Dry powder inhaler (DPI) – a small, handheld plastic container that contains asthma relief medications in powder form. Unlike metered dose inhalers, which require users to push down on the device to release medicine, DPIs use a breath-activated delivery. When a patient takes a deep enough breath on the DPI, it releases the right dose. Children under 5 often can’t activate a DPI.
High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter – cleans the air by forcing it through filtering screens. The difference between a HEPA filter and others is its level of performance. To qualify as HEPA, a filter must not release more than 3 particles for every 10,000 it captures. While many asthma and allergy patients use free-standing HEPA filters in their homes, no clinical trial has definitively proven their effects on asthma. Some experts say using a HEPA filter screen on a home air conditioner’s output system provides the same level of air purity as a free-standing machine.
Recent research suggests HEPA filters and other products are probably ineffective against the effects of overall indoor dust mite load on asthma.
Metered dose inhaler (MDI) – a small plastic container that contains an aerosol receptacle of asthma medication in liquid form. Also called a puffer. When a patient presses the top of the MDI, it releases the correct dose of medication in a mist. The patient breathes this mist into the lungs. Because patients often use MDI’s incorrectly, doctors usually recommend spacers, especially for kids.
Nebulizer – an electrical medicine delivery system that turns liquid asthma medications into a mist. Patients use the nebulizer by breathing the vapor in through a mask or mouthpiece. Because nebulizers are easier to use than inhalers, doctors often prescribe them for young children. One breathing treatment on a nebulizer delivers more medicine than one puff of an inhaler does, but the treatment takes longer and is less portable than an inhaler. (Nebulizers come in home and portable versions.)
Peak flow meter – small, plastic device that measures how many liters per minute (lpm) of air an individual can blow in one fast breath. Lowered peak flow readings are a good early warning signal for asthma sufferers. Keeping track of peak flow can help asthmatics determine when to use bronchodilators and can help doctors prescribe the right dosage of medicines.
Puffer – another term for inhaler.
Spacer – a small holding chamber (with mouthpiece or mask) that connects to an MDI, trapping the medicine an inhaler puffs out. Spacers make inhalers easier to use for children, and they also ensure more efficient medicine delivery for all users, adults and children.
ABOUT THIS POST
This is part of the asthma glossary which I compiled for myself and originally published as BellaOnline’s asthma editor. Because the entire list is so long, I arranged the definitions into mini-glossaries by subject, and I’ll post each section over the next few weeks. When I’m done, you’ll be able to read the entire glossary through the tab above or find the mini-sections through the Asthma Glossaries category in the right sidebar.
I hesitate to use the word comprehensive here. That’s a pretty big word. What I’ll say, instead, is this glossary feels comprehensive to me. As with everything else I write on this blog, I don’t claim expert knowledge so much as I pass along what helped me, in case it might help you.
Previous installments
Lung Terms
Symptom Terms
Medicine Terms
Allergy Terms
Although a poor use of terminology, the olde goat prefers to call the rescue inhaler a “wheezer”. Used in a sentence….
“Did you remember to bring your wheezer? You know how you get at comedy shows.”
Yes, TOG changes the terminology at his discretion. Officially, I am not a wheezer… he claims I’m a “lunger” however my proper name is “Wheezy”.
Hope AG is feeling better! Flaring blows. Give her my best!