July 29, 2024 • 14 mins
In this episode, Dr. Paul Anderson explores the use of nebulizer therapies as a treatment for respiratory conditions. He covers:
4o mini
- What is Nebulizer Therapy?: An explanation of how nebulizers work to deliver medication directly to the lungs, improving respiratory function and reducing symptoms.
- Types of Medications: Overview of common medications used in nebulizer therapy, including bronchodilators, corticosteroids, and saline solutions.
- Conditions Treated: Insight into respiratory conditions that benefit from nebulizer therapy, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchitis.
- Benefits and Considerations: Discussion on the effectiveness of nebulizer therapy in managing symptoms and improving quality of life, as well as potential side effects and considerations.
- Personalized Approaches: How treatment plans are tailored based on individual health needs and the specific respiratory condition being treated.
- Integrative Strategies: Complementary therapies and lifestyle changes that can enhance the effectiveness of nebulizer treatments and support overall respiratory health.
4o mini
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's your house, doctor Paul, good.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Day, Welcome to medicine and health, and this section we're
going to talk about nebulizers. So we're in this series
of why can't I get better? And so I did
some of the more negative oriented things like physical problems,
et cetera. Now we're doing a series on some of
the therapies that we use and that we find are
(00:28):
useful in people with chronic illness and things that don't
want to heal, et cetera. So the use of nebulizers
is something that's not uncommon to people, say, with asthma
or other respiratory diseases, but a lot of people, of
course don't have those problems and may not use them,
or may not have had a child who had to
use them, et cetera. And with the advent of COVID,
(00:53):
and to some degree post COVID, we're seeing more use
of nebulized therapies that would make a lot of sense
for reasons that we'll get into. But nebulizers are essentially
a way to take a liquid medication and to vaporize
(01:14):
it or atomize it, and it has a mask and
then you breathe it in through the mask and of
course it goes in your nose and in your throat
and your lungs. So obviously this is a really good
delivery method for medications for respiratory illnesses, et cetera. And
(01:34):
one of the things that we kind of saw early
on with COVID patients, for example, was that nebulizers were
really useful beyond steroids and other respiratory medications in delivering
things like either ansetal cysteine, so n STL cysteine is
(01:54):
a drug called muchemist and you might imagine the word
co and myst would have something to do with mucus,
and it's a mucolytic substance, but it also does a
number of other good things.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
We've also used.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Glutathione, which anecetyl systeine is a piece of gluted tothion,
and so we've nebulized that.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We've also nebulized.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
The flavonoid called quercetin, and then of course just about
most of the respiratory drugs can be put in through
a nebulizer as well. Now, why in a chronically ill person,
whether it's post covid, COVID or chronic lime or other
(02:38):
issues that are going on but we use a device
such as a nebulizer.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, it's a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
One is, it was immediately thought of with COVID patients
and post COVID patients where they had lingering respiratory oropharyngeal
and lung issues, because of course that's where the medicine goes.
So not only did we use a lot of nstel
cysteine or mucymist with the acute covid and or glue
(03:08):
to thione if that was available as well, but in
post COVID what we're seeing now where people have taste
and smell issues that are needing to heal because the
nerves that go the sensory nerves that go for smell
and taste are often damaged in patients with COVID, and
(03:29):
so the thiol treatments like mucymist or glued to thione,
et cetera.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Can be very useful with that.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Also, some of the other treatments such as the flavonoids
like quercetin. If you have a pharmacy that can make
it in a sterile, nebulizable form, it can be very helpful. Now,
one of the things that you'll see is if a
person is not experiencing a lot of respiratory issues and
(04:00):
the nebulizer is not thought of, and that's probably pretty logical.
But the way that you can also look at it
is in a post COVID patient where there may be
taste and smell issues one or the other or both,
you can wind up delivering the medication into the area.
(04:20):
So they're going to be breathing in through their nose,
their mouth, etc. And so they'll get a little bit
of effect in their lungs too, but it's going to
be delivered directly to the tissues that are having some
of the nerve issues. The other thing is if there
is a infection going on, if there's inflammation going on, etc.
(04:42):
That is in the lungs, the nebulizer treatments are really
really quite helpful. They're also now what other times that
we use nebulizers, Well, there's also an effect with nebulizers
where because it's going into mucous membrane areas. And you
might remember from other discussions that the pink membranes inside
(05:04):
your mouth and your nose and your digest attract etc.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Those are mucous membranes.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
They have the same basic structure as your skin does.
