How to Use a Spray Inhaler without a Spacer
Why employ a spray inhaler for asthma at all? Because with inhalation, it takes only five to 15 minutes for short-acting, quick-relief medicine (bronchodilators) to have an impact, compared to oral asthma medicines, that can take one to three hours to have a comparable effect. With an inhaler, there are also a lower amount of medication side effects due to the fact that the medicine goes directly to the lungs and not to other parts of the body.
To utilize an asthma inhaler, you should perform the following steps in succession. By following this technique, you should realize rapid relief of your acute asthmatic symptoms.
- Shake the inhaler once or twice.
- Remove the inhaler cap.
- Place the inhaler just in front of your mouth, or into your mouth.
- Proceed to stand.
- Exhale, then as you breathe in, press down on the inhaler top. Continue little by little breathing in.
- Keep your breath held for 10 seconds.
- Breathe out.
- You’re done!
How to Use a Spray Inhaler through a Spacer
Why should you need to use a spray inhaler through a spacer? Because the degree of muscle coordination required to employ a spray inhaler might not be possible for particular individuals, especially the very young or older individuals going through difficulty with muscle coordination.
With best use, a spacer can make an inhaler 20 percent more effective in delivering medicine, compared to a spray inhaler. Spacers are specially designed to fit an inhaler on one end, while you breathe normally on the other end. Spacers moderate the speed of the aerosol mist arising from the spray inhaler, causing less of the asthma medication to act on the back of the mouth, with extra getting into your lungs. Thus, less medication is necessary to have an effective dose. In addition, there are a reduced number of side effects from corticosteroid medication residue in your mouth. An asthma spacer is a plastic or metal cylinder that mixes the bronchodilator medication amongst air in a simple tube, making it easier for patients to attain a complete dose of the medication. The spacer makes it simpler to employ the inhaler and helps ensure that greater amount of of the medication gets to the lungs instead of merely to the mouth or the air.
With a spacer, you perform these steps in sequence:
- Insert the spacer’s open end in your mouth.
- Push in the inhaler top, and spray your asthma medicine only once into the spacer.
- Breathe in deeply and hold your breath for 10 seconds.
- Exhale, breathing out into the spacer.
- Breathe in once again from the spacer, however this time don't spray the medicine into the spacer.
Using a Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI) Properly
There are five parts to a metered dose inhaler (MDI):
- the medication
- the propellant
- the canister
- the metering valve
- the mouthpiece
Each time the inhaler is utilized, an exact measured, or "metered," amount of medicine is released, which is next breathed into the lungs. The correct procedure for employing a MDI is to first completely exhale, place the mouth-piece end of the pump into the mouth, and having just started to inhale, then Push in the canister to release the medicine. The aerosolized medicine is drawn into the lungs by continuing to inhale deeply before holding the breath for 10 seconds to permit absorption into the bronchial walls. Such steps are outlined as follows:
- Shake the MDI.
- Hold the MDI upright, then remove the cap.
- Angle your head back slightly and breathe out.
- Either with or without a spacer, force down on the inhaler to release the bronchodilator medicine as you begin to little by little breathe in.
- For 3 to 5 seconds, breathe in gradually.
- For 10 seconds, hold your breath - this provides deep penetration of the medicine to your lungs.
- Wait 1 minute.
- Repeat the above breathing in sequence if required or directed by your physician.
How to Keep Organized about Usage of an Asthma Inhaler
You don’t like to run out of medication and come to find yourself having an asthma attack with no recourse but to go to an emergency room. To avoid this, here’s what to do:
Find out the total amount of puffs per MDI canister. In addition, you know how many puffs per day you average. For instance, a canister may be rated at 200 puffs. If you do 5 puffs per day, then the usage is 40 days for one canister. Calculate when to obtain your prescription refill by going out ahead by, say, 38 or 39 days. Obtain a magic marker and write the refill date on the canister. Also, mark this date on your calendar.
If you have an interest in asthma treatment advice, then you may also want to look at allergic asthma or additionally asthma air purifier.
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