What on Earth is "Hand-Breath Coordination"?

When I was first diagnosed with asthma, I went to the pharmacy< and picked up a rescue inhaler. I went home, ready to take some medicine to help me breathe after months of difficulty, and…

It all ended up in my mouth. All of it. I tried again and again and had no success. I went back to the pharmacy the next day for a spacer, which helped—but it was, for about a year, the only way I could get meds into my lungs—with a spacer. There’s nothing wrong with this and spacers can help ensure medicine delivery, but as a high school student — soon to be university student — it really meant that I had to take some sort of bag everywhere I went instead of being able to toss my inhaler in my pocket and go out.

With some practice, though, I was finally able to get down the elusive hand-breath coordination necessary for taking an inhaler.

What is hand-breath coordination?

You’re probably familiar with hand-eye coordination, which allows you to use information from your eyes to interact with your hands—for instance, to catch a ball or high-five someone accurately. Hand-breath coordination is similar, being able to time your breath—in this case, inhalation—with the action of your hand—pressing down on a canister—and doing both at the exact right moment to allow the medicine to flow into your lungs without getting ALL stopped within your mouth and throat.

What can you do if you struggle with hand-breath coordination?

As I’ve said, it took me a long time to get my hand-breath coordination up to proficiency. Here are things you can do in the meantime.

• Use a spacer

  Spacers take the need for hand-breath coordination out of using certain inhalers. Spacers can be used with pressurized metered dose inhalers (MDIs) as they allow the medicine to “float in the air” inside the valved chamber, meaning the puff of meds can escape when you breathe in... but not before!

• Use a different type of inhaler

  More and more breath-actuated inhalers are on the market, so you have choices. Inhalers like the Turbuhaler or Turbohaler, Discus, Ellipta, and Genuair—among others—are breath-actuated, which means that the medicine, usually a dry powder, is triggered to leave the inhaler by the force of your inspiration.

• Practice and don’t give up!

  Although it’s frustrating, practice, practice practice! The only way you’re ever going to get hand-breath coordination down is by discovering the nuances that make using an MDI work. Tiny things like the tilt of your inhaler inside your mouth, in addition to a perfectly timed start to your inhalation and then pressing down on the canister, are crucial to using a pressurized MDI correctly and getting the meds into your lungs where they need to be.

Alternatives or interim solutions for hand-breath coordination

If you’re still struggling to use your inhalers, talk to your doctor. They may have other suggestions for you, including the ones I have listed above, or refer you to an asthma educator who can help you learn how to use your inhalers correctly. Because inhaler device options abound, research your options, and ask your doctor whether something different might be a good fit for your needs.

Did you or do you struggle with hand-breath coordination? Share your story, tips and tricks in the comments!

Always talk to your doctor before changing the way you take your asthma medications or use your asthma inhalers.