Except they don't have the outer layer that is what
we call keratinized, and that's what makes your skin, you know,
repel water and things like that. So if you had
that structure but you took the carotenized part off, it
would be pink because you could see the blood through it.
And that is actually a vehicle for drug absorption as well.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So you may have.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Seen or heard of people using a saying nasal application
of a medication that is supposed to help systemically or
even locally in the tissues. You may have seen people,
you know, using a non non swallowed medication, so you
(05:55):
might put it under their tongue and sublingually absorb it. Well,
it turns out when you use a nebulizer, because you're
interacting with the mucous membranes and not really the skin,
your absorption is going to be much higher than if
you were to, say, swallow the same medication. So in
(06:15):
some cases we will have people use a nebulizer for
say something like glutathione or mucamist antecetyl cysteine or one
of the other things that we're talking about today, and
they'll use it as a way to even get more
into their bloodstream, which can be very useful also. Now
I will say with patients with respiratory issues of a
(06:39):
lower nature such as pneumonia's, pneumonitis, that sort of thing.
The nebulizer is a wonderful way to get any medication
that you need indirectly to the lungs to be helpful.
And you probably recall earlier in COVID, especially with the
wild type wuhan and alpha, and there was a lot
(07:01):
of respiratory inflammation, a lot of people had problems, a
lot of people got put on ventilators, and we found
early on that the use of nebulized medications was very,
very helpful and useful. There's also other things that we
can put in nebulizers that are very similar to things
(07:23):
that might be used in an asthma patient. Now, in asthma,
you have a reactive airwave problem, and so you'll hear
the wheezing going on of asthma, and that's where literally
all of the little air pockets, the alveoli that help
you transfer oxygen and CO two back and forth, are
getting more and more swollen and they can get full
(07:45):
of fluid, etc. And so in the more acute states,
what one will do usually is one of the beta
two drugs like albuterol, etc.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And that will be.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Inhaled in cases whether it's in the hospital or even
out of the hospital, where the mucus is getting really thick,
that's when the drug mucu missed, which is also a
supplement called aniseedal systein, will be used as an inhaled substance.
Because it is mucolytic, it helps to break the mucus down.
And then things like glut tothione is also mucolytic. They're
(08:21):
both antioxidant, so that's very useful in asthma patients. We've
also added things sometimes there's some research on this, like
magnesium sulfate, which is a liquid. It's often injected and
in this case it can be mixed in with certain
asthma medications. And so you think, well, why would you
use magnesium, Well, it's a couple of reasons why magnesium
(08:45):
inhalation through a nebulizer can be beneficial, and those reasons
include relaxation of the airway muscles, so it helps to
actually help you breathe a little more easily. Also, especially
if you have chronic issues in the aeronos and throat
and lung area. Magnesium directly applied through the mucous membranes
(09:10):
and through the lungs is not only going to get
a little bit into your bloodstream, but also, in addition
to relaxing the airways, etc. It's going to get to
the cells and help the cells to have better glut
to thione or antioxidant activity. And this is something that
(09:31):
we didn't used to realize happened until there were a
number of studies done with cardiac problems and asthma problems,
and they even did some studies with newborn babies and
some other things where they basically showed that the more
magnesium you get inside of your cells, the better the
glutathione will cycle and work. And glutathion is your primary
(09:53):
antioxidant for cell use. So all of these would be
synergistic whether you're acute ill, whether you're trying to recover
after an illness such as post COVID or long COVID,
or whether you have one of the other long term
disorders things such as autoimmunity or chronic complex infectious illness
(10:16):
or toxicities.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Et cetera.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
We even in the early days of nebulizing, things like
antecedosysteine and gluedithione its cousin, et cetera. We would see
great benefit even in elderly patients with lung problems, et cetera,
by nebulizing those substence. And at some point, you know,
(10:40):
respiratory therapy research got the idea that while we use
magnesium sulfate for so many other things, could we combine
it with you know, maybe a beta two drug or
maybe other drugs. So it's actually research out there on
that too. Of actually combination of things like mag and
(11:01):
other drugs for us for use. Now in the case
of chronic illness, what we'll do sometimes just to make
it a little bit easier for the person is to
have them. Of course, you know, you can get a nebulizer.
