Cleaning asthma mask?
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We were uber tired when we got these instructions when Connor was released from the hospital...
How do you clean your masks/gear?
How do you keep the mask on with the elastic band? He has an very weird head shape and it keeps coming off. I've messed with the length of the band but it doesn't help. Are there any products that just go over the ears?
The tubing doesn't get washed. It just has air flowing threw it. There is a filter in the machine that is supposed to be replaced about every 6 months. The mask and the cup that holds the medicine should be washed with soap and water after every use. The mask and cup should be rinsed or soaked for a short time in a mixture of 1 part clorox/4 parts water any where from daily to every 3 days depending on what medical professional that I have talked to. And they disagree on whether to rinse or soak. After the clorox/water, rinse with clear water and let air dry.
I usually soak about every 2 when we are actively using it.
But since I started her on the teaspoon of butter a day, we haven't had to use her nebulizer. The butter thing may not work on everybody, but it sure works for her.
Sorry, I didn't read the rest of the questions.
DD wouldn't wear the elastic when she was really little. She wanted to hold hers to her face. A respiratory therapist brought out the nebulizer to our house the day she was diagnosed. (Man, that was a traumatic day). He told us that as long as the mask was held so that the medicine floated up directly to her face and she was getting a lot of medication, it was okay. He said it was also important for her to try to just breathe normally.
But there is a locally owned drug store in our town that sells potty chairs, surgical supplies and respiratory equipment. I got a little mask there that had a chicken face on the front of it with ear loops. She liked that. It was only $5. You might look to see if there is a compounding pharmacy or something like I mentioned close by. And see what they have in stock.
Thank you! Also, what brand of butter do you use? He won't eat butter on his own so I forced some down like I do with his medicine. It seemed to help a little bit but I also gave him his Singulair at the same time.
I've tried butter on bread but he won't eat it. Can I try mixing it with applesauce?
We use Land of Lakes salted butter. When we were on vacation at Disney World, I used whatever I could find as long as it said "butter" on it. There were always those little cups in restaurants or at the continental breakfast in our hotel. DD thinks its funny to suck the butter out of the little cups.
You can do anything you can think of to do with the butter except cooking it which break the bonds. Will he eat a waffle or pancake? What about mixing it into yogurt or oatmeal with sugar and butter in it? Or what about just mixing it with some sugar?
I wouldn't eat butter by itself either. Gags me to think about it. But when dd has her asthma episodes, she craves it. She eats it with a spoon out of the bowl. Ugh! But she stops coughing every time. When she's not sick, she will hardly eat it at all.
Heidi, I took have one of the children masks with the little chicken face on it well mines looks more like a rooster, I got mines from the pediatrician's office, My original had gotten a tear in it and I asked if they had one and she gave me one and I love the medication cup on the new tubing that she gave me , its' bigger and easier to open nd close.
But sometimes my son he just hold it close to his face, when he is really struggling he can't get it close enough to his face.
Debbi, I've never heard anything about the butter, please tell me more. I read that you said that it stops her coughing every time thats is wonderful.
I stop giving my son couch medicine about 2 months ago when ever he would get a cold, because it never stopped him form coughing , but his inhaler does, but if there is something else that I can use to maybe help with his symptoms I would like to hear about it.
Here are excerpts from August from posting under Asthma and Butter. Let me know if you have any more questions. It works for dd.
A year or so ago I went to a seminar in which the speaker talked about using butter to relieve asthma symptoms. I thought the information was kind of cool. We use butter and I've noticed that when my dd would eat some that her asthma seemed to go away.
But I've never tested it out.
So her asthma kicks up Friday and Saturday along with a stomach bug. I can not get her to eat anything much less butter. And I am giving her breathing treatments or using her inhaler about every 3 to 4 hours. Finally on Sunday morning I get her to eat a piece of toast with a teaspoon of butter on it. Do you know that I have not given her another breathing treatment since about an hour after her buttered toast?
So I decide to Google it. There is quite a bit of research about it. The lady at the seminar said a teaspoon of real butter a day would do the trick. And it can't be cooked. Like put the butter on the toast. Not put the butter on the bread and then bake it. Heat breaks the chains of the fatty acids that do the the work or something.
Just thought some of you folks with asthma in the family might find that useful.
Well, the best I can figure is that unless there is a dairy allergy present or some type of dairy intolerance, what can it hurt to try?
I Googled Asthma and butter and there were all kinds of studies. I wish I could find that seminar literature. I was telling the school nurse about the butter thing and she'd never heard of that before either. I had never heard of it before that seminar. And only half-heartedly bought into until Sunday. Now, I'm thinking maybe I should be giving her a little butter every day.
At the seminar she said real butter. Margarine and the other spreads are not appropriate. And the literature that I have googled have all said 'butter'. We use Land of Lakes salted butter. And the butter shouldn't be cooked. Just spread cold butter on toast or a bagel. DD will eat it right off the spoon. She loves it.
Don't give up your asthma meds too quick. I wouldn't let my albuterol nebs run out for any amount of butter. But it sure stopped her albuterol treatments cold on Sunday. I had given her a treatment about every 3 to 4 hours on Friday and Saturday and 1 during the night. I gave her 1 at about 8 am on Sunday and then she said she was hungry. I asked if she'd eat some toast and butter. And I haven't given her another treatment since. I have been trying to get a little butter in her every day.
I was reading through some of the studies. And one study actually says that margarine will make asthma symptoms worse. Apparently the fatty acids in real butter have a natural anti-inflammatory effect.
Anyway, I hope this piece of info helps somebody. That's my lecture series for the year.
Very interesting about the butter. My youngest- who has the worst asthma of my two kids is forever adding too much butter to his food. I wonder if he's self-medicating? I think I'm going to try this!
This is for the Mom who uses bleach to clean her childs mask, Please stop!! Your child is inhaling bleach fumes, you are supposed to clean it with white vinager. I am telling you this as a ped. nurse who's husbands' deals with this type of medical equitment on a daily basis. My husband says use a bowl filled with 1/2 vinager and 1/2 water and soak it every 2-3 days for about 10 mintues. Our daughter had asthma until she outgrew it, she is now 17 years. I am only telling you this because inhaling bleach is not good for anyone's lungs. Please e-mail with any questions
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