Do you use a spacer, if so which one?

Hello All.

Just wondered if anyone using a spacer would mind saying a bit about how useful they find it and why they use it as oposed to just using the inhalor straight?

I have a volumatic and an aerospacer, both of which are a bit old and could do with replacing. I did use them when I was taking seratide as I found that I kept spraying the back of my throat!

No one has ever explained to me the benefits of a spacer, I was just given them and told to use them! Can anyone help?

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HI, i use a volumatic and have been tod it helps gets the medican direct to your lungs, but i have heard thingss said against them as well, i'm sorry but i'm not that sure but that is what mi asthma nurse and cons have told me.

xxDuckiexx

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Hi,

I use an AeroChamber Plus (i think). It's quite good, though it's tricky to clean.

I've been told that they deliver the medication straight to the lungs whereas not using a spacer makes it more likely that more of the medication stays in the back of the throat. Using a spacer can help prevent mouth ulcers which can be caused by some inhaled medications as less of the medication is deposited in the throat. That's what my asthma nurse told me but i'm not completely sure.

Becca

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Hi Dizie

When I had MDI's I used an aerochamber. Like it was said, more medication gets in your lungs that way instead of the back of your throat. Also, it can be a little easier to use as you can load the dose into the spacer, and then inhale when you're ready, so it's not so tricky to coordinate. But, I found they were just an extra thing to carry around, and it was quite bulky.

Hope this helped

XX Brynne

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Have a look on the main site, medicines and treatments under spacers - there's more info there but basically they make using your inhalers more effective by improving technique (timing of puff/breathe) and reduce side effects due to swallowing medicine instead of breathing it in.

I have a volumatic for use with my preventers (seretide) and keep a aerochamber in my bag for with my releiver (ventolin) as it's smaller to carry around so i'm less likely to forget it.

(I think we must be highly placed for the award for the most spacers in one house as with three different sized kids on different inhalers plus me we currently have 2 volumatics (one with mask), one metal cocktail shaker type one and a nebuhaler which are not currently used. a yellow aerochamber, orange aerochamber complete with teddybear pictures i think plus two blue aerochambers!)