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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Gross

A couple of months ago, my doctor gave me some inhaler samples. The box said that the inhaler contained 200 metered units. I was to use two units before exercising. This inhaler should have lasted me a few months. Yet one day it stopped working. I used the next sample. After a few weeks the same thing happened.

My doctor called in a prescription and when I picked it up I asked the pharmacist about the samples. She said that many times samples are just that...a sample. I questioned the fact that the boxes of the samples and the box for the prescription were identical. She said that didn't matter.

I used my prescription inhaler for a couple weeks and once again it stopped working. I couldn't figure out what was going on because my prescription was to use two puffs four times a day. I only used two puffs one time a day. Clearly something was wrong. Was I using too much of it? I didn't think that was possible. An inhaler is premeasured meaning it doesn't work like an aerosol can. I was worried that it would stop working right before my triathlon. Just what I needed. My mom suggested going back to the pharmacy and showing them how I was using it. Right before I left Suzanne called me. I asked her about her experience with her inhalers . She told me that she hadn't experienced anything like this. I then asked her if she ever washed hers, because I vaguely remembered seeing a diagram on the insert from the inhaler box. You know, the type of inserts that come inside medications and tampon boxes? I usually throw them away, but I happened to have saved one. Suzanne mentioned that she did occasionally wash hers.

After getting off the phone, I washed my inhaler out. Then I took a puff. A very small piece of crud apparently flew off into my mouth and then the whole inhaler worked. Gross. Was this from the time I didn't brush my teeth before spinning? Was this a dog breath piece of crud? Same thing with one of the samples, although this time fortunately without crud. I still need to test out the third one. I went back and read the directions. Turns out you are supposed to wash the inhaler at least once a week to prevent medicine build up over the opening of the spray. Phew, not dog breath crud.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Wash your inhaler at least once per week.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 7:24 PM   6 comments
6 Comments:

  • At 4/19/2008 9:12 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    Huh. Who knew? I guess I should have been washing mine when I had one too!

     

  • At 4/20/2008 6:47 AM, Blogger Jen of A2eatwrite said…

    It's interesting you put this under Mom care. Don't you think you would have totally been fanatic about the instructions if it was for either of the boys? And yet we are so much more careless about ourselves. I'm glad you found the problem!

     

  • At 4/20/2008 7:42 AM, Blogger Alex Elliot said…

    Heather, that's what everyone's been saying who has inhalers that I've told this too. Maybe there's something about this inhaler that makes it particularly prone to build up.

    Jen, you are absolutely right! There's no way I would have left the pediatrician's office without asking a million questions about how to care for the inhaler and when I should plan on replacing it.

     

  • At 4/20/2008 9:01 AM, Blogger Sally HP said…

    SICK! Nothin' like a little mystery meat going down the ole throat at 5am! Thank god it was just medicine...think about your hairspray, though...I have to run mine under hot water to get the crap off the nozzle every once in a blue moon if I go crazy with it (no, it's not Aqua Net)

     

  • At 4/21/2008 4:30 PM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    I took my own advice yesterday and cleaned out my inhaler. It works much better now!

     

  • At 4/21/2008 5:08 PM, Blogger painted maypole said…

    ick

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 4.5 year old and a 2 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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