Just Breathe
It’s harder than you think….especially if you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aka. COPD) or asthma. If you or someone you know relies on an inhaler to help with shortness of breath or wheezing, the please send them this important information about salbutamol inhalers (aka. Ventolin or rescue inhaler).
It is important that you take your regular maintenance inhaled medication as prescribed. This will keep your symptoms of COPD under control and reduce your NEED for the rescue inhaler.
Ensure that you have a one month supply of COPD maintenance inhalers at home. Keep track of your medication supply and leave additional time to obtain your refills from the pharmacy.
Consider having the pharmacy or a trusted person deliver the medications to you so you can continue to stay at home and practice physical distancing.
There IS a shortage of salbutamol inhalers in Canada, if you do not need it, do not attempt to refill your prescription.
When refilling your inhaler, you should expect to receive only a 1-month supply. This is in response to inventory control measures put in place to help as many people as possible.
You should carefully track doses of salbutamol by dose counting.
You should use all salbutamol inhalers that you may have in various locations before refilling one. If you have multiple salbutamol inhalers use the one with the earliest expiry date first.
Not discarded recently expired inhalers (e.g., expired in the last 6 months) may be used until replaced, BUT they may not be as effective. Seek out medical attention whenever necessary.
Use the diskus inhaler even if it was removed from the wrapper more than 60 days ago.
If you need help understanding or modifying your COPD or asthma treatment plan, please call or message Dr. Lisa.