Do You Hesitate To Use Your Inhaler?

I was chatting with a friend, and she said coughs ALL the time. In fact, she said that her kids can find her in a building by listening for her cough.

I asked her if she uses her reliever inhaler when that happens, and she said no.

I'm baffled by why people don't use their reliever/rescue inhaler when they are coughing (or having any other asthma symptoms).

I once had a client who said she "only will only use her inhaler if she feels like she needs to go to the hospital".

I think she missed the point.....

Using a reliever/rescue inhaler can help you AVOID going to the hospital. Of course there are times when you may need more help than an inhaler.

My kids were in the hospital a LOT when they were little (thanks to RSV, pneumonia, and wildfire smoke).

The Asthma Respiratory Foundation in New Zealand says:

"Relievers are taken as needed to relieve asthma symptoms (cough, wheeze, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath), before exercise, or during an asthma flare-up (attack). They work quickly, with the effects felt within five minutes."

Different countries have different names and colors of reliever inhalers. These are some of the inhalers I have used in the past

Many people don't realize that ALL reliever inhalers contain albuterol. (Except the white one on the end, which has albuterol & an anti inflammatory.)

Your insurance may only cover a certain brand, but there are also generic albuterol inhalers (like my dark blue inhaler in the photo). So your inhaler can be a different color.

But - if you look at the inhaler canister, it will usually say "Albuterol Sulfate HFA). It may have that name alone, or a name brand above it.

When to use an inhaler

I'm not giving medical advice, just repeating what the Asthma Foundation has said in the quote above. They say to use your reliever inhaler if you have:

Coughing
Wheezing
A tight chest
Are short of breathe

I don't hesitate to use my reliever inhaler - because it relieves my symptoms! And I don't want an asthma attack to get worse. And I definitely don't want to go to the emergency room if I can use an inhaler at home to stop my symptoms.