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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Asthma / May 2004Anybody know the history of asthma inhalers?
When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used anywhere by anyone until the 1980s --- not in high school and not in college. I worked with an asthmatic colleague, and she was the first one I ever saw use an inhaler. Except for my father, I never even saw anyone having an asthma attack (he sometimes had to go to the ER or hospital). Today, I am amazed at the number of people I see using inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the incidence is greater here. > When did they become available? I can remember having an albuterol inhaler in about 1970. I couldn't tell you if that's when they became available. > And have inhalers greatly improved the lives of asthmatic people? Before albuterol the options were emergency room, oxygen or various mostly ineffective home cures. Compared to these albuterol is a godsend. Unfortunately albuterol is much abused, as discussed in other threads.  SignatureAlison Chaiken "From:" address above is valid. (650) 236-2231 [daytime] http://www.wsrcc.com/alison/ With how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our enquiries. -- Mary Shelley, _Frankenstein_ >When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the >lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the >incidence is greater here. In the mid-fifties i had a childhood friend who was asthmatic and used an inhaler. He got them at the Fort McPherson hospital but I have no doubt that they were also commercially available. FACE Guess this could have been an early inhaler, but my late mother, in the 1950's used a glass inhaler with a bulb that you squeezed. She had a small brown bottle of prescribed medicine(liquid) that she would pour a little bit into the mouth of the glass inhaler and it would go into a small resevoir inside of the glass inhaler. Then she would put the mouth piece inside of her mouth and pump the bulb and it would spray the liquid into her throat that would guess go into her lungs. It was a beautiful piece of glass-guess blown. Think it was by the old company call DeVilliss. Sorry there is no spell check here. Gee, just brought the memories back when she would suffer with her asthma and can see so clearly the asthma inhaler. It wasn't called an inhaler then. She also kept glass syringes with needles that she kept glass liquid meds that you either had to break off the top or it was rubber and used this only in emergencies. My late dad was in the Medical Field in the Army and had been trained to give her shots. Matter of fact on their first date she told me they had gone horseback riding in Estes Park, CO and she had an attack from the horse and he gave her her shot. Michelle >When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the >lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the >incidence is greater here. > Guess this could have been an early inhaler, but my late mother, in > the 1950's used a glass inhaler with a bulb that you squeezed. She had [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > It was a beautiful piece of glass-guess blown. Think it was by the old > company call DeVilliss. Sorry there is no spell check here. Yeah I had one of these where you had to keep the medicine in the refrigerator and so couldn't carry it with you. Meant I never could have it at school and going anywhere without a fridge was forbidden. > > .. my late mother, in > > the 1950's used a glass inhaler with a bulb that you squeezed.... Think it was by the old [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > refrigerator and so couldn't carry it with you. Meant I never could have > it at school and going anywhere without a fridge was forbidden. I had one of those, in the 50s and early 60s -- in fact, I had several in succession, as they were fragile as all hell. A DeVilbiss brand hand-operated nebulizer, with a solution of epinephrine to put into it. I can _still_ remember the taste of that stuff (weird, not bad) and the way it made the roof of my mouth itch. In fact, I remember when they switched from a pair of cork stoppers to a pair made of soft black rubber. I did take mine to school, pre-loaded, and the stuff kept its effectiveness for a day or two out of the fridge. I have to laugh at the current school drug policies, that "zero tolerance" nonsense. I wasn't exactly inclined to give the stuff away, after all. NOBODY messed with my lifeline! I was about the first girl in my class to start carrying a purse, and it wasn't because I was such a dainty ladylike thing; it was because I needed something to carry the nebulizer and kleenex in. I also developed a Grip of Steel from pumping the bulb all the time. Used it, and the sort of berserker tendencies one gets from taking lots of epi, to good effect once or twice. I was a scrawny little thing with bags under my eyes, but I could be fierce. Now, my mother had asthma from when she was a kid, and to her, this new contraption was a godsend. All _her_ mother could do for her in the 30s was stuff like mustard plasters! Ah, an atomizer. Used to be used for perfume too. I have wondered why they are not popularly available anymore. I have been thinking it would be quite nice for liquid albuterol. FACE >Guess this could have been an early inhaler, but my late mother, in >the 1950's used a glass inhaler with a bulb that you squeezed. She had [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >>inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the >>incidence is greater here. > Guess this could have been an early inhaler, but my late mother, in > the 1950's used a glass inhaler with a bulb that you squeezed. She had [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > >In the 1960's, there was a device called The Byrd Machine. It was suitcased size and had two large dials on it. Basically, it was a large air compressor