There are many different types. Often your doctor will either
(11:21):
prescribe it or send you to a medical supply place,
or have you order it online. In the case of COVID,
just for ease of use, we had a lot of
people go online and order the battery powered handheld ones
and those are great. That's so great for little kids
unless you're able to hold it, but as an adult
you can just sit and then breathe in through it
(11:41):
and it works really really well.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
They're not that expensive at all.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So they have a little reservoir that you open up,
and of course this is a device you need to
clean and you know, keep it tidy because it is
going to be taking a sterile medication that you would
put in there, and you're going to inhale it. So
you don't want a bunch of dirt or old growing
or other things of that nature. So what we would
usually do with acute COVID would be to either put
(12:07):
a dose of anastel cysteine or glutathionein, so one of
the thiols to help with the mucus and help with antioxidants.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Et cetera.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And then normally with respiratory medications there's some steril saline
to kind of thin it out, so to speak. And
then we with COVID, we would put quercitin steril quercetin in,
which is a bioflavonoid. So there is a drug that
is used called chromolin and that's used a lot of
(12:36):
allergy and mass cell issues, and chromolin is another type
of a flavonoid, So quercetin is a flabinoid. Chromolin is
a highly purified version of a flavonoid which can also
be used. And there are other bioflabinoids, which basically are
chemicals that come from usually the rind part of a
plant or the colorful part of a flower, and they're
(13:00):
used essentially to keep the membranes stable, So they're a
plant constituent that actually can help your membrane stay stable
as well. So those things like say chromolin in question,
decrease the amount of mass cell activation and histamine activation
that goes on, and that will improve also a respiratory
(13:25):
function because you'll lower the histamine output and that can
decrease the inflammation in the areas as well. So we're
about to wrap up here on this sole section on
why can't I get better? Some therapies These are things
that you can often do at home. Just remember nebulizers
(13:46):
usually whatever you put in them does have to be
prescribed because it's a sterile product.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Even if it's a natural product, can be.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Very useful and even in the case of post covid syndrome,
we use them to get things like antioxidants and flabinoids,
et cetera directly to the ear nose and throat area
as well as the lungs, which can be very helpful
even if your residual symptoms are not respiratory, but there
may be taste changes or smell changes. That brings us
(14:15):
to the end of this particular session on medicine health.
Please like, share, and subscribe whatever platform you're on. We're
on CTR Radio network and we're put onto all the
pod burners and YouTube, and we livestream on Facebook. So
thank you everybody for your support, thanks for the growing
YouTube channel, and I will see you on the next module.
Now here's your house, doctor Paul, good.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Day, Welcome to medicine and health, and this section we're
going to talk about nebulizers. So we're in this series
of why can't I get better? And so I did
some of the more negative oriented things like physical problems,
et cetera. Now we're doing a series on some of
the therapies that we use and that we find are
(00:28):
useful in people with chronic illness and things that don't
want to heal, et cetera. So the use of nebulizers
is something that's not uncommon to people, say, with asthma
or other respiratory diseases, but a lot of people, of
course don't have those problems and may not use them,
or may not have had a child who had to
use them, et cetera. And with the advent of COVID,
(00:53):
and to some degree post COVID, we're seeing more use
of nebulized therapies that would make a lot of sense
for reasons that we'll get into. But nebulizers are essentially
a way to take a liquid medication and to vaporize
(01:14):
it or atomize it, and it has a mask and
then you breathe it in through the mask and of
course it goes in your nose and in your throat
and your lungs. So obviously this is a really good
delivery method for medications for respiratory illnesses, et cetera. And
(01:34):
one of the things that we kind of saw early
on with COVID patients, for example, was that nebulizers were
really useful beyond steroids and other respiratory medications in delivering
things like either ansetal cysteine, so n STL cysteine is
(01:54):
a drug called muchemist and you might imagine the word
co and myst would have something to do with mucus,
and it's a mucolytic substance, but it also does a
number of other good things.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
We've also used.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Glutathione, which anecetyl systeine is a piece of gluted tothion,
and so we've nebulized that.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We've also nebulized.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
The flavonoid called quercetin, and then of course just about
most of the respiratory drugs can be put in through
a nebulizer as well. Now, why in a chronically ill person,
whether it's post covid, COVID or chronic lime or other
(02:38):
issues that are going on but we use a device
such as a nebulizer.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, it's a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
One is, it was immediately thought of with COVID patients
and post COVID patients where they had lingering respiratory oropharyngeal
and lung issues, because of course that's where the medicine goes.
