Ventolin HFA Can Make An Asthma Attack Worse For Some Asthmatics
How To Desensitize To Ventolin HFA

Ventolin HFA rescue inhaler doesn’t rescue those sensitive to Ventolin HFA from an asthma attack but makes an asthma attack much worse. According the manufacturer, Ventolin HFA causes a number of side affects including “upper respiratory inflammation” for 5% of people. Ventolin was discontinued and replaced with Ventolin HFA. Ventolin HFA is often referred to as an MDI (metered dose inhaler) because it has a counter counting each use.

How To Desensitize To Ventolin HFA

This is how I successfully ended the asthma crisis I had with Ventolin HFA making breathing much worse instead of rescuing. Try this only when you have with you some other inhaler that works for you, in case you need it for a rescue. !! Always try this method when you’re just starting to have difficulty breathing – not when you’re in a breathing crisis.

Inhale the Ventolin HFA as usual and then exhale the Ventolin HFA immediately at a normal speed – don’t slow the exhaling of the Ventolin HFA. If this method makes breathing much worse, then use the inhaler you have for a rescue to rescue yourself and you’ll have to see a doctor for a prescription for a nebulizer. If this method doesn’t make your breathing much worse, try to keep yourself distracted for 4 or 5 minutes (TV, internet, computer work, etc.) and see if your breathing is relieved after the wait. If your breathing is relieved, use this method, you successfully started desensitizing yourself to Ventolin HFA.

If exhaling the Ventolin HFA immediately didn’t make breathing worse but also didn’t relieve difficulty breathing, then try inhaling the Ventolin HFA as usual and hold the Ventolin HFA down in your lungs and bronchial tubes for one second (the time it takes to say “1 Mississippi”), and then exhale the Ventolin HFA at normal speed. If this method makes breathing a lot worse, then use the inhaler you have for a rescue to rescue yourself and see a doctor about a nebulizer. But if this method doesn’t make your breathing much worse, try to keep yourself distracted (TV, internet, computer work, etc.) for 4 or 5 minutes. If after the wait your breathing is relieved, you successfully started desensitizing yourself to Ventolin HFA.

If holding Ventolin HFA down for 1 second didn’t make breathing worse but also didn’t relieve difficulty breathing, then try again (several hours after the previous tries), but instead hold the Ventolin HFA down counting “1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi” and then exhale the Ventolin HFA at a normal speed. Try to keep yourself distracted while waiting 4 or 5 minutes for breathing relief. If breathing becomes much worse, then use the inhaler you have for a rescue to rescue yourself and you’ll need to see a doctor for a nebulizer. If after the wait your breathing is relieved, you successfully started desensitizing yourself to Ventolin HFA.

!!Once you’re desensitized, it won’t take 4 or 5 minutes for breathing relief, but it will take a few weeks to get down to immediate relief. Realize that holding Ventolin HFA (or any inhaler) down in your lungs and bronchial tubes for too long can cause difficulty breathing, preventing full relief after using an inhaler.

Ventolin HFA Cure

If you succeeded in getting any of the methods above to work, two or three days later you probably won’t have any trouble at all with Ventolin HFA.

Update – Unexpected Reversal

Three weeks after managing to develop the desensitization method, I started to use the discontinued Ventolin because my little sample Ventolin HFA ran out (as a prescription for Ventolin HFA with refills sat on my desk at 10pm on a Sunday night). I managed to get a hold of someone’s Ventolin HFA and it stopped the difficult breathing in about 2 minutes. I had to use the Ventolin HFA 2 more times over the course of about 45 minutes and then I didn’t need anymore Ventolin HFA for the day. I had to use the Ventolin HFA to stop breathing problems caused by apparently too much discontinued Ventolin. The root cause of the need for more ventolin than usual was vitamin A and magnesium deficiencies.

