Inhalations for coughs in adults and children - indications and contraindications, rules of conduct. Herbs, essential oils and medications for inhalation for coughs. How to breathe correctly while inhaling with a nebulizer How to do steam inhalations correctly

For many, the onset of cold weather is associated with colds and coughs, especially for adults with weakened immune systems and children. And although the respiratory disease itself is not that dangerous, its symptoms can cause significant discomfort and disrupt a lot of plans. Therefore, when the first signs of the disease appear, it is necessary to begin treatment. This can be done with the help of both medications and traditional medicine recipes. But regardless of which treatment method is chosen, cough inhalations are necessary for everyone.

Kinds

This method of dealing with an unpleasant symptom is divided into two types. The first is natural inhalation. It is not entirely relevant for residents of noisy cities and consists of naturally inhaling air enriched with beneficial microelements in nature, in the forest or on the seashore. Therefore, in this article we will consider the second treatment method, which can be carried out at home. These are artificial cough inhalations. They are carried out using special devices and allow drugs to be applied directly to the source of the inflammatory process.

Methods of inhalation

Before starting such a procedure for treating cough, you should determine where the inflammation is located and at what stage of development. This can be done correctly by a doctor who will not only diagnose the disease, but also select effective medications for inhalation. It is the specialist who will advise which of the two methods of delivering medications into the respiratory tract should be used, as well as how to carry out the procedure and what precautions to take.

The first method involves using a steam inhaler. This can be either a device purchased at a pharmacy, consisting of a closed container and attachments, or any deep bowl or pan made from kitchen utensils. Decoctions of medicinal herbs or medicinal preparations and essential oils diluted in hot water can be used as a solution for therapy.

As for the second method of inhalation for cough, it involves the use of inhalers - nebulizers. These industrial machines convert liquid medicine into an aerosol. In addition, while using the device, you can independently adjust the size of microparticles. This allows you to change the direction of the drug delivery range depending on the location of the source of the disease.

Benefits of Steam Inhalation

This method of treating coughs and respiratory diseases has been used for centuries. Inhaling warm, moist steam from medicinal plants and essential oils today actively competes with drug therapy. And this is quite logical. After all, the delivery of drugs directly to the site of the inflammatory process and the moistening of the mucous membranes during steam inhalation for coughs contribute to the separation of mucus. Of course, the same expectorant effect can be achieved with the help of medications, but, as you know, almost all of them have a lot of side effects.

Another advantage of this type of impact on the source of the disease is the cost. After all, home inhalation of a decoction of medicinal herbs will cost tens of times less than the medications needed to treat the disease. Of course, it is impossible to say so categorically that inhalations are more effective than pharmaceutical drugs. After all, almost everything depends on the disease, its complexity and stage of development. So, for example, if the disease appears as a result of a bacterial infection, it is unacceptable to refuse a medicinal course of treatment. After all, the pathogen can only be defeated with the help of antibiotics. But against the background of such therapy, steam inhalations can and even should be done to relieve symptoms and improve the expectorant effect.

How to carry out the procedure at home?

If you have a steam inhaler in your home medicine cabinet, you don’t need to invent anything. It is enough to pour the medicinal solution into the bowl, and you can carry out the procedure. But in situations where there is no device and no opportunity to purchase it, you need to select a suitable container from household utensils. In a deep bowl or pan that you have chosen, you need to pour a hot herbal decoction or boiled water, to which add 2-3 drops of essential oil. Next, you should take a blanket or large towel and cover your head with it, sitting comfortably over the container. It is important that steam does not escape from under the blanket, but it is worth knowing that you cannot bend over a distance below 30 cm from the container, as you can burn your facial skin and respiratory tract, so it is better to use a blanket under which you can sit comfortably and inhale the steam at a safe distance. Such cough inhalations should be given especially carefully to children and the elderly.

Having taken a comfortable position over the container with the medicine, you need to relax as much as possible and close your eyes. The steam should be inhaled measuredly and deeply through the nose, but if acute discomfort is felt, the blanket can be lifted and a few breaths taken through the mouth. After this, the procedure should be continued.

Steam inhalation for dry cough

Aromatherapy has long been one of the most effective methods of treating respiratory diseases. Today it has not lost its relevance for those people who care about their health and are not lazy to be treated with traditional methods. So there are a lot of recipes to combat dry cough. For example, if you boil several potatoes in their skins, mash them slightly and add a couple of drops of essential oil to them, and then breathe over the pan, the patient will feel much better.

