An Asthma Question?!
Question: i use an albuterol inhaler prior to excersie and 1 -2 puffs every 4- 6 hours as needed. I just reciently had an asthma attack. I coughed for about 15 minutes before anything happened, then tightness, gasping, and wheezing started. I used the inhaler as soon as the tightness, gasping, and wheezing occured, it gave me relief for about 5 minutes then it wore off. It calmed down lucky i didn't have to go to the er, but i would have if it got any worse. I have to use my inhaler after i get out of the shower and step outside into the cold because of the cold air. I use a spacer. I don't know what triggers most of my attacks. Do you think i need something stronger than albuterol? if so what? Epi pen? Suggestions?
Answers: i use an albuterol inhaler prior to excersie and 1 -2 puffs every 4- 6 hours as needed. I just reciently had an asthma attack. I coughed for about 15 minutes before anything happened, then tightness, gasping, and wheezing started. I used the inhaler as soon as the tightness, gasping, and wheezing occured, it gave me relief for about 5 minutes then it wore off. It calmed down lucky i didn't have to go to the er, but i would have if it got any worse. I have to use my inhaler after i get out of the shower and step outside into the cold because of the cold air. I use a spacer. I don't know what triggers most of my attacks. Do you think i need something stronger than albuterol? if so what? Epi pen? Suggestions?
I don't think that you need anything stronger at all...there's nothing better than good ol' Albuterol. I think that you do need to be sure that you're using your inhaler properly, though and that medication is still present in the canister.
Make sure that it's warmed to body temp (place it under your arm or behind your knee for a couple of minutes) and expel the first puff into the air, this activates the most concentrated medication inside the canister. Then use the next couple of puffs with your spacer, you may use up to 4 puffs every few hours.
You may need to speak with your doctor about a home nebulizer. This is a machine that concentrates air into pressure that's released into a medicine cup filled with Albuterol. The pressure causes the medicine to be condensed into droplet form where you can easily inhale it. It's a very good modality for your medication distribution and is more effective than an inhaler which can run out with no warning.
Also, your doctor may want to take a daily prophylactic such as Advair or Spiriva to help with your symptoms. These are longer acting medications and you'll still be able to use your Albuterol for rescue attacks.
I hope this helped, please feel free to contact me with any further questions.
yes you do. now days they can almost stop you having attacks but its because they have you take a pill every day and use certain enhalers and stuff it keeps it away. it could be you are allergeic to something in the air and that is what attacks you and then gets your asthma. that way if you see doc and find out its best. so go see now.
Hi Sophie
Here are some answers on asthma.
Causes of Asthma
Causes of asthma include, though are not limited to poor diet, food and environmental allergies, exposure to cold air, infection, overexertion and/or excessive exercise, exhaustion, and stress. Inhalants, which are commonly prescribed by conventional physicians to treat asthma symptoms, can also trigger asthma attacks, as can other pharmaceutical drugs, which can trigger allergic responses. Improper breathing habits are also a factor; often Asthmatics do shallow breathing, which leaves them more susceptible to an attack. Shallow breathing, coupled with the fear of not being able to breathe can often aggravate an attack.
1. Cleanses: Colon and liver cleanse will clear out the toxins in the blood and this assists the body in healing. Learn about detoxifying the blood and you can change your health very quickly.
2. Diet:
If you suffer from asthma, you need to be screened for food allergies and sensitivities, and then avoid eating those foods you are allergic or sensitive to. In addition, avoid all sugar and sugar products, wheat and wheat byproducts, soft drinks, commercially processed foods, and all foods containing artificial ingredients, such as additives, colorings, flavorings, and preservatives. Minimize your intake of milk and dairy products, coffee and other caffeinated products. In addition, avoid eating foods that are high on the glycemic index, as such foods can trigger insulin resistance and cause hypoglycemia, which is a common factor in many cases of asthma.
