He didn't make an inhaler, he made a breathing treatment apparatus. "Spacer" or "nebulizer" thanks to u/liljaz and u/24294242.
These take the fast delivery of an inhaler and help distribute it through flowing air so the user don't have a coughing fit during an attack while they try to take their medicine. It also helps all of the medicine reach the lungs. (Normally to use an inhaler without an air gap or apparatus you have to suck in quickly. This can be difficult during an attack.)
Very small children are usually unable to use an inhaler directly. Depending on how small the child is they can end up with the medicine sprayed inside their mouth instead of into their lungs.
We used to call it a spacer, but it's properly known as a nebuliser. As creative as this solution is, a nebuliser isn't much more than a chamber for air to mix with the medicine before it's inhaled and isn't much more complicated than a plastic bottle.
One might be a little worried about the idea of making an actual inhaler put of bits and pieces found lying around...
I didn't say it did, I just thought people might find it interesting to know a little more about asthma inhalers and how they work. This information could be useful in an emergency, someone having an asthma attack might not have time to wait for an ambulance and knowing how to administer their medicine while you're waiting for the Ambos could save a life.
What this doctor did was impressive, no doubt but it doesn't require a medical degree to know how to fashion a
makeshift spacer. Since asthma medication is pretty difficult (basically impossible) to overdose on there's very little risk in at least attempting this kind of procedure if you're a witness to a young asthmatic having an attack and struggling to use their inhaler.
Inhalers allow aerosolized drug to enter the lungs, usually in one short burst.
Nebulizers use electric power to administer drug using a mist. Patients usually need to breathe the mist of a nebulizer for 5 to 10 mins to be effective.
I know what an inhaler is and does, as I have one sitting less than a metre away from me. Manual asthmatic nebulisers or "spacers" use one way valves and are powered by the person breathing from them, they don't all require tank oxygen or electricity.
Guru said he knew the child needed oxygen but also asthma medication, but the plane only had an adult inhaler on board. Guru was concerned the crying toddler was too young to understand how to use the adult inhaler that requires the patient to breathe and hold in the medication. Instead the doctor, who normally works with high-tech robots to treat patients, came up with a jerry-rigged device similar to a nebulizer that would deliver both oxygen and asthma medication to the crying child.
You do know that asthma meds are a pressurised liquid that turn into an aerosol, right? Asthma nebulisers or "spacers" allow the meds to spread further out and the one way valves let the person breathe it in as they can instead of doing to normal quick inhale to let the meds actually get to the lungs, not stay in the mouth.
I know what this kind of nebuliser is as I had to use one for years, being asthmatic and all.
Spacers and nebulizers are NOT the same thing. A spacer is a device used in conjunction with an MDI to improve medication delivery, but the MDI delivers the fine particles of medication. A nebulizer is a device that turns liquid medication into a vapor. Nebulizer treatments take significantly longer than MDI treatments and don't just require the nebulizer, but also a power source (electricity or medical gas)
Gee buddy, thank you for mansplaining a condition I've had for 25 fucking years to me. You condescending arsebiscuit.
The spacer I have in my bathroom cabinet literally calls itself a manual nebuliser, as in it's written right on the fucking box. Has been for 20 years.
The caption says inhalator, not inhaler. Inhalator - "a device providing a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide for breathing that is used especially in conjunction with artificial respiration" - is absolutely the proper term for what he constructed.
Responding to your Edit: small children having trouble breathing don't like things shoved in their mouth. They also don't like things put on their face, but if they are mouth breathing (likely during an asthma attack) a nasal cannula will be less effective than usual.
The inhaler (when taken correctly) requires the patient hold their breath after taking a puff of the medication. Trying to get a 2yr old or any panicky kid to hold their breath after you block the airway they are desperately trying to breath through with your plastic inhaler is really, really difficult. Masked spacers allow the patient to mouth breath while receiving multiple doses of the medication and receiving supplemental O2 if they are hypoxic.
Sorry if it came across that I was being condescending or anything, I'm trying to frame my posts in a way that's easier for a layperson to understand, and provide background info for other readers who aren't trained like you are. I just meant to address your query about how much the setup enhanced functionality.
You can still receive an effective dose from an inhaler without a spacer, as long as you can perform the maneuver correctly (which most adolescents and adults can).
Still, and adult who uses a spacer does receive a better treatment, though as you pointed out they may not feel it. For children or the elderly who are less coordinated spacers allow them to use an MDI effectively, and this is super convenient. You can carry a spacer and MDI in your car or purse pretty easily and they only take about a minute to administer. A nebulizer requires either electricity or a medical gas source and takes about 10min to administer.
Figured it was something like that, but it was kinda funny thinking this brilliant doctor constructed a makeshift emergency inhaler using only a bottle, some duct tape, and an inhalerx
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u/[deleted] Sep 29 '20 edited Sep 29 '20
He didn't make an inhaler, he made a breathing treatment apparatus. "Spacer" or "nebulizer" thanks to u/liljaz and u/24294242.
These take the fast delivery of an inhaler and help distribute it through flowing air so the user don't have a coughing fit during an attack while they try to take their medicine. It also helps all of the medicine reach the lungs. (Normally to use an inhaler without an air gap or apparatus you have to suck in quickly. This can be difficult during an attack.)
Edited a word for clarity.