1885: Recommendations for inhaling medicine

There were so many different inhalers and nebulizers made and sold during the course of the 19th century that I could write about them adnauseum. If you want to see a larger sample you should check out a really neat site by Mark Sanders, who has amassed a copious supply of antique inhalers and nebulizers, and displays then on his website: Inhalatorium.com.

There were many devices, and every one was the best one available to the people who invented and sold it. And each one had different medicines recommended for it's use, such as some were specifically made for anesthetics, some for ether, some for opium, some for any other assortment of medicines.  

Various medicines inserted into the various nebulizers and inhalers were:

• Iodine
• Creasote
• Carbolic acid
• Camphor
• Ether
• Chloroform
• Nitrate of amyl
• Nascent chloride of ammonium
• Opium
• Strammnium
• Atropine.

Depending on the device, the medicine could be inhaled by steam or mist, with the ideal method being by mist, because a mist can deliver both volatile and non volatile medicines to the airways of patients.

So how often should nebulizer therapy be prescribed?  How long should the treatments be?  At what temperature should the water be heated to?  What kind of breaths should the patient take?  These questions were answered differently by different physicians, and may vary depending on the instrument used, and the medicine used. 

It also depended on the malady the physician was trying to treat.  Is the patient having trouble breathing currently?  In such a case he may not mind sitting around for hours sucking in the mist of a device that requires frequent squeezing of a bulb or bellows.  

Although if the patient is has a chronic disease, and is taking the medicine as preventative therapy, the treatments may be schedules on a regular basis and taken for a recommended frequency.  Again, it may depend on the patient, physician, and ailment.  

Jacob Solis Cohen's recommendation is that the treatments should be taken at regular intervals, for a few minutes (how long can you sit around squeezing a bulb), and should be done before meals "because, as a rule, they are less apt to the empty than the full stomach; while, moreover, if they are to be of service, they often stimulate the appetite, or at least promote the desire for food."

He recommends the patient stay in the house at least thirty minutes after a treatment, "especially if warm vapors have been inhaled; as sudden exposure of the warmed-up respiratory tract to the change of temperature between in-doors and out-of-doors, may, under unfavorable conditions, be followed by injurious consequences."

He also describes the appropriate method of breathing:

"The proper method of inhaling gases and vapors from an inhaler must be acquired by the patient, otherwise the vapor will merely be drawn into themouth and reach the pharynx, and if it mixes at all with the air in the lungs, will do so by diffusion; but with a little effort the manner of effecting penetration into the lungs can be readily acquired." (1, pages 15-16)

He also recommended, if steam was the method of medicine delivery, that the water be heated to between 110 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit to create an inhaling temperature of 84 to 93.  He recommends the temperature not be higher unless the goal is to produce expectoration. (1, pages 17-18)

As with today's medical industry in regards to the inhalation of respiratory medications, there was speculation mingled with science.  Yet it would probably be a true statement if I said the patient, regardless of the doctors recommendations, came up with his own answers to the above questions.  When he found something to work, he repeated it as he so choose to get the desired results.  That's just how we asthmatics are.

References:

1. Cohen, Jacob Solis, "Inhalation in the treatment of disease: it's therapeutics and practice," 1876, Philadelphia, Lindsay and Blakiston