How to Use a Pulmicort Inhaler

The Pulmicort inhaler contains the corticosteroid medication budesonide. It is a preventive medicine used over a long period to reduce inflammation in the airways for patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other respiratory problems. The inhaler is used to prevent asthma episodes, but it is not a rescue medicine and will not stop an asthma episode in progress.

Instructions

• 1

  Tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, or if you have ever had liver disease, osteoporosis, a herpes simplex infection in your eye(s), if you have any type of infection, or if you've ever had tuberculosis. These diseases could worsen with long-term use of corticosteroids. Also tell your doctor if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Pulmicort can pass into your breast milk and potentially be ingested by your baby.

• 2

  Take the cover off the inhaler. Then prime your Pulmicort inhaler according to the directions that came with the inhaler. Twist the brown grip at the bottom of the inhaler as far as it will go in one direction and then turn it back until it stops. You should hear a click. Then repeat this step again. This gets your inhaler ready to load your first dose of medicine.

• 3

  Hold the inhaler in an upright position, gripping it in the middle and not at the mouthpiece. Turn the brown grip at the bottom as far as it will rotate and then back again until you hear a click. One dose of medicine will be loaded into the inhaler. Do not shake the inhaler.

• 4

  Blow air out of your lungs with your head turned away from the inhaler. Put the inhaler mouthpiece in your mouth and seal your lips around it. Inhale as forcefully as you can. Do not exhale into the mouthpiece. If your doctor wants you to inhale two times, repeat this process. Replace the cover on the inhaler when you are finished.

• 5

  Rinse your mouth with water and gargle with the water to clear the medicine out of your mouth and throat. Inhaled steroids can cause a yeast infection in the mouth and throat.