Albuterol for asthma and PG!?

[yield2me]

So my wife has really bad asthma and often times she has to give herself a "breathing treatment." A breathing treatment is basically a nebulizer that transforms a solution into vapor that she breathes for a few minutes. The solution has medicine (albuterol) in it that opens the air ways in her lungs. I was watching her do this the other day and realized that you could actually see the vapor that this thing was producing. This started me wondering if the solution she was using actually contained PG or VG!?

Sure enough, the official FDA information on albuterol solution lists propylene glycol as one of the ingredients. So if anybody ever says that vaping PG is unsafe then just point out that it is in the solution given to asthma patients, this stuff couldn't be anymore safe to inhale.

*on a side note, has anyone looked into using a nebulizer or a modified form of a nebulizer to vape with? Seems like this would be one serious vape! lol

 

[RacoonSpirit]

yield2me - excellent observation! I too wondered about the relationship but from the opposite perspective. A colleague of mine recently had to quit analogs due to asthma related issues and when she saw my PV, asked if she could use one as a portable nebulizer by loading it with albuterol. I advised her to talk with her pulmonologist but I have heard nothing yet.

Would be interesting to see what they say....

 

[tremolo]

I'd love to try it with one of my nebulizers, but I only have two... and the noisy larger one is the backup to my smaller virtually silent one.

My small one is not AC powered, it uses AA batteries and of course the more standard one plugs into the wall. Non-stop vaping..??

 

[radiokaos]

Just note there is a big difference between cold vaper (nebulizer) and hot vaper (e cigs).

 

[Rorschach]

Yeah. I just put some e-liquid in my nebulizer.

Well...with a few modifications it could be the long-awaited e-hookah.

If anyone is looking for a giant throat hit. like swallowing knives, i recommend using a nebulizer with your e-liquid. I could not keep it up more than a few seconds. And i was not exhaling anything. The nebulizer does not do that.

 

[MissVapor]

So my wife has really bad asthma and often times she has to give herself a "breathing treatment." A breathing treatment is basically a nebulizer that transforms a solution into vapor that she breathes for a few minutes. The solution has medicine (albuterol) in it that opens the air ways in her lungs. I was watching her do this the other day and realized that you could actually see the vapor that this thing was producing. This started me wondering if the solution she was using actually contained PG or VG!?

Sure enough, the official FDA information on albuterol solution lists propylene glycol as one of the ingredients. So if anybody ever says that vaping PG is unsafe then just point out that it is in the solution given to asthma patients, this stuff couldn't be anymore safe to inhale.

*on a side note, has anyone looked into using a nebulizer or a modified form of a nebulizer to vape with? Seems like this would be one serious vape! lol

Even though what your saying may be true, I use abuterol a few times a year and have no problems..but when I vaped PG juices, it would make me wheeze...I think if its in moderation I can take it, but not whatever is in the PG juices..

 

[TropicalBob]

Great information. And let us know if a pulmonologist thinks a bronchodilator could be used with e-liquid. I'd be very interested in the ramifications if it can.

 

[mamu]

Propylene glycol has been used in inhaled asthma meds for years. However, the dosage of PG in these inhaled meds is very very low. Nothing like the PG concentrations in e-liquid.

Fluorocarbons are commonly used as a propellant in inhalers but is currently being replaced with glycerine in some inhalers.

We've used propylene glycol as a medium in aerosol delivery devices to deliver immunosuppressants, antibiotics, and bronchodilators for years now.

Food for thought huh?

 

[taz3cat]

Yeah. I just put some e-liquid in my nebulizer.

Well...with a few modifications it could be the long-awaited e-hookah.

If anyone is looking for a giant throat hit. like swallowing knives, i recommend using a nebulizer with your e-liquid. I could not keep it up more than a few seconds. And i was not exhaling anything. The nebulizer does not do that.

Did you use e-liquid by it's self or did you mix with regular inhalant

 

[feathersncream]

Well I guess that I won't worry as much vaping around my son he's been using the nebulizer on and off since he was just a few months old

 

[gep]

Did you use e-liquid by it's self or did you mix with regular inhalant

Saline Solution is what's normally mixed with the albuterol. It's like 3:1(albuterol).
8-o
Ya'll are brave. Don't hurt yourselves.

