Nebulizers

It won’t be incorrect to call India as the capital of respiratory problems, be it allergies, asthma, infections, inflammatory disease, all are too common. Aerosols provide effective and instant relief in many of the conditions. Yes, a nebulizer is similar to inhalers but much easier to use and far efficient.

In almost every Indian family a person is living with one or another respiratory condition. Accordingly, the nebulizer is a must to have. It won’t be wrong to say that the patients and physicians both have underestimated the potential of the nebulizer.

Benifits of a Nebulizer Over Inhaler

Yes, taking a puff from the inhaler is not that straightforward. Statistics show that more than half of people cannot handle inhalers properly – with more medication ending in oral cavity instead of the respiratory tract. Respiratory diseases are common in young children and old age people, who find it even more challenging to use inhalers. Wrong use of inhalers results in sub optimal treatment and failure to benefit from the therapy.

A nebulizer is altogether a different thing; its usage is comfortable, does not require any training, it is fit for infants, toddlers, old and weakened adults.

How to Use a Nebulizer

Although the usage involves some extra steps, however, higher effectiveness justifies its use. After all usefulness of therapy is the primary consideration. Below are some of the necessary steps involved in the usage, things usually become easy with practice:

1. After washing hands connect the hose to the compressor unit
2. Fill the medications in the medication cup
3. Place the mouthpiece and hold it correctly, to ensure that medications enter the bronchi and lungs
4. Continue to breathe until all the medication finishes; it may take 10-15 minutes
5. Turn off the machine when done
6. Wash the medicine cup and mouthpiece and dry them for next use

Every device has detailed instructions inside, and things are pretty straightforward. Thus one must not worry about the usage technique; it is just a matter of getting familiar with it. Important is to know that it is much more effective than inhalers – thus better ask your physicians to prescribe nebulizer based medications.

Applications

Asthma– it is more common in sub-tropical nations like India, as per estimates, around one-third of children in India have some degree of asthma, though by the adult age it would disappear in most. In adults, prevalence is in between 2-12% of the population. Drugs for inhalation are the first-line treatment for asthma, as they are safer than tablet forms and affect directly on the narrowed windpipe.

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease) – another condition characterized by narrowing of the windpipe, where this device can be of great value. Around 20% of the population each year gets COPD. Usually, the physician would recommend combination therapy of antibiotics and inhaled medications for symptomatic relief. Poorly managed COPD is one of the leading cause of death

Chronic sinusitis– as per one report almost one in eight Indians have chronic sinusitis. Simply said, more people in India have sinusitis than the entire population of Japan or UK. Although it may not be fatal, it is highly debilitating. It worsens the quality of life. Some cases of sinusitis may benefit from inhaled medications.

A nebulizer is more efficient, hence use them most of the time, while inhalers are a better fit when a person is away from home.