How do you fit neb treatments into your day?

Hi guys,

I had posted a while back about using inhalers at work. I think I've pretty much just taken out my spacer and started using them. Especially since some days I'm supposed to take as many as 6 puffs at lunch, and really I can't figure out a good way to do that besides take a puff, and wait a minute, take another puff and wait another minute, etc. It's a bit nervewraking it being a new job, but I'm also so used to having this problem, what am I going to do?

I'm also on antibiotics for a sinus infection, a lot of allergy meds. And I also just got my hands on a portable nebulizer. I've mostly being doing nebs at home though, and spacer with inhaler at work. I am glad I went through the effort to get a pari...the one I really wanted that is the quietest. I figured any louder and I wouldn't want to be caught dead using it in public!

Anyways, I was wondering how when you take nebs at home (or out and about), how you make it fit into your day? Do you take a break for 20 min. while you take your meds, or do you have ways to get something done while your nebbing? I'm new to doing this at home. I definitely see the benefit as it works better than just inhalers for me at least, but it does take more time and organization.

Bee

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I cant really help with fitting in neb treatments as I'm equally as bad. tend to neb just before work/uni. Go hide in my car if I'm desperate during the day. Then neb after if I need it. But I appreciate with a full working day it must be dificult.

I'm looking for a new portable neb and would like it to be as quiet as possible as am starting a new job next year and don't want to disturb my colleagues. Plus if it's quiet I can hopefully find a free corner to neb in! What did you get in the end?

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I've got the Omron, which is silent (or as near as damn it). I've been off work with asthma for a long time now, but I did use the neb at work. Ideally, it would be nice to have somewhere quiet and out of the way to sit (e.g. during a lunch break), but most people don't have that luxury. I would literally just sit at my desk and get on with it. My colleagues didn't notice most of the time, or if they did, it didn't bother them as I'd explained about it. It's certainly quieter and smaller than an inhaler and spacer, though it takes a bit longer!

If I'm at home, I tend to do something sedentary. Meal planning, online grocery shopping, writing letters or emails, reading, etc. I split my day up into little chunks so that I have periods of activity just after a neb, then potter gently, then sit still while I have the neb, etc.

Because the neb is so small (will fit in a pocket or small handbag) and silent, it doesn't bother me to use it on the bus, or anywhere else. Obviously, I try to be discreet if I can, but it's better to neb in public and get out and about sometimes than not and be stuck at home ALL the time.

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Hi

I have set alarms on my phone. The times i have set are 0730, 1230, 1730 and 2230.

I try and sit quietly to have my nebuliser. I use it as a rest time in my day.

If i need to use my nebuliser at any other time i find somewhere to sit quietly.

Plumie

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It really depends on what kind of day I'm having. But sometimes I use my neb on the bus to and from places, or whenever I can just have 20 mins to sit down, neb and read a book or a magazine. Its all about just making time. I work from home as a writer and cartoonist anyway so its pretty much a case that I will sit on the bed and have a neb while reviewing what I've just written or drawn.

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The great. Thing about a portable neb is u can take it when ever u want... When I worked I took it when I needed it and usually a friend had a cuppa as I had a neb. My boss said I wAsnt allowed the neb initially but she got told that I was allowed to take it and not to be disturbered when I did ..... We have had some fun taking it in puplic Places. I told my kids it's better to take a neb then to take an asthma attack as they got upset when people stared now they are quite good at making the starers blush with they comments

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I do stuff, like make a cuppa at home, as then im concentrating on making something rather than the potential dodgey breathing i can do when i think to much about it...im stilll waiting for my portable neb to work...but as i say to the children asthmatics i work with who get embarrased about their spacers etc...think of it as your third lung...with out it you wouldnt have a 'normal' life...just like a person with a walking disabilty has teir third leg etc

how do people stand with their nebs at work...portable or none...my works wont allow me to take...they will only let me have inhalers...they say of im needing nebs my respiratory state needs to be looked at by a professional...i dont think they are realsise my nebs are my general day to day maintenance drugs also

xx

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If I'm using my neb at home, I usually read or watch tv but at work I can use it at my desk whilst working. The team I work with are really good and don't mind at all even if they are on the phone (mine isn't the quietest I've ever had) although I will interrupt it if I need to and then get told off by them later. I am lucky as my work at the moment is not customer facing but if that should change then I would have to make alternative arrangements and ensure that I'm allowed time away from my desk.

When I'm out I have a battery operated neb and I try to find somewhere quiet to do it as I'm not keen on using it in public but will if absolutely necessary.

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hay

hi

i need to take my neb 4 times a day, when i am at home i just chill while doing it. If out then i just do it where i can, sometimes i can feel people looking at me but i just keep thinking ""i need this to live"". My friends r great about and we have a laugh while i am doing it, i must say the first few times u do it in public you will notice people looking but after a few times you won't be that bothered

x

[Daragonfly26]

Hi

i have an Omron U22 it is a portable silent nenuliser, i do not work as i am so severe, howerver i do have to use it whilst out on day trips as i use it 4 x aday! I sit on my mobility scooter, i have got used to the looks, it is there problem not mine! It uses AA batteries but you do go through them! But you can buy a mains adaptor, i use it all the time on mains at home so it does not disrupt the family Tv viewing! I got mine from the internet.

hope this is helpful

xx

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Thank you everyone for your wonderful replies! I ended up getting the Pari Trek S. It isn't silent (like the omron), but I use ipatropium which isn't supposed to get in your eyes, and I got it because it's better with that. Also it is the quietest for its kind and I can plung it into my car charger too. And I can watch movies and it is quiet (just not silent).

I've also just been to my family doctor. You see I have this weird airway compression thing I was born with (where the major blood vessels around my heart) were wrapped around my tracea and esophagus. So I had surgery to fix that in February, and have actually managed to stay off of inhalers since April. So now I'm on all different inhalers. I do find the nebs work best though, and I've been using flovent (fluticasone) 220 as well. And of course singulair and antihistamines and a nose spray.

Since I had the surgery I am still hoping I can avoid taking prednisone. But I really think the nebulizer works better because sometimes I can't breath in right to take the inhaler. At work at the moment I am using spacer with inhaler (xopenex and ipatropium). I do find this site a comfort though. Oh, and I think if I really do have to use the portable at work, I might spend a few dollars and get replacement med cup and mesh thing for the omron as it is absolutely silent. I'm to see my lung specialist again in a few weeks and I think they were hoping I don't have asthma, but at this point I'm pretty convinced I must have some asthma. Thank you all for your thoughts. And for giving me hope that getting funny looks isn't the worst thing in the world!

Bee

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Charlie-Warlie just wondering. Is it legal for your boss or company to say that you cant neb at work? Are you recognised as being a handicapped worker (or whatever the term is?) Maybe you need to get a medical certiicate specifying that it is your daily meds and that taking them does not necessarily mean that youre in a particularly bad way...