what would work best?

[jessgray]

ds has been diagnosed with asthma and he was prescribed a spacer and ventalin. would a nebuliser be better for his age? till he is a bit older and more used to ventalin?

[suemp]

my son had both at various times. ventilator he was not happy with and when you go to hospital the kids seem about 50/50 that will tolerate it or not. i hired the machine so it did not work out too bad. it turned out my son did not have asthma just a year being sick left his chest pretty nasty and he is fine now. they often misdiagnose asthma in kiddies so :fingerscrossed: thats wats happened to cody (or he grows out of it)

[Rell]

My DD has had asthma since she was 18mths and we have always used a spacer. I was told a spacer is better because the partcals are dry and will get further into their lungs then the wet particals of a nebuliser. There is also a lot of wasteage in a nebuliser as it will come out of the nose holes in the mask.
The other thing is nebulisers are a bit scary for little kids most don't like the noise.
Hope this helps

[jessgray]

thanks for the info :)
that did help

[Mamaduke]

Jesse has asthma and is now using a preventer with a spacer and I've got a prescription for the Ventolin nebules from his respiratory specialist.
He's always had the Ventolin with a spacer but on one occasion at Emergency he was given the nebuliser and within 15-20 mins he was 100% better - the doctor couldn't believe how his oxygen saturation levels had returned to normal so quickly. With the Ventolin & spacer, we usually sit there for 2-3 hours waiting for his levels to go back up.
The specialist has recommended that we buy a nebuliser to have at home and if he does need to go to Emergency that we insist on a nebuliser and mention the specialist's name and that Jesse is his patient and a nebuliser is how he wants him treated...thank goodness - I was arguing with nurses over which was a better treatment for my son for the last 6 months!!!
For us the nebuliser works so much better.

[sam's mum]

If my daughter is having a really bad attack then the nebuliser works better for her. The hardest thing is that it is only the last year or two that she would tolerate it well. She hated the noise, the mask on her face and the smell/taste of the mist.

Mamaduke - we have never been given anything but nebuliser by the ambulance or in hospital. I just assumed (I know, stupid thing to do) that all hospitals would automatically use the nebuliser. Our hospital always gives us the mask and hose to take home as well because otherwise they have to throw it out because it has been used.

[Mamaduke]

I've found that I always get the nurses who think they know alot more than they actually do...firstly I am told in no uncertain terms that the spacer works better and then God forbid we've got into the car without our own spacer (which I have done by mistake in the panic of my child having an asthma attack), I've then had to sit through a lecture on how much the hospital has to spend every year on giving people spacers...so I guess that's why they say the spacers works better - they're cheaper!!!

[jessgray]

i asked my mum her thoughts on it coz my youngest brother was diagnosed as asthmatic at 9 or 10 months and she said he didnt have anything but nebuliser till 3.

[FourAngelKisses]

When DS was asthmatic, I would use the spacer through the day and the nebuliser if the spacer didn't work.

[jessgray]

where can i hire a nebuliser from? do i ask the hospitial or chemist?

[FourAngelKisses]

Where I live, the chemist hires them out, but you can also take one home and pay it off, so that might be an option where you live too.

[jessgray]

i think i will ask the chemist :D thanks.