How To Use An MDI Correctly

Using an inhaler seems simple, but most patients do not use it the right way.  When you use your inhaler the wrong way, less medicine gets to your lungs.  For the next two weeks, read these steps aloud as you do them or ask someone to read them to you.  Ask your doctor or nurse to check how well you are using your inhaler.  Use you inhaler in one of the three ways pictured below (A or B are best, but C can be used if you have trouble with A and B).

Steps for Using Your Inhaler

 
Getting Ready 1.  Take off the cap and shake the inhaler.
2.  Breathe out all the way.
3.  Hold your inhaler the way your doctor said (A, B, or C below).
Breathe in Slowly 4.  As you start breathing in slowly through your mouth, press down on the inhaler one time (if you use a holding chamber, first press down on the inhaler.  Within 5 seconds, begin to breathe in slowly.)
5.  Keep breathing in slowly, as deeply as you can.
Hold your breath 6.  Hold you breath as you count to 10 slowly, if you can.
7. For inhaled quick-relief medication (beta2-agonists), wait about one minute between puffs.  There is no need to wait between puffs for other medicines.

 
A.  Hold inhaler 1 to 2 inches from your mouth (about the width of two fingers) B.  Use a spacer/holding chamber.  These come in many shapes and can be useful to any patient. C.  Put the inhaler in your mouth.  Do not use for steroids.
Inhaler held a few inches in front of the mouth Using a spacer device Place the MDI directly in the mouth (least preferred method)

Clean your inhaler as needed

Look at the hole where the medicine sprays out from your inhaler.  If you see "powder" in or around the hole, clean the inhaler.  Remove the metal canister from the L-shaped plastic mouthpiece.  Rinse only the mouthpiece and cap in warm water. Let them dry overnight.  In the morning, put the canister back inside.  Put the cap on.

Know when to replace your inhaler

For medicines you take each day, divide the number of puffs listed on the canister by the number of puffs per day.  If your canister has 200 puffs, for instance, it should last about 25 days (200 / 8 = 25); if you started this inhaler on May 1, plan to replace it on May 25th.  You may wish to write the date on the canister as a reminder.

For quick-relief medications that you take as needed, count the number of puffs you have used.  Do not put the canister in water to see if it is empty -- this doesn't work.

This page is based on the Practical Guide for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma, a publication of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health of the United States
NIH Publication No. 97-4053, October 1997
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