NEBULIZER THERAPIES

Now here's your host, Dr. Paul. Good day. Welcome to Medicine and Health. And this section, we're gonna talk about nebulizers. So we're in this series of Why Can't I Get Better? And so I did some of the more negative-oriented things like physical problems, et cetera. Now we're doing a series on some of the therapies that we use and that we find are useful in people with chronic illness. and things that don't want to heal, etc. So the use of nebulizers is something that's not uncommon to people, say, with asthma or other respiratory diseases. But a lot of people, of course, don't have those problems and may not use them or may not have had a child who had to use them, etc. And with the advent of COVID and to some degree post-COVID, we're seeing more use of nebulized therapies, and that would make a lot of sense for reasons that we'll get into. But nebulizers are essentially a way to take a liquid medication and to vaporize it or atomize it. And it has a mask, and then you breathe it in through the mask. And of course, it goes in your nose and in your throat and your lungs. So Obviously, this is a really good delivery method for medications for respiratory illnesses, et cetera. And one of the things that we kind of saw early on with COVID patients, for example, was that nebulizers were really useful beyond steroids and other respiratory medications in delivering things like either N-acetylcysteine. So N-acetylcysteine is a drug called Mucomyst. And you might imagine the word muco in mist would have something to do with mucus, and it's a mucolytic substance, but it also does a number of other good things. We've also used glutathione, which N-acetylcysteine is a piece of glutathione. And so we've nebulized that. We've also nebulized the flavonoid called quercetin. And then of course, just about Most of the respiratory drugs can be put in through a nebulizer as well. Now, why in a chronically ill person, whether it's post-COVID, COVID, or chronic Lyme or other issues that are going on, would we use a device such as a nebulizer? Well, there's a couple of things. One is it was immediately thought of with COVID patients and post-COVID patients where they had lingering respiratory, oropharyngeal, and lung issues because, of course, that's where the medicine goes. So not only did we use a lot of N-acetylcysteine or Mucamist with the acute COVID and/or glutathione if that was available as well, but in post-COVID, what we're seeing now where people have taste and smell issues, that are needing to heal because the nerves that go— the sensory nerves that go for smell and taste are often damaged in patients with COVID And so the thiol treatments like Mucamist or glutathione, et cetera, can be very useful with that. Also, some of the other treatments such as the flavonoids like quercetin, if you have a pharmacy that can make it in a sterile nebulizable form, it can be very helpful. Now, one of the things that you'll see is if a person is not experiencing a lot of respiratory issues, often the nebulizer is not thought of, and that's probably pretty logical. But the way that you can also look at it is in a post-COVID patient where there may be taste and smell issues, one or the other or both, You can wind up delivering the medication into the area. So they're going to be breathing it in through their nose, their mouth, et cetera. And so they'll get a little bit of effect in their lungs too, but it's going to be delivered directly to the tissues that are having some of the nerve issues. The other thing is, if there is an infection going on, if there's inflammation going on, et cetera, that is in the lungs, the nebulizer treatments are really, really quite helpful there also. Now, what other times do we use nebulizers? Well, there's also an effect with nebulizers where, because it's going into mucous membrane areas, and you might remember from other discussions that the, the pink membranes inside your mouth and your nose and your digestive tract, etc., those are mucous membranes. They have the same basic structure as your skin does, except they don't have the outer layer that is what we call keratinized. And that's what makes your skin, you know, repel water and things like that. So if you had that structure but you took the keratinized part off, it would be pink because you could see the blood through it. And that is actually a vehicle for drug absorption as well. So you may have seen or heard of people using a, say, nasal application of a medication that is supposed to help systemically or even locally in the tissues. You may have seen people, you know, using a non-swallowed medication. So you might put it under their tongue and sublingually absorb it. Well, it turns out when using a nebulizer, because you're interacting with the mucous membranes and not really the skin, your absorption is going to be much higher than if you were to, say, swallow the same medication. So in some cases, we will have people use a nebulizer for, say, something like glutathione or Mucamist, N-acetylcysteine, or one of the other things that we're talking about today, and they'll use it as a way to even get more into their bloodstream, which can be very useful also. Now, I will say, with patients with respiratory issues of a lower nature, such as pneumonias, pneumonitis, that sort of thing, the nebulizer is a wonderful way to get any medication that you need in directly to the lungs to be helpful. And you probably recall earlier in COVID, especially with the wild-type Wuhan and Alpha and Delta, there was a lot of respiratory inflammation. A lot of people had problems. A lot of people got put on ventilators. And we found early on that the use of nebulized medications was very, very helpful and useful. There's also other things that we can put in nebulizers that are very similar to things that might be used in an asthma patient. Now, in asthma, you have a reactive airway problem. And so you'll hear the wheezing going on of asthma. And that's where literally all of the little