Portable Nebulizer?

[DisDreaminMom]

My DS has asthma that can get severe at times. His autism makes it hard to use a rescue inhaler correctly. We are going to WDW in December and I was trying to decide if I should break down and get a portable nebulizer. I've only seen them in catalogs. Any advice?

 

[LauraVV]

Ask the MD to write a script for a portable nebulizer saying something like inconsistent access to electricity.

We really like our current nebulizer. We had an Omron before. Several, actually, since they wore out after about a year. We now have a Pari. It's great! I purchased it (new) on ebay cheaper than letting my insurance pay for the neb (since they'd have made me purchase the battery).

 

[BeckyScott]

Do you have a spacer tube for the inhaler?

I know that wasn't your question. But that is the only way DS can use an inhaler. The spacer tube means the mask still covers his face, without him having to wrap his lips around an inhaler (which ain't gonna happen).

I think spacer tubes are *meant* for toddlers, but the mask we have fits an older child- our 11-year-old has used it and he's the size of a small adult.

I'd look into that too (it's a prescription item). I could fit it and an inhaler easily into a medium size fanny pack. I took that with me to the parks (it lives in my purse when we're at home), and we had the plug-in nebulizer at the hotel room.

 

[pumpkinboy]

The Spacer suggestion could be a good one. We have both the kid size, which is now too small for my 11 yr old, and the big kid/ adult size they used at the Hospital during our last stay. Since the hospital has to discard all used equipment, like spacers, we offered to dispose of them at our house (with the possible intent of showing it to our pediatrician so he could order one for DS - but really we just kept them).

The Nebulizer is better for our DS because of the moist air and longer time period, but in a pinch, we'll use a puff with a spacer.

Good luck!

 

[karliebug]

we have a portable nebulizer and love it. It plugs into an outlet or a car outlet. You can also get batteries,too. My DD loves it because it goes to soccer practice,school, sleepovers and everywhere we travel. It is not much bigger than a camera case and it works faster than her bigger one does.

 

[Mary976]

I agree that a spacer is a must. DD used to have the mask type spacer, but now that's older she has a regular adult sized one. As for the portable neb, DD uses an Aeroneb Go. It has a small med chamber/mouthpiece, which has a thin cord that connects it to either a wall plug or a battery pack. We like having the battery/wall outlet choice, plus DD likes the way the mouthpiece works. She used to have a portable neb that was a single unit (looks like a deck of cards, only wider) and she complained that it made her face vibrate.

Mary

 

[alizesmom]

I would love to hear the pros and cons of the different brands of portable nebulizers. We would be using ours attached to trachs. Karen

 

[LauraVV]

I would love to hear the pros and cons of the different brands of portable nebulizers. We would be using ours attached to trachs. Karen

Pari is the brand that's often used when they do testing on nebulized medicine. They all use those t-tops and tubing to adapt for trachs.

 

[lilmissdisney216]

I'm also considering talking to my doctor about getting a neb too. I was diagnosed with ashtma at 9 and it went into remission for a while and then it came back full force last September stronger than ever and much worse. I was on Advair 250/50 and it made me really sick and didn't help much. My previous Dr. was talking about putting me on treatments since my asthma gets extremely bad during the winter where I'm using a rescue inhaler about 3-4 times a day but he retired so we didn't get that far. My only concern is going camping and being able to plug in the neb in for treatments (going to a Christain Music festival this summer and its a big concern for me).