Pseudo Asthma

Some people have shortness of breath, but not asthma, caused by one or more of several nutritional deficiencies; vitamin A (use beta carotene), folic acid, B-12, magnesium (always take magnesium near bedtime), and potassium (orange juice and bananas). Magnesium deficiency and too much magnesium can also cause potassium deficiency. Realize shortness of breath caused by one or more deficiencies is temporarily relieved with any inhaler. Of course, correcting and preventing deficiencies will prevent nutritional deficiencies from making asthma worse.

The low end of the “healthy” range for these nutrients and other nutrients in lab test results are way too low. Ask your doctor for a prescription for test for these nutrients. If the doctor says no say, “If you won’t prescribe the tests, I’ll find a doctor today that will.” Be certain to demand a copy of the lab test results, “It was normal.” is not a substitute for a copy of the lab test results. From personal experience with folic acid and B-12, the low end of the ranges are significant deficiency levels, and no one seems to know who determined these ranges. If you find your results for any nutrient in the bottom half of the range, you should eat more of the nutrient or take a supplement of the nutrient, being careful not to go overboard (i.e. 800mcg of folic acid every day is way too much, try 400mcg.)

Pollen allergies, dust allergies, and dairy (especially milk and cheese even if you’re not allergic to milk) are very initiators or contributors to an asthma attack. Dust mites (use special very high thread count pillow case) usually aggravate asthma. For some people, allergy to sulfites found in cheese, wine, luncheon meats, and prepackaged foods aggravate asthma.

Asthma and Iron

Men and children with asthma who eat red meat and have asthma probably should avoid iron supplements and multi vitamin/mineral containing iron – iron is a catalyst for free radicals, free radicals cause inflammation, inflammation makes breathing more difficult. Red meat contains plenty of iron. Women with asthma should consider getting only enough iron to avoid iron deficiency symptoms. Here’s a fun experiment: Eat 1 cup of blueberries twice a day for two days. (If blood clotting is a concern, use 3 black plums a day.) You’re breathing will likely be better – the better breathing is the antioxidants in blueberries absorbing the free radicals in your body (that come from the air you breathe and created in cells from processing of food molecules).

Asthma Tips

Having asthma and using chemicals bare handed (esp. lacquer thinner) is asking for disaster. Anything absorbed by the skin moves to the bloodstream. Use rubber gloves that don’t have a cloth interior lining when handling chemicals.

Carrying an inhaler in your pants pocket can activate the inhaler again and again until there’s no Ventolin HFA left. Cold temperatures somehow also deplete Ventolin HFA. If you’re not carrying a purse, tuck your shirt in and throw it in your shirt to avoid these two problems.

Asthma Breathing Exercises

Try the free video on new breathing exercises to help reduce asthma inhaler use by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Asthma and Airways

Other Inhalers

The chemical name for Ventolin is albuterol sulfate. Ventolin is a “short-acting” bronchodilator or rescue inhaler. There are other inhalers. Proventil HFA supposedly is albuterol sulfate, but it really sucks. If you use Proventil, try Ventolin HFA. I have no experience with the “autoinhaler” Maxair. The inhaler ProAir appears to be a discount form of Ventolin. Xopenex is levalbuterol is not a fast-acting inhaler and didn’t do anything for me. Serevent and Foradil are “Long-acting” inhalers. Advair and Symbicort are inhaler forms of steroids and work well, maybe too well, and may hide deficiencies longer than other inhalers that need to be corrected. Steroids have all sorts of nasty long term side effects and should only be used for times when a regular inhaler isn’t working. Other asthma medications include Cromolyn and Nedocromil. AccuNeb is for children. Vospire is an extended release albuterol sulfate tablet.

Cure For One Root Cause Of Asthma

Mycoplasma pneumoniae and chlamydophila pneumoniae are bacteria that are root causes of asthma in many asthmatics. Tetracycline and erythromycin have been used to kill the theses forms of bacteria. A PCR test can be used to test for mycoplasma pneumoniae and chlamydophila pneumoniae. Realize if the root cause of your asthma is either of these two bacteria, your asthma is very likely curable. Candida is also known to be a root cause of asthma. Apple cider vinegar for some does wonders for asthma.