Soda inhalations are also effective in treating such an unpleasant manifestation of the disease as cough. It is enough to pour 200 grams of water into a kettle, add a teaspoon of soda, and then boil the solution. When steam comes out of the spout, they should breathe for 10-15 minutes.

Quite often, doctors themselves recommend that patients with a dry cough breathe over a decoction of pine buds. To prepare it, you need to take 10 g of this dry plant, a glass of water and a small saucepan in which you need to boil the mixture over low heat for 25-30 minutes. This remedy will not only help you quickly cope with a dry cough, but will also strengthen your immune system.

It is also worth noting that those people who have entrusted their health to traditional medicine can purchase an inhalation mixture of medicinal herbs at the pharmacy.

Treatment of wet cough with steam inhalation

If one of the manifestations of the disease is a productive cough, you should not put off going to the doctor. Sputum and mucus can migrate from the upper respiratory tract to the middle and lower. Then a medicinal course of treatment simply cannot be avoided. Well, for now, a visit to the doctor is only in the plans, you can purchase a mixture for inhalation and begin treatment.

If your home medicine cabinet contains dry medicinal plants, such as chamomile, coltsfoot, raspberry leaves, you should not go to the pharmacy. It is enough to prepare a decoction from one or more of the above components and breathe in the steam.

Even if your health improves significantly after such procedures, your visit to the doctor cannot be cancelled. After all, a wet cough is a symptom of bronchitis, so the doctor must listen to your breathing. If necessary, he will prescribe an adequate course of therapy and answer questions about how many days to do inhalations and what products to use for the procedure in your particular case.

Peculiarities

Inhalation therapy has long lost its popular status and is now considered a purely medical procedure. That is why it requires strict adherence to certain rules.

For example, steam inhalation is strictly prohibited for patients who often develop laryngeal stenosis due to respiratory diseases. It can accelerate the development of this symptom, which will lead to the most unexpected and dangerous consequences.

The time of the procedure is clearly regulated by doctors in each individual case. Therefore, the doctor must decide how much inhalation to take, taking into account the individual characteristics of the patient and the complexity of the disease.

It is not recommended to use inhalations at elevated body temperatures. And this is quite logical. After all, this procedure involves inhaling hot steam, which can increase the temperature by several more notches. The maximum allowable temperature for the use of inhalation therapy is 37.2 degrees.

Benefits of nebulizer inhalation

This method of delivering drugs to the respiratory tract is very simple. After all, drugs for inhalation are simply poured into the chamber of the device and plugged into the network. Therefore, let's talk about other advantages of using this device.

Compared to a steam inhaler, a nebulizer is safer because it converts the medicine into a cold aerosol. This means that this device can be used to perform the procedure even on newborn babies without fear of harm to health.

It is also worth noting that medications used for inhalation have no side effects, since they are practically not absorbed into the blood. This method of delivering drugs to the site of the disease is especially convenient for children and people with a tendency to allergies. In addition, due to the low absorption of medications, inhalations can be combined with other drugs.

Another convenience when using a nebulizer is the ability to regulate the size of microparticles. This allows you to change the direction of the drug delivery range and effectively treat diseases of both the upper and lower respiratory tract.

Scope of application of the nebulizer

Initially, the main purpose of this type of device was emergency treatment for exacerbations of bronchial asthma. To relieve the spasm and suffocation characteristic of this disease, the patient needs a much larger dose of the drug than with daily therapy. It is possible to quickly deliver the drug to the alveoli of the bronchi, but without harming human health, only with the help of a nebulizer.

Much has changed since the creation of the first such device: it has been modernized, and the scope of application has expanded significantly. Today, the device is widely used not only for asthma, but also for other respiratory diseases, including COPD. Inhalation for cough with a nebulizer is recommended even for the youngest patients, since this method of treating respiratory diseases is not only the safest, but also effective.

Inhalations for respiratory tract pathologies

If the patient is diagnosed with a mild form of the disease that does not require antibiotic therapy, the doctor will recommend alkaline inhalations. There is no need to look for recipes for preparing such medicinal solutions, since for this you can use a pharmaceutical saline solution or mineral water, after releasing the gas. Such inhalations help moisturize the mucous membranes and prevent their further irritation due to drying out.

