Respiratory Treatments

💡TL;DR: Orange or rust-colored phlegm usually means a small amount of dried blood in your mucus, most often from infection or irritation (for example, sinusitis, bronchitis, or a minor nosebleed). Color alone doesn’t diagnose the cause—track other symptoms and how you feel over 3–5 days. Rusty

💡TL;DR: Medications do not cure BPD; they help babies breathe and grow while the lungs heal. Care often combines oxygen/respiratory support with diuretics, bronchodilators, cautious short courses of corticosteroids in select severe cases, and caffeine citrate to reduce apnea. Diuretics and bronchodilators can improve short‑term breathing but

💡TL;DR: Hot cars can reach 140–160°F (60–71°C), far above safe storage for inhalers. Pressurized MDIs can weaken or even burst around ~120°F (49°C); all inhaler types work best at 68–77°F (20–25°C). If an inhaler overheats, treat it as unreliable

💡TL;DR: Prime new metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) with 2–4 test sprays and re-prime after about 1–2 weeks of no use or if dropped so the first dose contains medication. Skipping priming can make the first puff mostly propellant with little or no medicine. Dry powder inhalers (Diskus, Ellipta)

💡TL;DR: Yes, you can vest during Pulmozyme to save time, and many CF clinics allow it; optimal: take Pulmozyme first and start airway clearance about 20–30 minutes later. A typical regimen is bronchodilator → hypertonic saline → Pulmozyme → airway clearance, with inhaled antibiotics last. Pulmozyme is usually 2.5 mg

💡TL;DR: Most MDIs keep spraying propellant even when the medicine is gone, so you can’t tell by sight, sound, taste, or shaking. Check a built‑in dose counter (zero means empty) or track your puffs: many rescue inhalers have 200 doses and many controllers have 120. Replace before

💡TL;DR: Yes, you can use a nebulizer with oxygen; they do different jobs and are often used together. If you already use oxygen, keep your nasal cannula on during treatment or use oxygen to power the nebulizer at 6–8 L/min for a proper mist. Exception: some people

💡TL;DR: Yes — you can do most pulmonary rehab at home with daily breathing practice, regular walking, and simple strength exercises; evidence shows home programs can achieve similar benefits (Cochrane) to center-based rehab when done consistently. Build toward 20–30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity most days plus strength training

💡TL;DR: Fastest relief: combine postural drainage, gentle clapping, and huff coughing to move mucus now. Add warm steam and steady fluids to thin mucus; you can often feel movement within minutes when you hold positions for 5–10 minutes per side and do 2–3 huffs before a cough.