3. Be sure to drink a gallon of pure water a day.
4. Emphasize an organic, whole foods, include plenty of fresh, raw organic fruits and vegetables, preferably soaked nuts and seeds, organic, free-range meats and poultry, and wild-caught fish. Garlic and onions, ginger and peppers are excellent staples to include in your meals, due to their powerful health benefits for the lungs and overall respiratory system. Also be sure to drink plenty of pure, fresh water each day, a minimum of eight ounces should be drunk every two hours. Extra virgin olive oil, virgin raw coconut butter/oil and high lignin flax seed oil are the oils of choice, and can used freely to replace all other fats and oils in the diet. Choose to cook with only virgin coconut butter/oil due to its ability to withstand high heats.
If your asthma attacks tend to be provoked by stress, combine half a teaspoon each of baking soda and sea salt in organic juice or pure, filtered water, and drink immediately.
5. Herbs: Useful herbs for helping to prevent and reverse asthma symptoms include cayenne pepper, ephedra (although the Food and Drug Administration tried to ban ephedra, it is now once again available due to a federal court ruling that overthrew the FDA ban), garlic, gingko biloba, green tea, gumweed, horse chestnut, Indian tobacco, jujube plum, licorice root, lobelia, marshmallow root, mullein, onion, passionflower, skunk cabbage, slippery elm, and thyme.
6. Homeopathy: Useful homeopathic remedies for asthma include Ammonium carbonicum, Aralia racemosa, Arsenicum album, Arsenicum iodatum, Cuprum metallicum, Ipecac, Kali nit, Lachesis, Lobelia, Natrum sulpuricum, Pulsatilla, Sambucus, Spongia tosta, and Sulphur.
Best of health to you
if the propellent is CFC get a new one with HFA. HFA creates smaller partical size of Albuterol so there is much greater deposition to ur lungs. CFC is banned. they only hand them out because they have a few thousands left over and the deadline to stop CFC is dec 2008.
now if u are using an HFA propellent make sure ur using ur spacer or holding chamber properly. tight lip seal is important as well and slow deep breath. try to hold ur breath so the medicine has time to settle in ur lungs.
I have asthma that can get pretty sever. Well it used to until I started using Advair.....Ask your Doctor if you should be on Advair......that helps avoid attacks from coming on........They call it the purple disk. It is a powder that you inhale. There are tiny capsuels inside that when you push a little lever, it pokes a hole in the tablet and you breath it in. You do that twice a day. It works great for me.....Good Luck
Please keep in mind that a side effect of asthma medication is glutathione depletion in the lungs cells. Make sure that you are boosting your glutathione levels since it is your body's master antioxidant.
Any other questions drop me a line celenaper@yahoo.com
I'm very pleased to hear that you are using a spacer. However, while albuterol is a wonderful medication for those of us with asthma it is not a maintaince medication. There are new guidelines that were released last year for albuterol called the rule of two. Simply stated, 'If you are using more than two albuterol inhalers in a year, you are considered an uncontrolled asthmatic'. Therefore you should be on a controller medication such as Advair diskus or singular on a daily basis. Additionally, 'If you are using more than two inhalers in a two month period, you are at risk to DIE from an asthma attack.' An Epi-pen will not work if your not having allergy reactions.
I recommend that you keep a diary of the things that you do on the days that your asthma acts up. You will find that other than exercise there will eventually be a few things that pop-up that reoccur. These will be your triggers. They may be as simple as one of your girl friends wearing heavy perfume or you washing the family car. You should also talk to your doctor about an asthma action care plan. This is a plan that give you a written prescription of what medication to take and how much to take, dependant on your symptoms and peak flow measurements. You get this from your pulmonologist. I wish you luck and easy breathing.
Yes, you need something stronger. Call your doctor and let him/her prescribe something else for you. You need to be under his/her supervision. There are more medications out there that can help.
DO NOT use that inhaler more than recommended. It can be dangerous.
If you get so bad as to where nothing helps GO TO YOUR ER IMMEDIATELY!! Asthma is serious and can be life threatening!!!
Good luck