Certain medicines can cause damage to the vocal cords. The vocal cords are two bands of elastic muscle tissue that sit side-by-side in the voice box at the back of the throat. When you are silent, the vocal cords remain open so you can inhale air into your lungs. When you speak or make other sounds, the vocal cords close and vibrate as you exhale air from your lungs.
Read Safety ArticleDo you use an inhaler? If so, always replace its cap after use. The importance of replacing caps on inhalers was recently illustrated when a woman accidentally inhaled a small earring while using her asthma medicine. She got her uncapped inhaler from her purse. As she inhaled the medicine, she felt a painful scratch in her throat and started coughing blood. She was taken to the emergency department, where the earring was removed from her lung. If the inhaler's cap had been in place, the loose earring in her purse would not have gotten into the inhaler.
Read Safety ArticleInhalation is the best way to take a medicine used to treat asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). (See the Sidebar for information about asthma and COPD.) The medicine acts faster to control breathing if inhaled directly into the lungs. Also, inhaled medicines can often be taken in a lower dose than an oral tablet of the medicine. This can help to reduce the risk of bad side effects.
Read Safety ArticleDid you know that you might be using your asthma inhaler long after the medicine is gone? Sometimes it’s hard to tell when an inhaler is empty. If you have a newer dry powder inhaler, like Flovent Diskus (fluticasone propionate), it may come with a built-in dose counter to let you know when it’s empty. Some of the newer inhalers show a particular color when the canister is empty. But the older type inhalers, like Ventolin and Proventil (both albuterol), have no built-in mechanism to help you know when the canister is empty.
Read Safety ArticleThe name of a unique inhaler device included in five different brand name medicines has led to multiple mix-ups, not only by consumers but by doctors, pharmacists, and nurses as well. In 2013, the global drug company, GlaxoSmithKline, introduced Ellipta, a new type of inhaler device. It is circular in shape, about the size of a hockey puck, and can combine several different medicines together. The company has packaged combinations of one, two, or three of the medicines listed below using this unique inhaler device:
Read Safety ArticleAfter using his albuterol inhaler, an asthmatic man began to cough uncontrollably. Instead of the medicine making it easier for him to breathe, he felt like something was stuck in his breathing passages. An X-ray at a clinic confirmed that there was a coin in his windpipe and a dime that had to be removed through a tube inserted down his throat.
Read Safety ArticleThere are some asthma medications that come as powder-filled capsules. The powder inside though is meant to be breathed into the lungs using a special device called an inhaler.
Read Safety ArticleInhalers are devices that contain medicines used to treat asthma and several other diseases that affect the lungs. By inhaling the medicine from the device, asthma sufferers and people with other lung diseases can breathe easier. It is important to learn how to properly use an inhaler and when to use it. This is especially true for people with asthma. Asthma is a breathing condition that affects both children and adults. Many people often need more than one medicine/inhaler to treat their asthma.
Read Safety Article
