Counters on asthma inhalers....

Inhaler companies are finally putting counters on inhalers. It can help you know how many doses are left. 

Back in the day....there was no way to know if your inhaler was empty. Doctors would tell patients to put a hash mark on the inhaler with a black marker. And once they got to 120, the inhaler would be empty. 

You can imagine how well that worked....

I mean, inhalers are small. 

How would you ever be able to put 120 hash marks on an inhaler?

The other old school remedy was to put the inhaler in a sink of water. Depending on if it would float or sink, it would let you know how much medicine was in it. 

NOTE: Do NOT try the water float test. Not only does it not work - but you will ruin your inhaler and have to buy a new one.

Counters help you actually know how many doses are left. 

Since the inhaler mixes a propellant with medicine, you may not notice it's empty. The propellant will still come out, even after the medicine runs out. 

The problem is that you have to remember to LOOK at the counter.

I was using my Dulera inhaler last week, and I wondered how many doses were left, so I looked at the counter. 

It was set on 0. Hmm. 

I thought I was still getting medicine out of it. I took it out of the spacer and sprayed a puff into the air. I could SEE propellant coming out, but realized the medicine was still empty. 

And then I realized I was having more asthma symptoms. 

Well, that would explain it. 

I'll pay more attention to the counter on the inhaler. My pharmacy doesn't do automatic refills, so I just have to be smart enough to look at the counter.

I just got a new Pro Air inhaler with a counter on that one too. 

I'll keep an eye on the counter so I don't run out of Pro Air. 

I would rather run out of my maintenance medicine than my rescue inhaler!!