.

[00:03:58]Another thing I don't do any longer is leave my toothbrush in a cup on on the vanity. Um, we're fortunate, we live in New York City, we're fortunate to have two uh bathrooms in our one-bedroom apartment.

[00:04:13]It's actually two studios put together.

[00:04:15]So, I do have my own bathroom and I used to leave my toothbrush in a cup on the vanity uh near the sink. I bought a pretty cup that looked nice.

[00:04:26]And um, I don't do that any longer because I read some research. Uh, I think it came out of Ireland about children with cystic fibrosis who were getting a lot of pseudomonas infections. And what they found when they cultured the toothbrush is they actually also cultured the toilet and it was the same isolate of pseudomonas. So, I do not want what's spraying up from the toilet to land on my toothbrush and now I put my toothbrush away. I have separate videos on this. I'm just reaching for my favorite toothbrushes.

[00:05:03]I love these toothbrushes. Um, they're they're really great and they they're called Nimbus. I couldn't remember.

[00:05:10]They're called Nimbus.

[00:05:11]I get them on Amazon and they're really soft, so they don't irritate my gums.

[00:05:17]And the other thing I do is I use um oh, so I put these I use a toothbrush for a few days and now I pop it into my baby bottle steam sterilizer. These can definitely withstand high heat. I've used them for years and in between I use this little device called a Brill.

[00:05:36]Again, there's a whole video on this. I have over 200 videos. So, um I drill down on this, no pun intended, uh and talk about um making sure that are um sanitizing and sterilizing toothbrushes and taking best precautions. So, these are three of things I do to minimize risk. I'm going to do part two and talk about three more. And just remember, it's all about making taking baby steps, not doing everything at once, and let's not compare ourselves to others. And now, this device. I got it yesterday. I haven't used it yet. And I had sworn off new devices, but I have a client who bought it. She saw it on Mannahan Medical uh did a uh sponsored Dr. Noah Greenspan who did a video on airway clearance, and he had this device. So, I bought it, and I'm going to give it a a test drive. And if you're on social media, follow me because these are the kinds of things I talk about. Um I'm on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blue Sky, Twitter. But for the most part, uh these longer uh posts that I that I put up are on Instagram and on Facebook. Okay, everyone. Please subscribe to my channel. Please like this video and hit the bell. There's a bell there right by the word subscribe. And if you hit that bell and select all, you'll get my short little videos during the week cuz I release a couple of under one-minute videos that I think you'll find helpful and maybe even enjoy. Okay, everyone.

[00:07:19]Take care.