The Hand Held Nebulizer - What Is It and How Can it Help an Asthma Sufferer?

Asthma stinks, and every asthma sufferer knows it. There are many remedies to ease asthma symptoms, most popularly an albuterol inhaler. One remedy that many asthma sufferers are not aware of though, is using a hand held nebulizer.

A hand held nebulizer is basically like an inhaler in that it sprits out a subtle liquid vapor of medicine. The asthma sufferer wears a mask connected to the nebulizer and breathes in the fine vapor, which is distributed from the machine through plastic tubing and into a mouthpiece in the mask area. Most times, oxygen or air pressure is used to deliver the fine vapor of medicine. However, for asthmatics who can't use a metered-dose inhaler (i.e. people with acute, intense asthma, as well as young children and babies), an ultrasonic nebulizer is used.

How does the medicine in a hand held nebulizer work?

The medicine distributed from the machine helps the asthma sufferer by loosening phlegm and mucous that is sitting inside the lungs so that it will be coughed out easier than if not receiving the nebulizer treatments. It also relaxes the muscles in the trachea (a.k.a. the windpipe, or your airway from mouth/nostrils to the lungs) to help air move about the lungs more freely. Rather than receiving medicine in the mouth, breathing it right into the lungs is much more effective for rapid relief of asthma symptoms.

Hand held nebulizer treatments generally last between 15 and 20 minutes. It is generally performed on young children and infants, as most are not old enough to know how to operate an albuterol inhaler. Adults also use a hand held nebulizer when necessary as well.

There are some drawbacks, however, to using a hand held nebulizer or an inhaler. Yes, using these two methods of easing asthma symptoms is effective, but the asthma is never permanently cured; it is only relieved temporarily. Also, asthma drugs sometimes have some negative side effects. Nonetheless, there are many alternative ways to permanently cure your asthma, and the techniques are pretty simple actually. Those techniques are outside the scope of this article, but it is good to know that they are available. A simple internet search for "natural asthma cure" should help you find them.