Breathing Treatments Bad for Parents/Caregivers?

[Bellithorp]

Hello, I had a really interesting question which the doctors will not answer for some reason. When my daughter does her breathing treatments her room completely clouds up so I have been closing the door to sit in there with her in case it is harmful to anyone else in the house. Also, when the air is on it completely carries the treatments throughout the entire house.

Is it bad to be exposed to these breathing treatments/medications if you do not have CF?

 

[juliepat]

When you are healthy I don't think, it's a problem to be in the same room, only a small part of the meds comes into the air and maybe a tiny part to your healthy lungs. Never heard of someone who had problems with this . Our doc didn't warn us about something like that .

 

[Printer]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stephen]

National Jewish did warn me about this! They recommended using a Pari Filter Pad and Filter/Valve Set whenever nebulizing TOBI.

There are at least two reasons for this.

#1. The antibiotic gets into the air in the room, and others can breathe this in.

#2. Maybe more importantly, TOBI is quite sticky, as is evident by the residue remaining in the nebulizer. The escaping mist collects on walls, furniture, etc, and will eventually build up leaving a sticky mess. (Cayston and Colistin also leave sticky residues.)

For these reasons, I’ve been using a filter for almost all nebulizer treatments. This includes saline, which leaves salt deposits on surfaces in the room.

Pari says the filters are “one use”, but at about $1 each this gets to be expensive. I use them several times, and then rinse and reuse them. This way they last for dozens of treatments.

I’m quite surprised that all CF centers don’t advise patients to use filters on nebulizers.

 

[Kaethe108]

Any ideas about doing Pulmozyme and a pregnant caretaker?
Our daughter sits on my lap when she nebulizes, so its quite possible that I get some Pulmozyme as well.

 

[stephen]

Pulmozyme is the only nebulized substance that I don't use any filtering for.

However, I'm a 71 year old male. The rhDNase in Pulmozyme is made from genetically engineered Chinese hamster ovary cells. Therefor, it's probably smart for you too look into what effects the Pulmozyme mist might have on you.

 

[2roses]

I've heard pregnant moms should not be in the room when TOBI is nebulized.

 

[rubyroselee]

I have heard some healthcare professionals say that Tobi/Tobra and other inhaled antibiotics are not good for healthy individuals to inhale. I believe it's due to the chance for resistance to the medication (in the event that person would ever need to be treated for an infection). Not sure if that's the true reason, but that's what I have been told before. But honestly, how often do we see healthy individuals need Tobramycin? Not very often. So to me, I think it's sort of silly.

 

[Liza]

Just my two cents as a mom to two for the last 23 yrs. We've never had any doc tell us that we should not be in the room when our daughter's nebulized their antibiotics. We have had a nurse or two, while in hospital wear a mask because they were pregnant, while TOBI was being nebulized. We have had only one hospital use a filter... sorry, I can't remember which or why (perhaps it was pregnancy as well). We have lived in 7 different states, attending 8 different CF centers and one CF center in The Netherlands. Two of those centers, no inhaled antibiotics were used as they were not in use yet. We have been told that a pregnant person should wear a mask and not be in the room while TOBI was being used.

 

[Ratatosk]

Nonissue for me. DS has to do his treatments 3-4 times a day, not going to leave him sitting in isolation.

 

[Rebjane]

I am unconcerned about breathing in my daughter's nebs. I have heard for TOBI at hospitals of them using special filters to prevent the proliferation of hospital aquired resistant bacteria. That's a good protocol in my mind.

 

[Beaz]

I remember being told at clinic years ago that doing nebs - TOBI?- in the same room with an aquarium could kill the fish. Since we didn't have any, I sort of forgot about it. Weird !