7 Tips To Select And Maintain Your Nebulizer

Given below are a few tips that would help select the best nebulizer for asthma treatment and also help maintain it.

A nebulizer is a respiratory aid for patients suffering with respiratory ailments such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, etc. Nebulizers employ oxygen, compressed air or ultrasonic methodologies to effectively break the contained medicinal components into a mist; the mist is then respired into the patients' lungs. Upon inhalation of this mist, patients having difficulty in breathing immediately feel better. Needless to say, nebulizers have, time and again, proven to be life savers for such patients. Besides nebulizers, there are a large number of other respiratory aids, such as inhalers, stocking the market; why nebulizers are unanimously chosen over the other respiratory aids by umpteen of patients with respiratory illnesses is because of the simple fact that they directly target the lungs, administering relief in the quickest possible manner. Moreover, most of the other respiratory aids mandate the patients to coordinate their breaths with their hand movements. The sheer importance of nebulizers, thus, lies in their ease of use – in stressful situations patients may find it difficult to coordinate their breaths with their hand movements and may end up panicking. Given below are a few tips that would help select the best nebulizer for asthma patient and also help maintain it:

Select Your Nebulizer

1.Based on Creation of Mist

There are broadly three types of nebulizers flooding the market and the online space – namely compressor nebulizers, ultrasonic nebulizers and mesh nebulizers. All the three kinds of nebulizers deploy different methodologies to produce the aerosol mist.

A compressor nebulizer is also referred to as a jet nebulizer. It gushes a stream of oxygen through aerosol which is then respired in by the patient. It is the oldest and the most elementary type of nebulizer which is widely used only across hospitals because of its heavy weight which renders it a tad too bulky for outdoor use. But it is indeed one of the most cost effective nebulizers when it comes to operational costs and efficiency at administering the medicinal mist. The compressor nebulizer is, perhaps, the best choice for treating common ailments such as asthma and COPD.

An ultrasonic nebulizer makes use of a high frequency ultrasonic wave to induce a vibration in a liquid reservoir, producing a mist which is ultimately inhaled by the patient. This nebulizer weighs very less in comparison with the compressor nebulizer; this is because an ultrasonic nebulizer does not depend on a bulky compressor to produce the vapour mist. In addition to the aforesaid advantage, this nebulizer does not produce any noise whatsoever. The downside of using an ultrasonic nebulizer is that they tend to heat medication inadvertently, deteriorating its quality; moreover, the nebulizer ranks high when it comes to drug wastage; it is unable to aerosolize the medication completely.

A mesh nebulizer aerosolizes the drug effectively with the use of a vibrating mesh with multiple apertures. It is highly efficient at delivering the medicinal mist to the patient very quickly.

2.Based on Efficiency of Drug Delivery

Drug delivery plays a crucial role in selecting the right nebulizer. Drug delivery efficiency also indirectly takes into account the ratio of volume of the drug wasted to the volume of the total drug in the nebulizer. Depending on the severity of the ailment a patient suffers from, a nebulizer of the right efficiency can be bought. A nebulizer with its efficiency ranging between 6% and 10% can easily be used to treat common lung conditions such as asthma.

3.Based on the Intended Purpose

If a patient's lung disease is chronic and severe, a nebulizer that weighs less and is portable can be the perfect choice – imagine having a severe asthma attack and simultaneously having to struggle with bulky nebulizer equipment! Portability comes at a price; such nebulisers are comparatively more expensive than their bulkier counterparts. In case a patient is not that frequent a user of the nebulizer, a cheaper one would be quite adept for him. Whether a nebulizer is to be used without disturbing people in the vicinity or whether it has to be taken on trekking expeditions, the patient has to weigh the cons and pros and arrive at a decision as to which one would suit his needs the best.

* Maintain Your Nebulizer

1.Because smoke and dust are the most common triggers of respiratory-illness attacks, it is of exquisite importance to keep the nebulizers free of dust as well – especially for them to keep working effectively. Keeping them clean can also prevent lung infections in patients.

2.Nebulizers ought to be disinfected every third day.

3.The filter of the compressor nebulizer should be cleaned or changed from time to time.

4.Nebulizer medications should be kept away from sunlight and moisture and stored in a cool place.

The above guide will not only help patients select the best nebulizer for their respiratory needs but also enable them to maintain their nebulizers properly. Some of the best brands selling quality nebulizers online are Omron, Equinox and Rossmax.