So not only did we use a lot of nstel
cysteine or mucymist with the acute covid and or glue
(03:08):
to thione if that was available as well, but in
post COVID what we're seeing now where people have taste
and smell issues that are needing to heal because the
nerves that go the sensory nerves that go for smell
and taste are often damaged in patients with COVID, and
(03:29):
so the thiol treatments like mucymist or glued to thione,
et cetera.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Can be very useful with that.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Also, some of the other treatments such as the flavonoids
like quercetin. If you have a pharmacy that can make
it in a sterile, nebulizable form, it can be very helpful. Now,
one of the things that you'll see is if a
person is not experiencing a lot of respiratory issues and
(04:00):
the nebulizer is not thought of, and that's probably pretty logical.
But the way that you can also look at it
is in a post COVID patient where there may be
taste and smell issues one or the other or both,
you can wind up delivering the medication into the area.
(04:20):
So they're going to be breathing in through their nose,
their mouth, etc. And so they'll get a little bit
of effect in their lungs too, but it's going to
be delivered directly to the tissues that are having some
of the nerve issues. The other thing is if there
is a infection going on, if there's inflammation going on, etc.
(04:42):
That is in the lungs, the nebulizer treatments are really
really quite helpful. They're also now what other times that
we use nebulizers, Well, there's also an effect with nebulizers
where because it's going into mucous membrane areas. And you
might remember from other discussions that the pink membranes inside
(05:04):
your mouth and your nose and your digest attract etc.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Those are mucous membranes.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
They have the same basic structure as your skin does.
Except they don't have the outer layer that is what
we call keratinized, and that's what makes your skin, you know,
repel water and things like that. So if you had
that structure but you took the carotenized part off, it
would be pink because you could see the blood through it.
And that is actually a vehicle for drug absorption as well.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So you may have.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Seen or heard of people using a saying nasal application
of a medication that is supposed to help systemically or
even locally in the tissues. You may have seen people,
you know, using a non non swallowed medication, so you
(05:55):
might put it under their tongue and sublingually absorb it. Well,
it turns out when you use a nebulizer, because you're
interacting with the mucous membranes and not really the skin,
your absorption is going to be much higher than if
you were to, say, swallow the same medication. So in
(06:15):
some cases we will have people use a nebulizer for
say something like glutathione or mucamist antecetyl cysteine or one
of the other things that we're talking about today, and
they'll use it as a way to even get more
into their bloodstream, which can be very useful also. Now
I will say with patients with respiratory issues of a
(06:39):
lower nature such as pneumonia's, pneumonitis, that sort of thing.
The nebulizer is a wonderful way to get any medication
that you need indirectly to the lungs to be helpful.
And you probably recall earlier in COVID, especially with the
wild type wuhan and alpha, and there was a lot
(07:01):
of respiratory inflammation, a lot of people had problems, a
lot of people got put on ventilators, and we found
early on that the use of nebulized medications was very,
very helpful and useful. There's also other things that we
can put in nebulizers that are very similar to things
(07:23):
that might be used in an asthma patient. Now, in asthma,
you have a reactive airwave problem, and so you'll hear
the wheezing going on of asthma, and that's where literally
all of the little air pockets, the alveoli that help
you transfer oxygen and CO two back and forth, are
getting more and more swollen and they can get full
(07:45):
of fluid, etc. And so in the more acute states,
what one will do usually is one of the beta
two drugs like albuterol, etc.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And that will be.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Inhaled in cases whether it's in the hospital or even
out of the hospital, where the mucus is getting really thick,
that's when the drug mucu missed, which is also a
supplement called aniseedal systein, will be used as an inhaled substance.
Because it is mucolytic, it helps to break the mucus down.
