Comments on: Treating Asthma on the Cheap

By: Anotherme

Anotherme — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:04:35 +0000

In CA, the spacer requires a prescription. I have always told them I could make one out of water bottle. Now I see great minds think alike!

By: Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:14:21 +0000

In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled. – Paul Eldridge

By: ann

ann — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:41:52 +0000

See http://www.allergyasthmatech.com/C/Spacers/329_321_1
for spacers for around $20.

By: Ken G

Ken G — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:30:17 +0000

Just made a spacer out of an 8 oz. baby bottle. Hope it works.

By: Bavi Naidoo

Bavi Naidoo — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:53:23 +0000

We use these plastic bottle spacers all the time in SA. Best way to get the mouthpiece to fit is to wrap a piece of flexible wire around the pump mouthpiece, then heat the wire till red hot. (Cigarette lighter works well). Then press the hot wire to the base of the plastic bottle. The wire will melt out a piece of plastic and voila! a perfect fit.

By: Rorn

Rorn — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:08:43 +0000

P.S. The government is prohibited by law from taking “kick-backs,” so the pharmacy companies call them “incentives.” They say, “SSSShhh.” You can’t keep it secret; the citizens already know it!

“A rose by any other name. . .”
Likewise:
“A cess pool by any other name. . .”

Meanwhile, doctors can’t even accept a $2 pen from a drug rep. Guess we’re more corruptible than politicians. LOL.

It has been said that politics makes strange bedfellows. When a pharmacy rep tells me their drug is now covered on [insert name] insurance company’s formulary, I ask, “Oh! Who slept with whom to make that possible??” Usually they laugh and reply, “That’s almost how bad it is!”

By: Rorn

Rorn — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:51:30 +0000

Mcaid will also pay for a nebulizer (“breathing machine”), despite the fact that studies on spacers have shown them to make the inhaler equivalent to a nebulizer in effectiveness.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:54:14 +0000

I am so glad I came across this article! I lost my daughter’s spacer, her insurance will not pay for a new one, and I am extremely short on money. I’m going to try your water bottle spacer and hope it works for a day or two until I can buy a real one. Thank you for your creativity!

By: AprilRN

AprilRN — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:36:12 +0000

I say, simply, good job! Thinking outside the box.

By: Shalom (R.Ph.)

Shalom (R.Ph.) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:41:01 +0000

Retail costs at the pharmacy where I work:

Aerochamber Plus, innovator product, $45.49
Optichamber Advantage, generic of above: $11.29

Aerochamber with paediatric mask: $61.29
Optichamber with paediatric mask: $24.99

There’s also the Vortex series, which has an aluminum tube that is claimed to be better than the plastic (something to do with anti-static). Also the mask is shaped like a cartoon duck, for whatever advantage that gives. It’s priced a couple dollars above the Optichambers.

Note that all of these require a doctor’s prescription in the USA (“for sale by or on the order of a doctor”). Many insurances here in NJ pay for these on prescription, and those that don’t, will usually cover them as a DME (although these have to be billed differently and we’re not set up for that, we send them to a surgical supply instead).

I had one inner-city patient who just couldn’t get the hang of the spacer, what it was for or how to use it. I finally said, “Look, just think of it as a high-tech version of a bong.” His eyes lit up and he said, “Oh, I get it…” Gotta speak their language.