For more complex breathing pathologies, doctors recommend using medications. The list of drugs is quite large, but the leading positions in it are occupied by the drugs Ambroxol, Lazolvan, Fluimicil and Ambrohexal. They can be used to treat respiratory problems in both children and adults. But pediatricians more often use Ambrobene for inhalation, since this medicine does not cause adverse reactions.

How to treat a wet cough with a nebulizer?

Expectoration is a natural process that allows the bronchi and lungs to cleanse themselves of phlegm and mucus. But when there is a lot of accumulated secretion, the body needs help. In such situations, it is simply impossible to do without inhalations. And if there is no special device at home, doctors recommend visiting a physiotherapy room every day.

As a medicine, specialists usually prescribe drugs to thin the sputum. To achieve the best effect, medicinal inhalations for coughs using a nebulizer should be alternated with alkaline ones. That is, for every second procedure, you need to use saline solution or mineral water as the main remedy. This alternation will not only thin out the mucus, but will also enhance the expectorant effect.

Inhalations for dry cough

A nonproductive cough is much more difficult to treat than a wet cough. After all, sputum, which is located on the mucous membranes of the throat, as well as in the bronchi and lungs, is not separated on its own. As a rule, in such a situation, patients complain of an annoying dry cough. Inhalations that moisturize the mucous membrane and relieve spasms are simply irreplaceable.

Before you start fighting the disease, you need to see a doctor. A professional will conduct a diagnosis and determine the etiology of the disease. Only after this will the patient be prescribed effective therapy, including inhalation for cough with a nebulizer. Such drugs as “Berodual”, “Ventolin”, “Berodek”, “Miramistin”, “ACC” and others can be used as a medicinal product for the procedure.

What should you know about using a nebulizer?

Everyone knows that many respiratory diseases can be accompanied by an increase in body temperature. And this is a completely natural reaction of the body, which signals the fight of the immune system against the causative agent of the disease. But is it worth refusing inhalation if such symptoms appear? Doctors give an affirmative answer, but you can’t argue with experience and practice.

Of course, it is impossible to say that one should not listen to the recommendations of doctors, because they are trying to protect patients from dangerous consequences. But is it worth so unconditionally prohibiting prescriptions for inhalation with a nebulizer at the slightest increase in temperature? After all, there are situations when a medicinal aerosol can not only improve the patient’s condition, but also save his life. For example, you can stop an attack of bronchial asthma even with an elevated temperature by inhaling the drug “Berodual”. There are many such examples, but they should not be taken as disregard for medical recommendations. The opinion of specialists should definitely be taken into account, especially when it comes to treating children, because they cannot independently decide when they need to use prescriptions for nebulizer inhalations and when they should refuse the procedure.

Thus, the use of inhalation therapy at elevated body temperature is possible only if the benefits of the procedure outweigh the possible health risks.

Autumn is called the “season of colds”: cold weather, temperature changes, cold winds, and seasonal decreased immunity lead to frequent respiratory diseases with a runny nose and cough. The pharmaceutical industry is ready to offer hundreds of sprays, drops, cough and runny nose mixtures. But the safest and most effective is the “grandmother’s” method - inhalation.

What is inhalation

Inhalation is the inhalation of medicinal and biologically active substances suspended in the air. This is the introduction of drugs into the body through the respiratory tract. By drinking tablets, mixtures, syrups, herbal decoctions, we introduce the medicine into the body through the digestive tract, waiting for the active substances to enter the blood. Inhalation shortens this path and increases the effectiveness of treatment.

Inhalation is simple - medicine is added to boiling water: herbs, flowers, potatoes and essential oil. The steam that rises from the surface of the water is inhaled.

Inhalation for a runny nose is limited to inhaling vapors through the nose. You can pour the inhalation solution into a teapot, twist the paper into a tube and inhale steam through the end of the paper tube, alternately with each nostril.

Inhalation for cough can cover a larger area: the medicine is added to a bowl or pan of hot water, covered with a towel and the vapors are inhaled.

Inhalation for cough

Take equal proportions of linden blossom, eucalyptus, sage, nettle (1 teaspoon each) and pour boiling water over it. Let the herbs steep for 10 minutes and begin inhaling the vapors. , together with nettle and sage, will disinfect the respiratory tract, help separate mucus and relieve inflammation.

For dry coughs, when mucus is difficult to clear, soda inhalation helps. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of baking soda in a liter of water and inhale the solution into the respiratory tract for 10 minutes.