that would meter air to a plastic atomizer that contained the medicine in the brown bottle as mentioned. And there were inhalers around 1970 when I was a small boy. Also I was taught in 1974 how to administer my own adrenalin shots in my leg as an emergency measure. And the vials were the type that you had to break open and were one time use only. Carl > >When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the > >lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the > >incidence is greater here. >When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the >lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used >anywhere by anyone until the 1980s --- not in high school and not in >college. When I was about 8 or so (that would be about 1977) there was a very early version of a powder inhaler that was HORRIBLE. It crushed a capsule and had a tiny fan thingy that propelled this harsh powder to the back of your throat. Needless to say, I hated it, LOL. I didn't get albuterol until the early 80's. It changed my life totally. Before albuterol, I just wheezed through life, was on a first name basis with the ER staff at Montefiore in the Bronx. Once albuterol came around it was a totally different story. Life is uncertain - eat dessert first. Nancy 8=: ) They were around as early as the late 50's, early 60's. Albuterol wasn't used, usually Isoproterenol, which has fallen out of favor due to its heart effects. I also remember having an Adrenaline inhaler, which really gave a kick! > When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the > lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the > incidence is greater here. > When did they become available? And have inhalers greatly improved the > lives of asthmatic people? I don't remember seeing them being used [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > inhalers! But I live in D.C., and the air is poor, so perhaps the > incidence is greater here. Do a search with "Nathan Tucker" + asthma. The link http://glswrk-auction.com/079e.htm is interesting. Thanks --- That is quite a read about Dr. Tucker's remedy for asthma! Maybe I'll get a magnifying glass and try to read all that fine print on the info sheet that comes with my inhalers. I've got several asthma books around here --- now I'm inspired to look at the index to see if any history is included. This is a follow up to Nancy's message about the powder inhaler that she used in 1977. Yes, it did have a fan or propeller in there to help disperse the powder. I was a young boy when it first came out in the early 1970's. I was at The National Jewish Hospital in Denver for respiratory disease and was one of the first test subjects. The device was called a Spinhaler and the powder was Cromolyn sodium in capsules, 20mg dosage. It was referred to as Cromolyn for short. It was a red capsule that you had to manually load in the device and then you would twist the device as it was a two piece design. This would pierce the capsule and then you would inhale through the Spinhaler to get the metered dosage. The powder would stick to your throat and you needed to rinse your mouth of the taste. It made a distinct sound as you inhaled the powder. As a boy, I would sometimes play with it without the powder just to hear the high pitched whistling sound that it made. Oh yes, you had to clean it often because of the thick powder. It would sometimes clog and cake up the propeller. I can see Nancy and I are really going back into time recalling the asthma treatments back then. :) Gosh, you really made history! Do you recall if the treatment improved your health and the quality of your life? How often did you use the Spinhaler? I guess you must have been thrilled when our present-day little inhalers came on the market. Who knows, maybe you helped get them invented! I visited with my colleague/friend who had the inhaler in 1982, and she said her pulmonologist first gave her one in 1978. She had never seen them or used one until then (at age 21) and she had suffered from asthma from age 14. She was the first one I ever saw using a pocket-size inhaler. He was a brand new pulmonologist just starting his practice. Gosh, how lucky we are to have those inhalers today. > Gosh, you really made history! Do you recall if the treatment improved > your health and the quality of your life? How often did you use the > Spinhaler? I guess you must have been thrilled when our present-day > little inhalers came on the market. Who knows, maybe you helped get > them invented! Yes, I have been through the gammit of asthma treatments. Asthma was not as widely known as it is today and many doctors back in the 1960's did not easily recognize it. I was given cough medicine as I was incorrectly diagnosed. It was only when I saw an allergy specialist, that I started to receive the proper care. I remember prednisone being given to me only in extreme emergencies. I was very fortunate to have a doctor that knew the dangers of prednisone and would only prescribe enough to get me through the asthmatic episode. Also given was Malox, a liquid form of Theophylline. But mainly I would have the nebulizer treatments of I believe to be adrenalin drops mixed with the water. Later I was trained to give myself the adrenalin shots using the one time use glass ampules that you had to crack open. Yes, the spinhaler I believe was one of the first powder delivery devices on the market. Then pulmicort (which I used) was developed later. Also Azmacort and now Flovent. The latest being Advair Diskus with Salmeterol which I now use at the 250/50 strength. I'm not alone in all this. At least Nancy is another one here on the boards that has gone through some of the treatments I have received. By the way Nancy, what dessert do you eat first? :) .. from everyone. I never saw any of the devices described, nor have I heard of them or read about them. If one has to have asthma, now is the time. |
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