 

[star4024]

Okay.. can I offer some knowledge on this subject?? The amount of PG in albuterol is very, very small and is not used to create vapor. The vapor is created by air. pressure .A compressor or oxygen source forces the liquid up against baffles in the hand held nebulizer. The baffles cause the liquid to break up the water molecules and it creats a vapor.. The albuterol unit doses contain Albuterol and normal saline..

 

[star4024]

Sorry, I forgot to add. Please don't inhale pg with asthma and don't use your nebulizers for e liquid. Who knows what residual will be left in it. I do know what I am talking about.. I have been a resp therapist for 13 years, Please be careful

 

[Rorschach]

Did you use e-liquid by it's self or did you mix with regular inhalant

Just used eliquid by itself.

Heh. it was worth a shot. Maybe i'm just crazy.

Now mixing e-liquid with albuterol solution...that seems kind of wrong. I'm well aware that vaping is most likely healthier than smoking analogs. But it's one of those things where you wonder: Does the negative of vaping nicotine (still unproven) get canceled out by the positive of inhaling the nebulizer?

HAHA!

 

[star4024]

kind of like a diet coke and adouble whopper at burger king

 

[star4024]

Your nebulizer would work but it won't heat up the lquid.. I don't know if this is good or bad. I think you get alot more totaly liquid in your lungs and PG can kind of coat your lungs.. Like when you get too much in your mouth and it makes your throat feel really tight and awful?? Hey you tried it but please don't do that one anymore. With asthma you might cause yourself some major problems. You are safer with just the regular vapor... hate to nag but I am a mom.. what can I say

 

[Annastasia]

Speaking of bronchodilators, I'd be curious about loading up a Mullein - leaf extract of some type into a PV someday. I used to smoke hand rolled cigs with mullein in them when I was sick, it's a natural treatment for opening up the lungs.

Not saying I'm gonna run out and try it, but it'd be interesting.

 

[TropicalBob]

I'd not heard of mullein, but what an interesting idea. Adding chemicals with specific medicinal properties has long been suggested here, so mullein might be an obvious advantageous substance. I found these quotes about it:

The dried leaves are sometimes smoked in an ordinary tobacco pipe to relieve the irritation of the respiratory mucus membranes, and will completely control, it is said, the hacking cough of consumption. They can be employed with equal benefit when made into cigarettes, for asthma and spasmodic coughs in general.

Mullein has expectorant and cough suppressant properties that make it useful for symptomatic treatment of sore throat and cough. Antiviral activity of mullein has been reported against herpes and influenza.

I did not find any dangers or side effects. None at all. So if anyone has experience with using this for cough suppression or better breathing, chime in please.

It's easy to make a solution by boiling leaves, BTW. That solution, either water or alcohol based, could be added to e-liquid if it's benefiial as a bronchodilator.

 

[q258]

So my wife has really bad asthma and often times she has to give herself a "breathing treatment." A breathing treatment is basically a nebulizer that transforms a solution into vapor that she breathes for a few minutes. The solution has medicine (albuterol) in it that opens the air ways in her lungs. I was watching her do this the other day and realized that you could actually see the vapor that this thing was producing. This started me wondering if the solution she was using actually contained PG or VG!?

Sure enough, the official FDA information on albuterol solution lists propylene glycol as one of the ingredients. So if anybody ever says that vaping PG is unsafe then just point out that it is in the solution given to asthma patients, this stuff couldn't be anymore safe to inhale.

*on a side note, has anyone looked into using a nebulizer or a modified form of a nebulizer to vape with? Seems like this would be one serious vape! lol

At what frequency and dose? To make the comparison they have to be equal.

 

[Rorschach]

Your nebulizer would work but it won't heat up the lquid.. I don't know if this is good or bad. I think you get alot more totaly liquid in your lungs and PG can kind of coat your lungs.. Like when you get too much in your mouth and it makes your throat feel really tight and awful?? Hey you tried it but please don't do that one anymore. With asthma you might cause yourself some major problems. You are safer with just the regular vapor... hate to nag but I am a mom.. what can I say

Thanks for your concern star4024. Yup...I won't be trying that once-in-a-lifetime experience again.