Phx Asthma and Inhalers

Hi All.

For those of us who have asthma, this article on asthma and inhalers is incredibly important. If you know someone with asthma, please forward this to them. I never knew that you shouldn't just use the inhaler until it is finished (which makes sense but if nobody tells you . . .)

Here's to breathing easy!

 

You have questions about asthma... Ask me... I have a mother w/ chronic acute asthma and a sister with acute allergic asthma... I have seen the inside of an emergency room respiratory care unit more times than I care to remember

EDIT:

I'm trying to remember what the test is to tell if you have any meds left in the inhaler ? Have to call my sister

Did you also know that by sucking on the regular inhalers you are getting an unhealthy does of medication and wasting the majority of it to boot? Always use a spacer (or air chamber) with your inhaler. Spraying the inhaler directly into the back of your throat places the majority of the medication into the bloodstream from the lining of your mouth & throat and thereby nullifying the positive effects it can have when placed into the bloodstream from the tissue in your lungs Breathe it in slow and deep, when you can hear harmonica music with the spacer, you're sucking too hard

 

[face_shocked]When Christy's spacer broke I just never got another one! I'm going to call the docs office tomorrow!

 

Mom should use one too They are not just for children

My mother & sister use theirs every time.

The other place to go for great info on asthma is the National Jewish Medical Center Asthma Site They are the #1 respiratory hospital in the country and in my opinion anywhere. Wonderful, caring and highly knowledgable staff.

 

I need to get Christy referred to the asthma program in her health insurance company and they'll get her one.

I only use a rescue inhaler if I'm really bad (about once a month). It only gets unmanageable if I'm sick . . . like last week .

 

Ditto on the spacer...extremely important. Asthma is always tougher on small children. Their airways are very small and can shut down faster and harder than an adult's. I can't tell you how many children I have seen in the morgue (sp?} from one actue attack that they didn't have their inhaler for, or that their inhaler was out of medication for. Any child with asthma should carry their inhaler and spacer with them at all times. They should be taught as early as possible how to use their inhaler correctly with a spacer and when to use their inhaler. There is no reason for any child to die from asthma because they couldn't get to their inhaler or because it was out of medication. Asthma in children is no joke.


By the way Jada, I think you're doing a great job with Christie, this post was not directed at you...just info to think about. Seeing a child who died from asthma is something I can never forget.

 

Any time you see a child die from a 100% treatable illness is heartbreaking and tragic. My sister lost two friends in HS because of poor planning. One forgot her inhaler on a family trip (parent's figured she'd be fine for a few days ), and the other put herself in a bad situation knowing about her asthma sensitivities. Kids tend to believe in the "nothing can ever happen to me, I'll live forever" philosophy, but as grownups we all know too well the fallacy of that logic and should be ever vigilant to prevent acting on that type of thinking.

 

Wenchie, didn't take it personally

I know how treatable this is and also how lethal it can be.

I have a wonderful support system with other parents who deal with children with asthma and COPD (and ADHD, which Christy hasn't been formally diagnosed with . . . yet ).

 

If anyone needs information about asthma please feel free to contact me anytime and ask any question. I'm 26 and have had asthma since birth. I've lived with it, studied and researched it, and have written about it.