Can Albuterol show up on breathalizer? Does Asthma go ever go away?

Every day at MyAsthmaCentral.com we get lots of asthma related questions. Below are some questions I thought my readers at the RT Cave would enjoy.

Question: Is there a connection between asthma and anemia?

My humble answer: As far as I know there is no documented link between asthma and anemia.

Question: Can Albuterol show up on a Breathalyzer?

My humble answer: According to materials I have read, Albuterol can register false positives on alcohol Breathalyzer tests. Some of the reasonings behind how this occurs is complicated to understand, but this post here explains it pretty well. If you are using an Albuterol inhaler, and you get pulled over, you should tell the officer you just used an asthma inhaler and tell him that you request a blood alcohol test. To read something a bit more complicated, you can read this court ruling.

Question: Does Asthma go away for both child stage and adult?

My humble answer:
It used to be believed that asthma went away when one became an adult, but we now know this is a fallacy. Even while it may appear your asthma is gone, it is still there in hiding.

There are many theories why asthma may appear to go away with time. One is as an asthmatic grows older his air passages become larger and are better capable of dealing with asthma triggers. Another is he learns to avoid his asthma triggers.

Asthma is a strange disease in that you can go week, months, even years without having asthma symptoms. But you must never forget that you still have asthma, and that you should continue to see your doctor at least once a year to monitor your asthma so he can adjust your medicine accordingly (if you still have to take it at all).

Question: does singulair have steroids in it and could it cause weight gain?

My humble answer: I have never heard of Singulair causing weight gain. For a complete list of possible side effects of this medicine check out this link.

If you have any further questions email me, or Visit MyAsthmaCentral.com’s Q&A section.

Do I have to fill my Albuterol prescription?

The following is a question from a fellow asthmatic at MyAsthmaCentral.com. 

Your humble question:  I just left for college and I guess my new dorm room caused me to have an asthma attack. I haven’t had one in years and so the only inhaler I have is from 3 1/2 years ago. I went to the health center and after a nebulizer treatment I feel better. My question is can i just keep this old inhaler with me or do I have to get a new one. What are the odds of even having another asthma attack. I really don’t want my parents to know because they will over react and panic if they knew so I dont want to have to fil the prescription. Thank you for any help.

My humble answer:  I always find the older the inhaler the worse it tastes.  Old asthma medicines are proven to be safe.  However, the longer the inhaler sits around the less potent the medicine becomes.  So your 3.5 year old inhaler will probably work about 1/2 (if that) as well as a new inhaler. 

It seems to me obvious your “old” inhaler wasn’t working well enough to keep you out of the health center.  So I’d recommend you bite the bullet and go see your doctor and get a new one.  That way you’ll have one to keep on hand for the next emergency.  A fresh inhaler may be all you need to avoid the health center.  You should toss out old inhalers and get new ones at least once per year.

I wrote a post about this recently.  You may want tock it out by clicking here.

New indication for Albuterol Nebulizers

I’ve learned tonight that there is one more indication for using Ventolin that has been overlooked. I never would have thought of this myself, and it took for a brilliant nurse here at Shoreline to point it out to me.

I was called to a patient’s room to give a breathing treatment. Four hours earlier I had given a treatment to this patient, and observed agonal breathing with long periods of apnea. The patient was obtunded. The patient was also a DNR patient (do not resuscitate).

I was already grumbling under my breath as I approached the nurses station, and hoped that I could prevent myself from stating my opinion verbally.

“You guys called for a treatment?” I said as I approached the nurse’s station. Three nurses looked up from their respective computers and squinted at me.

“Yes,” one of the nurses said. “We need a treatment on Mrs. Millen in 212-2.”

You mean you WANT a treatment, I thought. This patient never needed any of my services. “Is the patient having bronchospasms?”

“I’m not sure,” she said as she hopped out of her chair.

“Then why do you think she needs a treatment?” Why did I just ask that? I’m only asking for trouble.

“THE PATIENT ISN’T BREATHING,” she wailed. “SHE NEEDS TO BREATHE.”

“It ain’t gonna make her breathe,” I mumbled ruefully under my breath as I walked away from the station toward the room. I looked back at the station and couldn’t determine by the nurses actions whether or not she heard me. The other two nurses still hadn’t budged.

Wow! It’s an Albuterol epiphany. Not only does this medicine resolve bronchospasms, it also works to actually cause a person to take in a normal inspiration.

Voila. We have a new ‘olin. What should we call it? Ventilatolin (not to be confused with Ventilatorolin). If you need the isomer version, then we have Breathonex.

My coworker prefers to call it Itstolateolin. That works too.