And then things like glut tothione is also mucolytic. They're
(08:21):
both antioxidant, so that's very useful in asthma patients. We've
also added things sometimes there's some research on this, like
magnesium sulfate, which is a liquid. It's often injected and
in this case it can be mixed in with certain
asthma medications. And so you think, well, why would you
use magnesium, Well, it's a couple of reasons why magnesium
(08:45):
inhalation through a nebulizer can be beneficial, and those reasons
include relaxation of the airway muscles, so it helps to
actually help you breathe a little more easily. Also, especially
if you have chronic issues in the aeronos and throat
and lung area. Magnesium directly applied through the mucous membranes
(09:10):
and through the lungs is not only going to get
a little bit into your bloodstream, but also, in addition
to relaxing the airways, etc. It's going to get to
the cells and help the cells to have better glut
to thione or antioxidant activity. And this is something that
(09:31):
we didn't used to realize happened until there were a
number of studies done with cardiac problems and asthma problems,
and they even did some studies with newborn babies and
some other things where they basically showed that the more
magnesium you get inside of your cells, the better the
glutathione will cycle and work. And glutathion is your primary
(09:53):
antioxidant for cell use. So all of these would be
synergistic whether you're acute ill, whether you're trying to recover
after an illness such as post COVID or long COVID,
or whether you have one of the other long term
disorders things such as autoimmunity or chronic complex infectious illness
(10:16):
or toxicities.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Et cetera.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
We even in the early days of nebulizing, things like
antecedosysteine and gluedithione its cousin, et cetera. We would see
great benefit even in elderly patients with lung problems, et cetera,
by nebulizing those substence. And at some point, you know,
(10:40):
respiratory therapy research got the idea that while we use
magnesium sulfate for so many other things, could we combine
it with you know, maybe a beta two drug or
maybe other drugs. So it's actually research out there on
that too. Of actually combination of things like mag and
(11:01):
other drugs for us for use. Now in the case
of chronic illness, what we'll do sometimes just to make
it a little bit easier for the person is to
have them. Of course, you know, you can get a nebulizer.
There are many different types. Often your doctor will either
(11:21):
prescribe it or send you to a medical supply place,
or have you order it online. In the case of COVID,
just for ease of use, we had a lot of
people go online and order the battery powered handheld ones
and those are great. That's so great for little kids
unless you're able to hold it, but as an adult
you can just sit and then breathe in through it
(11:41):
and it works really really well.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
They're not that expensive at all.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So they have a little reservoir that you open up,
and of course this is a device you need to
clean and you know, keep it tidy because it is
going to be taking a sterile medication that you would
put in there, and you're going to inhale it. So
you don't want a bunch of dirt or old growing
or other things of that nature. So what we would
usually do with acute COVID would be to either put
(12:07):
a dose of anastel cysteine or glutathionein, so one of
the thiols to help with the mucus and help with antioxidants.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Et cetera.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
And then normally with respiratory medications there's some steril saline
to kind of thin it out, so to speak. And
then we with COVID, we would put quercitin steril quercetin in,
which is a bioflavonoid. So there is a drug that
is used called chromolin and that's used a lot of
(12:36):
allergy and mass cell issues, and chromolin is another type
of a flavonoid, So quercetin is a flabinoid. Chromolin is
a highly purified version of a flavonoid which can also
be used. And there are other bioflabinoids, which basically are
chemicals that come from usually the rind part of a
plant or the colorful part of a flower, and they're
(13:00):
used essentially to keep the membranes stable, So they're a
plant constituent that actually can help your membrane stay stable
as well. So those things like say chromolin in question,
decrease the amount of mass cell activation and histamine activation
that goes on, and that will improve also a respiratory
(13:25):
function because you'll lower the histamine output and that can
decrease the inflammation in the areas as well. So we're
about to wrap up here on this sole section on
why can't I get better? Some therapies These are things
that you can often do at home. Just remember nebulizers
(13:46):
usually whatever you put in them does have to be
prescribed because it's a sterile product.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Even if it's a natural product, can be.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Very useful and even in the case of post covid syndrome,
we use them to get things like antioxidants and flabinoids,
et cetera directly to the ear nose and throat area
as well as the lungs, which can be very helpful
even if your residual symptoms are not respiratory, but there
may be taste changes or smell changes. That brings us
(14:15):
to the end of this particular session on medicine health.
Please like, share, and subscribe whatever platform you're on. We're
on CTR Radio network and we're put onto all the
pod burners and YouTube, and we livestream on Facebook. So
thank you everybody for your support, thanks for the growing
YouTube channel, and I will see you on the next module.
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