Questions about Colistin

[thelizardqueen]

So I just did my first dose of Colistin, and have some questions as I've never done this med before. My instructions for use are as follows: I'm to inject 2mls of saline into the 150mg bottle of Colistin and mix it up. I'm then to draw 1ml of the mixed solution into my neb and use that, and save the other 1ml for my next dose. My pharmicist said that I could add an extra 2ml of saline to my neb and neb that. So basically I'm nedding 1ml of the mixed Colistin, and 2ml of saline. Is this right? I nebbed it, and it only took me about 5mins, where Tobra usually took about 15 mins. I didn't even notice a difference in my lungs after use. I still feel congested. It just seems like such a small amount of medicine to be doing. The whole time I was doing it, at first it tasted like butterscotch, but then all I tasted was the saline afterwards. Is this right? I want to make sure that I'm getting the right amount of meds in me for effect.

 

[ladybug]

Liz,
That's exactly how I was told to mix mine, however, I do the entire bottle once its mixed. So, each treatment I get 150 mg colistyn and 2 cc's saline.

 

[Faust]

Not sure if my bottles and stuff are the same size but here is what I do. I make a weeks batch at a time (14 little bottles), and I use 7 of the supplied sterile water bottles because one of them makes 2 of the collistin bottles. I use a syringe and inject 5cc of air into the sterile water bottle to help with removing the fluid, and suck out 5cc of sterile water. I then inject that into the collistin bottle, and that is one dose. I then finish the rest the same way, and when i'm done I put them in the fridge to chill. For me they are absolutely undoable if you try to neb them right after you make them, because it's way too foamy and no mist is produced.


Dunno if that helps at all.

 

[Emily65Roses]

I do it a little differently. That's not to say what you're doing is wrong. But for reference, here's me:

I inject two ml. of sterile water into the Colistin. It can be done as much as 24 hours ahead of time, so I usually do it about 12 hours earlier so I can let the foam die down. Then when I'm ready, I suck it back out of the bottle, and put it into my neb. Then I take two ml. of saline and add that to the mix right into the neb. Then I go to town.

So each dose for me... is 2 ml of sterile water, and 2 ml of saline.

 

[miesl]

The time is probably due to the issue of volume... 3 mls vs 5 mls.

That dosage is less than what Jeremy uses when he's on Colistin, but that's more of a doctor/Rx thing. Jeremy puts 3-4 mls of sterile water in the colistin vial then nebs it all, using two vials per day.

In my non-medical opinion... it sounds like you're doing it right. Plus, since it's antibiotic, I wouldn't expect it to help with congestion immediately.

Do you use any other nebs?

 

[ladybug]

oophs! i meant that i inject 2 cc's of Sterile Water, not saline.

 

[Ruby]

Can't relate to the mix thing just checked my bottles and they say 1.000.000 units of colistin, I mix two vials with 5 mls of saline and it takes about 10 mins to neb. Generally when I'm on my colistin month I do feel slightly more congested, the tobi has some sort of irritant that makes me cough up more the colistin doesn't some months I'm dying to get back onto the tobi for that reason.

Ruth

 

[thelizardqueen]

It just seems like such a low dose to me. Half a bottle a day is really small to me. If I think back, I may have used this when I was 16 and was using 2 bottles a day.

 

[Ruby]

When I first started it I was on half the dose that I'm on now, sounds like that is what you are on. The doc upped the dose for me after about six months.

 

[thelizardqueen]

Does anyone get lung spasms from it too? Now that I've done my dose, my lungs are feeling really tight.

 

[Faust]

just looked at my little bottles. Each bottle say 150mg, and I add 5cc to each bottle, it chills a while, then I neb it. So I do 300mg of the stuff per day.



When i first started doing the stuff it cleared me up real quick, similar to how tobi was, but after a while I don't think it does have much of an effect anymore, but who knows.

 

[Emily65Roses]

Usually my lungs feel tight after my first few doses of the new "on" month. But after a day or two, I'm fine again. It did make me cough up blood once, though. Don't know if you've done that yet or not, but keep an eye out for it.

Oh! But if it does, that doesn't necessarily mean the end of Colistin. I didn't cough up enough to cause alarm, and my doc says I can still use it. So don't go nuts if you do, just keep an eye on it. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[ladybug]

I used to feel horribly tight and short of breath when I did TOBI (that's why I'm not on it anymore)... Colystin does seem to make me a bit tigher once in ahwile, but not very often. MUCH better for me!!!!

 

[ClashPunk82]

Sonia I mix mine the same as yours. I have a question though mine starts to foam when I start and it starts oozing out the neb and no matter how long I let it sit for it always starts to foam. Is there anyway to stop this from happening?

 

[Faust]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>ClashPunk82</b></i>

Sonia I mix mine the same as yours. I have a question though mine starts to foam when I start and it starts oozing out the neb and no matter how long I let it sit for it always starts to foam. Is there anyway to stop this from happening?</end quote></div>



Yes. My doc said it's fine to make a weeks batch at a time, and just keep it in the fridge well chilled. It seems chilling it and letting it sit chilled for several hours is the secret to not getting the crazy foam and very little mist. When it foams bad, you should notice that it barely mists, so that means you aren't getting much of the benefit from it. Try making a weeks worth at a time, and keeping it in the fridge. Make sure it's made and chilled probably atleast 3 hours before you need to take a dose. I've noticed if I neb even the chilled stuff before that time, it still foams some.