Care Of Asthma Devices

Caring for asthma devices as important as using them in the correct way. In general, these devices require very little care. Peak flow meters can be washed monthly with soapy water.
A spacer is easy to care for if you simply follow the directions that come with it. Most spacers need to be washed with dish washing soap to remove medicine residue, then rinsed and allowed to air-dry once a week. Whenever you wash your child's spacer, make sure that none of the plastic or rubber, such as the valve or ring where the MDI fits into the spacer, are dried out or cracked. If they are, replace the spacer. Keep the caps on MDI spacers to keep out any tiny foreign particles that could be inhaled. Nebulizers have to be cleaned properly. The air compressor should be wiped off with a damp cloth only. The filter needs to be replaced once a month or sooner if it becomes discolored. More filters can be ordered from the durable medical equipment company that provided you with the nebulizer. Nebulizer tubing should be changed each month. The tubing may be disposable or reusable. Tubing with a mouthpiece or mask has to be replaced. A disposable nebulizer should last a month and should be cleaned after each use. Wash the nebulizer with water and dish washing detergent, rinse it, and disinfect it by soaking it in a solution of water and vinegar. Some reusable nebulizers can be washed in the dishwasher and also need to be disinfected.It is a reusable nebulizer may last between six months to one year.
Strong Medicines at Home
It is best if all the medicine is kept together in a plastic container that is stored in a cool, dry place, and out of the reach of younger chil-dren. Some preparations of medicine have specific care concerns. Dry powder inhalers, for example, need to be in a moisture-free environment to keep the powder dry. This means that you don't want to keep DPIs in the bathroom medicine cabinet because that room tends to have a lot of moisture from baths and showers. Other areas to avoid include the base-ment, the top of the refrigerator, or near leaky faucets. If moisture causes the powder to cake, your child will probably not get a full dose of the medicine when he inhales.
Metered dose inhalers and spacers should be stored with the cap on. If not, a small object may be present in the inhaler or spacer that could get stuck in your child's airway when he inhales. Most importantly all medicines should be out of the reach of younger children (under ten years old).You need to be able to give asthma medicine using the proper device with the proper technique and know how to clean and maintain the device. You also need to teach others who care for your child how to give med-icines. The personnel at school or day care may tell you that they know how to give asthma treatments, but it doesn't always mean that they were taught correctly. In our busy lives, sometimes parents put the responsibility on chil-dren to take their own medicine because they seem old enough or smart enough to do it. Talk with your pediatrician about your child's behavior and development in order to determine how ready and able your child is to assume this job independently. As children with any chronic condi-tion grow and develop, they should begin to take on increasing respon-sibility for their own care. But even so, they will still need supervision and support from their parents. To be absolutely clear about the medicine plan for your child, you need to communicate with your child's health care professionals and ask whatever questions you may have. Both parents and professionals need to review together whether the medicine is being given correctly whether the parent is administering the medicine or the child is taking it himself.Correct use of asthma medicines and devices also requires consistent scheduling. In the hectic pace of our lives, monitoring the use of medi-cine takes some forethought and planning. 
To keep your child's asthma under control, he needs to take his asthma and allergy medicines regu-larly. Medicines will help most if they're taken correctly at about the same time every day. Many families find that setting up a regular routine helps them remember to give the medicine to a young child. It also helps older children and teens who can take their own medicine do so without a lot of reminding.A good time for taking inhaled medicines is in the morning at tooth-brushing time. This way a child can use his inhaler and then brush his teeth. This assures that he takes his medicine and rinses away any residue that might still be in his mouth—and it ensures that he brushes his teeth as well. Sometimes older children like to keep it at their bed-side to take as soon as they wake up and before going to sleep. Encour-age your child to find a system that works best for him. For children who need medicine more than once a day, try to sched-ule the later doses around something that happens regularly. Some do well with a routine that has them take another dose when they get home from school in the late afternoon. It's easy to remember, and it saves the embarrassment that some feel when they need to use their inhaler or take other medicine in front of their friends and classmates. Peak flow readings are best taken first thing in the morning and again in the early evening. If your child uses an everyday bronchodilator drug such as salmeterol (Serevent), he should check his peak flow before he takes the medicine for asthma.
What are appropriate responsibilities for children in managing their medicines? In general, medicines should be kept out of reach of children until they can understand dangers of taking medicines inappropriately. For most children, this is age ten. Even though we want older children to begin to take responsibility for their medicines, they still need to be monitored by parents. It is recommended that most children be given their medicines by their parents until they are at least eleven years old. Of course, you know your child best and may want to wait until he is even older. After a child has been given this responsibility, parents should still make sure that they check the medicines each month to mon-itor their appropriate use.