Besides the shaking vest, our kids do multiple inhaled and nebulized treatments twice a day, every day, that are a part of clearing their airways. We have the routine down now, but it was definitely overwhelming when we added all these medications.
They begin each treatment with ALBUTEROL, a bronchodilator to open up their airways. We used to nebulize albuterol, but now use a spacer and inhaler to save time.
Next up is HYPERTONIC SALINE, which is...saltwater. Our kids nebulize 7% hypertonic saline, which can be very strong and irritating. When they first started it, they coughed the whole time and had very red faces. The increased cough with hypertonic is actually good though, because it helps them to clear the mucus out of their lungs.
The third medication that they nebulize is PULMOZYME. Pulmozyme works to thin mucus by acting like scissors to cut the DNA strands in white blood cells in smaller pieces.
When our kids have cultured certain bacteria, they also nebulize TOBRAMYCIN (or Tobi for short) for 30 days at a time. Tobi is an inhaled antibiotic that is used to fight pseudomonas or sometimes other bacteria like B. cepacia. Tobi takes an additional 25 minutes to nebulize and tastes terrible, so they hate when they are on it!
Finally, they finish up their treatments up with an inhaled steroid, QVAR or SYMBICORT, to reduce inflammation in their lungs.
Follow this link to read more about these inhaled medications from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
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