(University of Southern Arizona Health Sciences Center)There are a lot of different types of spacers. I listened to a pharmacist recently who gave a presentation on the Utah Department of Health's Telehealth Series. It was very interesting because he talked about why it is important to use an inhaler. If you don't, the medicine goes to the back of your throat because it comes out of the inhaler at 50 miles per hour.
Many people don't use spacers because they take up room in a briefcase, purse or backpack. Or they may not know how to use one and many doctors don't tell their patients they need one. Of course it's easier to just slip the inhaler in your pocket, but what's the point of using an inhaler if you aren't getting the medicine down into your lungs?
Another thing the pharmacist said was to make sure you wait several minutes between puffs on your inhaler. There is a reservoir in the bottom of the inhaler, and it needs to refill before it can discharge the medicine. So, once again you may be using your inhaler but you are not getting any medicine into your lungs. He said DO NOT do two quick puffs in a row. Because you will be getting half of the medicine you think you are getting.
I watched it a couple of times because it was so interesting, if you want to watch it, here's the link
http://www.utahtelehealth.net/education/asthma.html
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on May 3rd "In the World of Asthma Device Matters: by David Young, Pharm D