BANG, and the nebulisers gone!!!

May I commence this post by stating that, no this is not an advert for cillit bang. With that out of the way I shall explain what this post is about. Exploding nebulisers. What I refer to as my workhorse nebuliser has basically "had it" it cost over £200, was one of the best makes and yet lasted less than 6 years. Not good. It was repairable but it was uneconomical to do so, it was going to cost £152.00 to repair it.

I "have got" my Pari Mobile S, I place, have got in inverted commas because it appears to of disappeared off the face of the earth despite an extensive search of the house. Maybe the guinea pig has secreted it for his own use. I hear, very worryingly that nebulised vodka gets you drunk very quickly not that I have ever tried it personally.

So I am now left searching for a new nebuliser the company were I took my nebuliser to has reserved a Porta-neb for me which costs from them £117.00. Nebulisers are not provided by the NHS. I know though searching round that I can get this particular nebuliser elsewhere, cheaper.

I am also looking at other options I love this nebuliser along with the dragon mask. Sadly though its only available in USA. It even comes with a bag shaped as an igloo.

I also have to laugh at the leaflets that the companies provide to advertise their wares, they show someone looking very chipper, bright, breezy and very unlike someone experiencing breathing difficulties. Where's the black ringed eyes, exhausted face and hamster cheeks (caused by steroids)?. I mean what is all this about?

So I have about narrowed it down but still unsure

I like the Omron C 28

Or the C30

Why Omron? well my "baby neb" is an Omron, I think I failed to mention the fact that I have this nebuliser earlier in my post. Its a great little neb and runs on AA batteries it's 7 years old now and still going strong. It has also come down significantly in price!! The trouble with it is it's slow and not much good for my "lung-gunk" annihilation physio but it has gone everywhere with me.

The difference between the two is the price the C28 is £60 cheaper but that aside the C30 can be used all over the world and can be run off my car battery, its smaller very slightly quieter but also slightly slower. The other thing is I can purchase an additional battery for it should I choose to, but that will cost me over a £100, take three hours to charge and runs around 7 nebules before expiring. But when I eventually find it, if I ever do my Pari can do the self same. Plus my friend has had the same omron compressor nebuliser for years, without problems I know that its a very tiny sample but from this I take them to be reliable. Their after care is excellent I once covered my baby omron in stickers put the cover back on it causing it to promptly jam (my Pari has Winnie the Pooh stickers on it). I sent it back to omron asking them to unjam it please. In due course I was sent a brand new nebuliser with a note advising me never to put stickers on it again. Whoops!

The other option is the Inspiration elite

This looks like a great nebuliser as it never needs servicing. Thus saving £55 a year.

Finally I also like the look of this nebuliser as it is so small

But I am very undecided at the minute so if any readers would like to offer any feedback it would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Either way its gunna cost me money to keep breathing over the winter months.

Its a pain in more ways than one

I went to visit my doctor yesterday and explained the problems that I was facing in terms of pain management and asked if could I please try a modified release version of my current painkiller, tramadol. My G.P to be fair was good and listened to what I had to say, it has often been my experience that doctors do not take chronic pain and the impact that it has on a persons quality of life seriously despite calls for it to be recognised an illness in its own right. For some time arthritis care has been calling for people to recognise the fact that though arthritis does not kill it can take your life, when my arthritis flairs up my quality of life is significantly diminished and I feel I age 30 years overnight and my mental health suffers also in response both to the pain and the lack of sleep resulting from the pain.

My G.P agreed to the change very reluctantly due to the fact that I am a known severe asthmatic and tramadol can cause respiratory suppression and one of my other medications for another of my health issues can increase this risk, particularly if an overdose is taken. Something I am not planning to do. If respiratory suppression occurs in me it is more hazardous and whereas "standard tramadol" takes 4-6 hours to clear my system, the modified release version will take up to 12 hours.

He offered to prescribe me another pain killer which carries a much lower potential risk of respiratory suppression. The problem with this solution was three fold, one it is not as strong as tramadol, two it only offers effective pain relief for a 4-6 hours thus defeating the whole object of me trotting along to see my GP in the first place and thirdly I would loose the flexibility my current regime offers me as the pain killer offered was a combination of both paracetamol and dihydrocodiene meaning that it would be all or nothing. My current regime consists of both paracetamol and tramadol which I can take either together or separately thus offering three different options in terms of pain management to be reduced to one did not appeal to me. Also if my pain is only mild I do not want to be "forced" to take a painkiller stronger than my pain warrants.

After some discussion it was decided that I would give tramadol modified release a go for a week and I am to see my G.P again next week to discuss the outcome before making a final long term decision. Its frustrating the way one illness impacts another. I have take two so far one yesterday morning and one last night and so far it has proved effective and there has been no significant impact on my asthma so fingers crossed all will go well.