Needles treat cough. Treatment may include both inhalation of essential oils of coniferous trees: pine, spruce, larch, and inhalation of pine needle vapors. The needles of coniferous trees are poured with cold water overnight, then the mixture is brought to a boil and the steam is inhaled.

Boiled potatoes will help eliminate cough. Boil a few potatoes in their skins, drain the water and inhale the steam from the potatoes.

If you have a runny nose, this recipe will help you: add 1 teaspoon of chopped onion and garlic to 1 liter of boiling water. You can add a couple of drops of iodine or ammonia to the mixture. Breathe over the steam for 10 minutes. and onions open when exposed to hot water. Inhaling vapors with particles of garlic and onion juice has a complex effect: it kills bacteria, relieves swelling and normalizes the mucous membrane.

Propolis will help clear your nose and get rid of runny nose. Add 0.5 teaspoon of 30% propolis tincture to 0.5 liters of water and inhale for 10-15 minutes.

Also, for a runny nose, pine inhalations are used - as well as for a cough.

4 rules for inhalation at home

1. Inhalation is done after meals, no earlier than 1.5 hours after eating.
2. Make sure that hot water and steam do not cause burns, this is especially important when performing procedures with children. For children, it is better to use cold inhalation - breathe over chopped onions, garlic and drop essential oil on the pillow.
3. After inhalation, it is better to lie down and rest for 40 minutes, do not talk or strain your throat.
4. Inhalation should not be carried out at elevated body temperature and with nosebleeds.

For a sore throat it is a very simple and effective remedy. The main thing here is to start at the initial stages. But sometimes, due to certain circumstances or laziness, we do not start treatment immediately and a sore throat develops into a cough. Inhalation is an excellent remedy for colds and coughs. If you have a sore throat, medical professionals do not recommend inhalation.

I remember before there were no inhalers like there are now. They did inhalations over a saucepan or kettle. Basically it was a saucepan with a decoction of herbs and a blanket to cover on top. Moreover, it was effective and people recovered without medications.

How to make cough inhalations at home

Inhalations are sometimes a salvation that help with a runny nose, cough, and colds. Previously, I remember, my mother always treated us only with folk remedies. And they bought medicines only in extreme cases, and then only as prescribed by a doctor.

But before carrying out inhalations, it is best to familiarize yourself with the basic rules for their implementation, as well as contraindications. We only need a positive result. Everything should be only for the good.

Can children have inhalations?

Children can have inhalations if prescribed by the attending physician; you should not self-medicate. If you do inhalations over steam, then everything must be under the supervision of adults. Children under three years of age are not recommended to inhale over steam. School-age children can do inhalations as prescribed by a doctor and under adult supervision.

If you have a nebulizer, use inhalations only after consulting a doctor, as the doctor monitors the child’s condition and prescribes the correct treatment and medications. A nebulizer is usually used for more serious illnesses.

Basic rules for inhalation:

• It is very important to take your temperature before inhalation. If the temperature is above 37 degrees, then inhalation is not worth doing.
• Some herbs or essential oils may cause allergies. Give the first inhalation a test inhalation for about 2 minutes to determine if you have an allergy. For allergy sufferers, I recommend inhalation with mineral water or baking soda.
• I would especially like to note that inhalation should be done a couple of hours after eating. And after inhalation, it is better not to eat for about an hour.
• It is very important to follow all the rules. When the water boils, wait a couple of minutes and then breathe over the steam. Do not lean too low over the steam to avoid burns to the upper respiratory tract.
• If you breathe over a saucepan or kettle, be sure to wrap yourself in a towel or warm blanket. After inhalation, change into dry clothes.
• After inhalation, you should not talk for about half an hour, and you should not go outside.

• I would like to draw special attention to the fact that the duration of inhalation should be 10 minutes.
• Be sure to wear comfortable clothes, it is important that the clothes do not squeeze your chest.
• Prepare the solution for inhalation at home, immediately before use. After inhalation, the solution must be poured out and cannot be reused.
• When you cough, inhale the solution through your mouth, and when you have a runny nose, inhale it through your nose. Calmly inhale and exhale the steam, without haste.

For bronchitis, inhalations with soda and herbal decoction are useful. For a sore throat, you can do inhalations with essential oils: eucalyptus, fir, pine, etc. For a runny nose, you can use pine inhalations, inhalations with fir oil, and also steam your feet if there is no fever. Don't forget to drink warm and plenty of fluids.