air pockets, the alveoli that help you transfer oxygen and CO2 back and forth, are getting more and more swollen and they can get full of fluid, et cetera. And so in the more acute states, what one will do usually is one of the beta-2 drugs like albuterol, et cetera, and that will be inhaled. In cases, whether it's in the hospital or even out of the hospital where the mucus is getting really thick, that's when the drug Mucamist, which is also a supplement called N-acetylcysteine, will be used as an inhaled substance because it is mucolytic. It helps to break the mucus down. And then things like glutathione is also mucolytic. They're both antioxidants, so that's very useful. In asthma patients, we've also added things sometimes, and there's some research on this, like magnesium sulfate, which is a liquid that's often injected. And in this case, it can be mixed in with certain asthma medications. And so you think, well, why would you use magnesium? Well, there's a couple of reasons why magnesium inhalation through a nebulizer can be beneficial. And those reasons include relaxation of the airway muscles. So it helps to actually help you breathe a little more easily. Also, especially if you have chronic issues in the ear, nose, and throat and lung area, magnesium directly applied through the mucous membranes and through the lungs is not only gonna get a little bit into your bloodstream, but also— In addition to relaxing the airway, airways, etc., it's going to get to the cells and help the cells, uh, to have better glutathione or antioxidant activity. And this is something that we didn't used to realize happened, uh, until there were a number of studies done with cardiac problems and asthma problems. And they even did some studies with newborn babies and some other things where they basically showed that the more magnesium you get inside of your cells, the better the glutathione will cycle and work. And glutathione is your primary antioxidant for cell use. So all of these would be synergistic whether you're acutely ill, whether you're trying to recover after an illness such as post-COVID or long COVID, or whether you have one of the, uh, the other long-term disorders, things such as autoimmunity or chronic complex infectious illness or toxicities, etc. We even in the early days of nebulizing things like N-acetylcysteine and glutathione, its cousin, etc., we would see great benefit even in elderly patients with lung problems, etc., by nebulizing those substances. And at some point, you know, respiratory therapy research got the idea that, well, we use magnesium sulfate for so many other things, Could we combine it with, you know, maybe a beta-2 drug or maybe other drugs? So there's actually research out there on that too, of actually combination of things like MAG and other drugs for respiratory use. Now, in the case of chronic illness, what we'll do sometimes, just to make it a little bit easier for the person, is to have them, of course, you know, you can get a nebulizer. There are many different types. Often your doctor will either prescribe it or send you to a medical supply place or have you order it online. In the case of COVID just for ease of use, we had a lot of people go online and order the battery-powered handheld ones. And those are great. They're not so great for little kids unless you're able to hold it. But as an adult, you can just sit and then breathe in through it. And it works really, really well. They're not that expensive. expensive at all. So they have a little reservoir that you open up. And of course, this is a device you need to clean and, you know, keep it tidy because it is going to be taking a sterile medication that you would put in there and you're gonna inhale it. So you don't want a bunch of dirt or mold growing or other things of that nature. So what we would usually do with acute COVID would be to either put a dose of N-acetylcysteine or glutathione in. So one of the thiols to help with the mucus and help with antioxidants, et cetera. And then normally with respiratory medications, there's some sterile saline to kind of thin it out, so to speak. And then we, with COVID we would put quercetin, sterile quercetin in, which is a bioflavonoid. So there is a drug that is used called Cromolyn, and that's used a lot in allergy and mast cell issues. And Cromolyn is another type of a flavonoid. Yeah. Quercetin is a flavonoid. Chromalin is a highly purified version of a flavonoid which can also be used. And there are other bioflavonoids which basically are chemicals that come from usually the rind part of a plant or the colorful part of a flower, and they're used essentially to keep the membranes stable. So they're a plant constituent that actually can help your membrane stay stable as well. So those things like, say, chromalin and quercetin, Decrease the amount of mast cell activation and histamine activation that goes on. And that will improve also respiratory function because you'll lower the histamine output, and that can decrease the inflammation in the areas as well. So we're about to wrap up here on this little section on why can't I get better, some therapies. These are things that you can often do at home. Just remember nebulizers, usually whatever you put in them does have to be prescribed because it's a sterile product, even if it's a natural product. It can be very useful, and even in the case of post-COVID syndrome, we use them to get things like antioxidants and flavonoids, etc., directly to the ear, nose, and throat area as well as the lungs, which can be very helpful even if your residual symptoms are not respiratory, but there may be taste changes or smell changes. That brings us to the end of this particular session on medicine, health. Please like, share, and subscribe, whatever platform you're on. We're on CTR Radio Network, then we're put onto all the pod burners and YouTube, and we livestream on Facebook. So thank you everybody for your support. Thanks for the growing YouTube channel, and I will see you on the next