Albuterol shortage: What parents and patients need to know

Well, doctors and hospitals are experiencing major challenges because of the shortage. One physician I spoke with said the situation is actually getting scary. I want you to breathe in and out. Six-year-old Matthew was taken to Comer Children's Hospital after having an asthma attack. It was very scary. Usually when the seasons change, I usually have an experience of Matthew having issues with his asthma. But yesterday, it was to the point where I needed to bring him to the emergency room.

Patients like Matthew commonly receive a nebulizer. It's a device that turns liquid medicine, albuterol, into mist. But that medicine is in short supply. Acorn Operating Company LLC, a gurney company which is a major supplier of albuterol, recently shut down after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. We've run out of albuterol. Dr. Louise Giles says their doctors are now leaning on a different medication to treat their patients.

We've had to now rely on a form of albuterol that's less common. We're now seeing maybe that those stores might run low too. As we go into a bad season for asthma, we're worried about how we're going to provide care for those kids. So, with this shortage of liquid albuterol, what can you do as a patient with breathing challenges? Make sure that you control your trigger. So if a trigger for your asthma is allergies, make sure you take your allergy medicine. And make sure you're taking your controller medication as prescribed by your doctor. So, if you are supposed to be on an inhaler regularly every day, then take that so that you don't need to take your rescue inhaler.

And lastly, if you have breathing challenges, she says wear a mask. For little ones especially who viruses are a big trigger for asthma, get them to wear a mask. So the idea is to encourage people to use their inhalers and use them properly versus relying on the nebulizer because again, the hospitals are running out of the medication that they use in these nebulizers. So the idea, like I said, is using the inhaler properly and managing your asthma triggers. A lot of people at home might also be wondering, okay, so what does this mean for the asthma pump? My little one might use a pump. I might use a pump. Are they run out at the pharmacy store? Have they run out? We are hearing that so far, at least from Walgreens, they say that they are meeting supply.

The doctors are managing, monitoring the situation because of course, albuterol and inhaler pumps, they're also using inhaler pumps as well as the liquid inhaler and the liquid albuterol. So again, the key is to monitor the situation right now. The liquid albuterol is for the nebulizers. That's the concern right now, but we are going to be monitoring for the pumps to make sure that that doesn't run out. It's something we're going to be paying attention to.

albuterol, albuterol inhaler, inhaler, albuterol shortage, albuterol sulfate, albuterol nebulizer, nebulizer, what is albuterol, asthma, asthma treatment, asthma inhaler, allergy asthma, asthma and allergy, what is asthma, asthma symptoms, asthma attack