For any cold, the best thing to do is bed rest. Start treatment immediately, do not start the disease so that the condition does not worsen.

What can you do with inhalations?

Inhalation with baking soda. Soda is most often used. Or add a little soda to the herbal decoction. Baking soda thins mucus and promotes its removal. Our pediatrician once recommended inhalation with soda for coughing.

Soda inhalation is very easy to do. Add a spoonful of baking soda to a liter of boiled water. You should not pour the soda into boiling water, but immediately before the procedure, that is, a couple of minutes after the water boils.

Coniferous inhalations. Most often we used pine needles, but you can use spruce and fir needles. I have a very good effect on runny nose, colds and coughs. If there are no pine needles, then you can use pine essential oils for inhalation at home. A couple of drops of essential oil per liter of water is enough.

Inhalations with medicinal herbs. Inhalations with medicinal herbs are very common. To the ease of use, you can also add the effectiveness of the herbal decoction. The most common brews are sage, oregano, coltsfoot, chamomile, eucalyptus, linden, pine buds, lavender, mint, and cedar needles. All these herbs have wound-healing, anti-inflammatory, and disinfecting properties. Reduces sore throat, cough, and sore throat.

Usually several herbs are mixed. But you can brew one herb without mixing it with other herbs. To do this, you need to take two tablespoons of herbs and add a liter of water, put on fire and bring the herbs to a boil. Immediately before inhalation, you can add a spoonful of soda to the herbal decoction.

We always did inhalations with pine needles, chamomile, eucalyptus, coltsfoot and water with the addition of baking soda. As a rule, improvements are observed after just a few procedures.

Inhalations with mineral water. We use mineral water for inhalation with a nebulizer. We buy Borjomi water at the pharmacy, on the advice of a doctor. The doctor prescribes the time and proportions for us.

Before use, the water must be degassed; open the bottle and leave it open for about three hours. If you don’t have a professional inhaler, then heat the water in a saucepan to 45-50 degrees, now you can breathe above the steam.

Inhalations with boiled potatoes. I remember as a child, my mother often did this inhalation, it was very simple and accessible. We will boil the potatoes in their skins. The potatoes need to be washed well, boiled, and the water must be drained. Let the potatoes cool for a couple of minutes and breathe over the steam, wrapped in a blanket or towel.

Inhalations with essential oils. I use tea tree essential oil for colds and coughs. I drip it into the aroma lamp, you can drop a drop on a handkerchief or palm and inhale the aroma. I want to say that you need to take only high-quality essential oils. You can use fir, pine, and eucalyptus oil. I have Primavera oils. It copes well with any cold without medications. copes well not only with colds, but also with many other diseases. The truth is in combination with rinsing and warm teas from raspberries, black currants, viburnum, and herbal teas.

Inhalations must be done carefully so as not to get burned by the steam, so as not to spill the broth and not get burned by boiling water. Precautions are very important.

How often should you inhale?

Inhalation is a medical procedure that must be combined with warm drinks and gargling. You can steam your feet if you don't have a fever. That is, you need to be treated in a complex manner.

Inhalations are recommended to be done for 7-10 days in a row, that is, until recovery. We do inhalations once a day until the condition improves, since steam inhalations dry out the mucous membrane. A very simple and affordable way to breathe over a decoction of herbs, boiled potatoes, or do inhalations with soda.

Contraindications for inhalation

• Often a cough or cold is accompanied by a high fever. At a temperature, inhalation is contraindicated, as is steaming your feet.
• For nosebleeds or tendency to nosebleeds.
• For high blood pressure or if you are prone to high blood pressure. For cardiovascular diseases.
• With pulmonary tuberculosis, with purulent processes.
• In case of angina, inhalations are also contraindicated.

In case of unpleasant symptoms, such as shortness of breath, dizziness, difficulty breathing, etc., the procedure should be stopped immediately.

Inhalations are carried out for children and adults at the first signs of the disease. For sore throat, cough, bronchitis, colds, runny nose. But again, I would like to repeat that everything needs to be done as prescribed by the doctor.

Doing inhalations using an inhaler is an ideal option. But if there is no special device, then we can breathe with a saucepan or a kettle. If you are breathing over a pan, then you need to lean over it and wrap yourself in a blanket. And if it is above a kettle, then the spout of the kettle must be closed. You can make a funnel of paper or cardboard and place it in the wide part of the kettle, and then breathe over the steam. Inhalations at home are a simple and affordable method of treatment.

