Knowledgeable provider vital for nebulizer use

DEAR DR. ROACH:

Why do you need a prescription for a nebulizer?

ANSWER: A medical nebulizer machine allows a person at home to use a liquid medicine (especially albuterol) in a mist form that is easy to use, delivering the medicine continuously for five minutes or so. The advantage over a handheld inhaler is that it gives a larger dose and you don’t need to coordinate the timing of breathing and activating the inhaler.

It does seem redundant to require a prescription for a machine that you need prescription medication for.

Medical devices are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, so it is sold by prescription only. However, a quick look at an online store finds several “vaporizer systems” that include cups for medication, so it is possible to bypass the need for a prescription.

I do think that a prescription for albuterol remains important. Many people use albuterol too much without having any real control over their asthma, so a knowledgeable provider is critical.

DR. ROACH WRITES:

A recent column on sudden sensorineural hearing loss generated many letters, most of them about the possibility of a tumor of the nerve that goes to the ear, called the eighth cranial nerve. The most common tumor is called a Schwannoma.

It would be unusual for a Schwannoma to provoke such a sudden loss of hearing as the reader described.

A stroke in that part of the brain, due to a blockage in the artery that supplies blood to the eighth nerve, is a rare event that can look like sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

However, enough people wrote in that they were found to have brain tumors causing their symptoms that I felt I should bring up the possibility, and to note that an MRI scan is appropriate for people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth @med.cornell.edu or request an order form of available health newsletters at 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803./ This column appears weekdays.