inhalers

[whit]

this morning more breathless than usual,so i realised i hadn`t checked my in halers for a while ,and found my atrovent was empty , i must have been using it for a few days and getting nothing out of it except whatever propels it.now my seretide has a counter on it as does my Ekilra Genuair, my ventolin and atrovent i check by putting the "canister" in a glass of water and if they float i discard them, now is this the correct method or is there another way?

[Gordon57]

I use a spacer device with my inhalers, so can 'see' the mist in the tube when I activate the inhaler.

I was told to give the cannister a little shake to hear the contents, if there were any in it. Or, give it a test spray into the air and watch to see what comes out. It should be a fine mist if it's working, otherwise nothing to see if there's only the gas left.

A good topic as I'm sure there are many that have not realised there's nothing coming out except the propellant gas. Just how you are supposed to 'know' with some is not easy to follow. Wonder if the BLF team have any suggestions ?

OK for devices with a counter built in, or where you need to put a capsule in like Spiriva, but many of us have inhalers with no indication. I'll be interested to hear how everyone handles this.

[whit in reply to Gordon57]

i use the spacers ,but still see something in them even when inhaler is empty (it must be the propellant) as for listening by shaking , for my sins, i am industrial deaf so no chance of me hearing any thing

[Dorlock]

My Ventolin often feels as if there is only whatever carries it delivered the thought that they could be empty of the drug had not entered my mind, when there is something coming out I have tried using them a DOH

[jandan]

With regard to Ventolin I was told to shake it and a quick spray into the air also the weight. One thing I was told by my cousin who has been using it for years is she always writes the date she starts a new one on the tank then works out her optimum dose e.g. 2 puffs 3 times a day = 6 doses into 200 (doses) which works out to 33 days and changes the inhaler every 28 days this works on the main one that is carried all the while the spares she marks with the date and just changes them every now and again but for sure every 6 months. I hope this makes sense.

[libbygood]

I use the Easi-Breathe Salamol two puffs four times a day, the mouth piece has to be washed once a week. It has 200 puffs, I mark on the calender when I start a new one, although there always seems more than 200 I still start a new one.

Lib x

[Jemma]

Just to add that on a couple of times my Seretide counter was showing double figures but was in fact empty.

[jandan]

When I did my PR we had a visit from a pharmacist and she said that it is usually the propellant that you can hear in the Seretide or Symbicort not the actual medication and this fools a lot of people (it had fooled me up until then )