Pulmonologists often recommend inhalations as a safe and effective method of getting rid of the symptoms that accompany many colds, as well as pathologies of the upper and lower respiratory tract. The therapeutic procedure involves inhaling vapors or crushed particles of the active substance. Thanks to this method of entry into the respiratory tract, the selected pharmacological agent begins to actively act directly in the lungs and bronchi.

With the help of inhalations, you can provoke the separation of sputum when it is wet, help remove it when it is wet, and also help suppress the cough reflex in case of allergic reactions or asthmatic attacks.

The type of reaction to the body depends on the type of pathology and the chosen drug for its treatment.

Inhalation using a nebulizer

Inhalations as a method of treating cough have very few contraindications, since the drugs do not enter the bloodstream and gastrointestinal tract, going directly into the respiratory tract. This helps maintain the normal functioning of the immune system and does not have a destructive effect on other vital internal organs.

Previously, inhalation procedures could only be performed in medical institutions. Modern pharmacies offer a large number of special compression and ultrasound devices to choose from, allowing you to perform inhalations at home. Pharmacies also have a large number of special medicinal solutions recommended for use through a nebulizer. Each of them contains detailed instructions for use with a dosage regimen, so it is almost impossible to overdose the medicine if the rules are carefully followed.

Inhalations using a nebulizer can be performed even when the patient suffers from fever. For adults, a breathing session lasts about 10 minutes, for children, depending on age, up to 5 minutes.

The devices themselves are classified according to the method of substance distribution as follows:

• compressor - sprays the medicinal substance in an aerosol type. It is considered the easiest to operate and also belongs to the low price category, but at the same time, the device is quite bulky and noisy, which complicates its use in small children and patients with limited mobility;
• electron mesh - the most high-tech nebulizer. Sprays medicinal substances applied to a metal mesh using small and very fast vibrations. The resulting aerosol is delivered into the respiratory tract using a pump;
• ultrasonic nebulizer is a high frequency wave generator. With their help, the drug is broken down into tiny substances, so tiny that they can penetrate much further than the particles created by a conventional compressor. Its disadvantage is that it changes the properties of some medications, therefore, not all pharmacological agents for inhalation can be inhaled through this type of nebulizer.

After the procedure has been completed, any device is thoroughly washed so that no particles of the drug used remain, and dried.

Pharmacological preparations for inhalation with a cough nebulizer

The following groups of drugs used for bronchopulmonary pathologies accompanied by cough are used for inhalation using a nebulizer:

note

Herbal medicines have additional immunostimulating and vasoconstrictive effects, facilitating nasal breathing due to the high concentration of essential oils, but they cannot be used by patients suffering from asthma and prone to allergic reactions.

• And (Pulmicort, Dexamethasone, Cromohexal). Prescribed exclusively by a medical specialist. AND used for acute and chronic pathologies of the respiratory tract. They have antitussive, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. These drugs contain highly effective aggressive hormonal components, so they are rarely prescribed to children, as well as pregnant and lactating women.
• Antimicrobial and (Fluimucil antibiotic, Furacillin, Dioxidin, Gentamicin, Miramistin). They act on the immediate cause of the problem - the pathogenic microorganism that provoked the bronchopulmonary disease. They have a strong antiseptic effect, cleanse the respiratory tract from harmful substances. They have an anti-inflammatory effect and help reduce swelling caused by pathology.

note

Fluimucil antibiotic compares favorably with others for the treatment of cough, as it is able to perform both an expectorant effect and suppress the activity of most known bacteria that cause respiratory tract diseases.

• ( , Derinat ). Helps strengthen and restore the body's natural defenses. They help immune cells fight the infection that caused the disease on their own. Contribute to the effective treatment and prevention of colds of any etiology.
• Vasoconstrictors (Adrenaline, Naphthyzin). Used to reduce swelling caused by the inflammatory process and increased vascular permeability. Most often prescribed by otolaryngologists for laryngeal stenosis, laryngitis, and laryngotracheitis.
• Antitussives (Lidocaine, Tussamag). Used for obsessive dry cough, painfully radiating behind the sternum. They have an analgesic effect, suppressing the activity of the bronchi and significantly reducing the degree of irritation.

The use of any of the medications must be agreed with the attending physician and carried out strictly according to the instructions specified in the annotation for the pharmacological drug.

