Better Health Outcomes with Every Breath

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WHY USE A SPACER?

· More medication gets into your lungs than if you use a puffer on its own

· Reduced local side effects of inhaled steroids in preventer medications, because less of the medication sticks in your mouth and throat

· You don’t need to coordinate pressing your puffer and breathing in at the same time

· Reliever medication via a spacer is at least as effective as via a nebuliser in an asthma attack, and you can take the medication faster and in a lower dose than with a nebuliser

WHO SHOULD USE A SPACER

Everyone who uses a puffer for their medication is recommended to use a spacer: adults, adolescents, and most essentially young children.
If you are using a puffer to take your asthma medication, it should always be used in conjunction with a spacer, regardless of whether you are taking your daily preventer or using your blue reliever during an emergency.

Using a spacer with your reliever medicine in an asthma flare-up is as effective as or even better than using a nebuliser. It’s faster, easier, can be administered in a lower dose and is less likely to cause side effects. This is because the spacer delivers the medication more effectively and the lower dose reduces the risk of candida in your mouth and throat (oral thrush), fast heart rate and tremor which can be caused by the reliever.