New to nebulizers and now traces of blood

Posted by doberdoo @doberdoo, Mar 10 6:26am

First let me apologize for what are probably silly questions, but here goes. The pulmonologist ended up ordering me a nebulizer. I used it for the last 4 days. I do levalbuteral first and then follow with 7 percent saline right after. I have also been doing ACTs, Aerobika and some yoga poses that are supposed to help drain mucus. Last night I noticed light blood appearing in my sputum after the nebulizer. My question is can I give myself a break of a day or two from it to try to heal whatever damage is occuring to cause the blood? Or does it indicate I have another problem brewing?

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jc76 | @jc76 | Mar 10 7:24am

Suggest contact our pulmonologist for that medical advice. He/she needs to know your symptoms.

I sometimes irritate or stick the sprayer to the side of my nose. It can cause a break in skin or start an irritation. You are talking about something that goes in your nose, is that correct. I asked as I am not familiar with Levabuteral but have done abuterol inhaler into lungs.

If there is slight bleeding in nose it can drain back down the back of your throat and can cough it up and see it also. It is why your pumonologist needs to know and can guide you medically.

What I did to stop irritating my nose sides was to really follow instructions on the bottle. It gives visusl to keep nossle not up or down but in middle. That has seemed to work and the sides of my nostrils are not getting sores in them.

If you are talking about an inhaler that you inhale through mouth that is altogether different.

doberdoo | @doberdoo | Mar 10 7:55am

In reply to @jc76 "Suggest contact our pulmonologist for that medical advice. He/she needs to know your symptoms. I sometimes..." + (show)

Thank you so much for your response. No, this is a nebulizer with a mouthpiece. Breath in through the mouthpiece and out through mouthpiece. Nose not involved.

debw1017 | @debw1017 | Mar 11 4:55pm

I also have “hemoptysis”. My dr and NJH say to wait 24-48 hours before resuming. I think mine is from heavy exercise but I’m still working on the best way to avoid it!

bayarea58 | @bayarea58 | Mar 12 6:03pm

Ok so I agree with others that you need to discuss symptoms with your doctor. None of us are doctors and are not giving medical advice. That said, it is not unusual to have trace amounts of blood in sputum (and I mean trace, if you get above a tablespoon that is another conversation) with BE/NTM. Nebulizing with 7% can be irritating for some, and you may want to discuss with your doctor dropping down to 3% for a time and then try to build back up to 7%. Some just do better at 3%. You can definitely just take a break from nebulizing saline for a day or two and restart the 7% and see if the traces of blood stop. I have also read that if it is just traces of blood it’s not even necessarily that you need to stop airway clearance and it may just be transient. Really the right strategy depends on the amount of blood and frequency, and again your doctor is the one best suited to puzzling through the options with you to determine the best one for your circumstances.

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