Dilution table for cough medicines

All medications used by inhalation through a nebulizer are pre-diluted with saline to facilitate penetration into the body and interaction with it, as well as for better spraying of the active components by the device.

The table below shows the amount of active substance and solvent for each of the most prescribed cough medicines in pharmacological groups:

Rules for inhalation when coughing

In order for the inhalation procedure to provide a long-term positive effect, it is necessary to follow the following rules during its implementation, regardless of the chosen drug:

• the procedure is carried out one and a half hours after eating or physical activity;
• For inhalation, only products approved by the attending physician are used;
• after the procedure, you cannot talk, eat, drink or smoke for about an hour;
• for a faster anti-inflammatory effect and reduction of swelling, it is recommended to inhale medicinal substances not only through the mouth, but also through the nose;
• After each inhalation, it is recommended to hold your breath for a few seconds so that the medicinal substance successfully reaches its destination in the respiratory tract and is not exhaled back;
• When using the inhaler, personal hygiene and sterility measures are carefully observed: hands and face are thoroughly washed with soap, and the parts of the device are treated with antiseptic solutions;
• You cannot use oil products in ultrasonic nebulizers - the device will not be able to spray them enough for inhalation;
• Do not allow the steam from the nebulizer to come into contact with the skin of the face - this may cause irritation.

Kuznetsova Irina, pharmacist, medical observer

Why are inhalations needed?

Inhalations are used in treatment for two simple reasons:

1. Firstly, in order to be treated purposefully. Inhalation affects the respiratory tract where there is infection. That is, it does not act comprehensively, but has an effect on the affected area.
2. Secondly, to cleanse the respiratory tract. To treat bronchitis, runny nose or bronchial asthma, it is necessary to systematically cleanse the airways.

In general, there are many inhalation methods that do not require an inhaler.

How can you do inhalation at home without an inhaler?

Of course, it is convenient to carry out this procedure for bronchitis or other upper respiratory tract disease using an inhaler. This method is the most useful, safe and very convenient, but few people have this device. That is why people in order
to save money, they resort to other, simpler methods of performing inhalations at home.

As a rule, two possible options are used, one of which involves the use of kitchen utensils - a saucepan. It is necessary to pour hot diluted medicine into it, cover it with a towel and breathe in the steam that is released. An ordinary teapot is also suitable for this procedure. You need to make a funnel out of thick cardboard so that your mouth and nose fit into it. The narrow part must be put on the spout of the kettle, after pouring a hot medicinal solution into this vessel. Next, you need to inhale the steam for several minutes.

Which inhalations are most useful and who can do them?

If you do not want to use special drugs for inhalation, it makes sense to prepare your own herbal-based solutions. But before use, you should definitely consult a doctor and only after his approval proceed with the procedure. Good inhalation procedures with herbs such as:

• Chamomile, linden flowers, mint, sage, lavender and juniper. They have a disinfecting effect, which reduces pain and sore throat. These plants have virtually no side effects, so they are beneficial to use for inhalation.
• Bergamot, eucalyptus, Siberian cedar and others. They soften the throat and fight bacteria.

It is also good to do inhalations with soda or mineral water. They are able to dilute sputum and improve its discharge with cough
reflex. The onion and garlic option is one of the oldest methods of treatment. Our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers also used these crops for treatment. You need to prepare a pulp from onion or garlic, and then squeeze it thoroughly. Afterwards the juice is mixed with water 1:10 and heated. Inhaling this solution helps counteract viral activity.

Is it possible to give inhalations to children?

Most pediatricians are inclined to believe that it is better not to inhale a child under 6 years of age, since it is unknown how his body will react to inhalation of hot air. Some risk carrying out similar procedures on children under one year old, but this is not entirely correct.

Moreover, it is very difficult for a baby to select inhalation products. Here you cannot do without qualified medical care, otherwise you can seriously harm the baby. If you decide to inhale your baby, be sure to consult with your doctor first so that he can tell you in detail how to carry out this procedure and what products to use. Only in this case is it possible to successfully cure a cough or runny nose.

To summarize, we note that inhalation is a good way to painlessly and quickly cure a respiratory tract disease. Of course, if the disease is serious, then inhalation procedures alone cannot be done. But in most cases, in the early stages after several inhalations, a positive result is visible. The main thing is to know how to carry out them correctly and be sure to consult a specialist about a particular treatment solution.