I usually only need it in winter.

I have cystic fibrosis and HAVE to have albuterol.

I may be able to help you with that. if my mother and I can get into Mexico.

You’re very kind. Hopefully it won’t be necessary, I have about three full puffers worth right now.

My insurance typically fills them early so over the last couple of years the amount of puffers I have at one time has gone up.

Thousands of people cross the US-Mexico border daily for work, school and other activities. Essential travel includes individuals traveling for medical purposes, attending school or engaged in trade, like truck drivers, among others, according to a regulation notice set to be published Tuesday.

Maybe talk to your pharmacist and see if they can assist.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/

And I wound up with at least 100 of those nebulizer vials. I'd never used a nebulizer before, so I had no idea when I got the box how many were inside. I was sick and out of it from acute bronchitis, and didn't care to look. Just took it and went home. Opened it up, and saw vial after vial after vial. They were everywhere! WTF? How was I ever going to use that much? I wasn't that sick!

My husband the severe asthmatic rubbed his hands in glee. "I'll use them if you don't!" I convinced him that the smarter thing to do was to take back whatever we didn't use and get our money back.

Okay, we took all but 25 back. After I went through what I needed to get better. When he got a bad cold a few weeks later, we were damned glad to have those albuterol vials.

I knew the puffers were gonna go away but I should have thought about having enough boxes of nebulizer solution.

I have been putting this off but I probably need to just flat-out discuss a full action plan, or how to alter our current "action plan" in these situations. I can get hospital-level sick from sequelae of a rhinovirus, so normally we are on TOP of everything. We avoid admissions unless absolutely necessary.

But if I get sick, it doesn't mean it's this. I got my shot but it could be the flu. It could be, as I said, a rhinovirus. Our normal plan of me seeing him for a chest x-ray at a certain point even if I'm not feverish may not be his preference, he may want to throw antibiotics at it remotely and get me into a drive-thru testing even if I don't meet criteria by not having fever or known contact -- until he's sure that's *not* it, he wouldn't want me to get exposed to it in a healthcare setting.

She confused albuterol with the Advair I asked for (since corrected). So we have a ton of albuterol here now, thank goodness. I only get asthmatic during allergy seasons, but my husband has constant asthma and goes through albuterol fast. Still, I think we're good for a year on the stuff. So whew, for us, but I hate to think what will happen to those without a stockpile or quick access to Mexico.

Then again, we better hope that Mexico doesn't close their border to us. Some people might be in dire straits, otherwise.

I wonder if getting meds would be considered essential travel. Probably a mess right now as US citizens in Mexico try to get home.

I’ve crossed to pick up an allergy medicine a couple years ago and it was super easy.

Which going over for medical care is.

Medical care includes going to doctors, getting dental care and going to la farmacia.

Really.

I do sort of have to stay on top of what border crossings entail. You know, because I live in South Texas.

I didn't think about a rescue inhaler refill until I saw some desperately sick young woman on tv saying that the previous night she'd got to the point of not breathing and that her inhaler (she waved it) bought her just enough lung space to inhale. And by the way, why couldn't she get a test?!

My gods.

That sent me on a search through my stash, where I discovered that even my newest one was several years out of date. (My maintenance inhaler has been doing a good job, obviously.) Got hold of my allergist's office and told the LVN why I needed a prescription called in, and he agreed it was a good idea and muttered something I didn't quite catch about the office being just swamped.

So now I've got a new one. Best of luck doing likewise.

.

I think Nutrition Jungle still has Lung Tonic and also Sprouts Farm Market stores.

Lung Tonic is good for helping breathing, and my sister uses it for her COPD. I use it, along with my nephew for our chronic bronchitis. Elecampane, which is in Lung Tonic, is great as a side supplement to address bronchitis and flu congestion, when it flares up. Elecampane is also good for anthrax and pneumonia. I would never go into a hospital without it. I used to go on powerful Cipro or ZPack-10 3 times a year. I haven't needed to see a doctor about this in over 10 years now. My kids took it when they were younger to eliminate a chest cold in a day to two days max, and now they take it so they don't miss work.

Since coronavirus attacks the lungs, there has been a run on these products.

.

It can kill them.

If alternative medicine worked, it would be called medicine. We have plenty of "natural" products that have been incorporated into medical care (quinine is a famous example), but, then cyanide is "natural" and while it, too, has (limited) uses in pharmacology, I don't think you would want to use any of the stuff that comes from a "health" supplement. That's because all of this crap sold at "health" stores does not qualify as medicine. They have zero evidence to back up their claims other than anecdote and placebo effect. None of that quack snake oil has been tested properly for efficacy. Where are their studies? No, anecdote is not data. Double blind controlled studies is the gold standard, so produce them for those products. Oh. Wait. You can't. Because they've never been done.

And then there's the lack of quality control in the manufacturing process. Herbal supplements are not required to list complete ingredients, and those they do use are often contaminated.

Numerous studies and medical experts have weighed in on why herbal remedies are not a good idea to pursue:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/06/herbal-medicines-can-have-dangerous-side-effects-research-reveals

https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/07/20/cancer-patients-who-use-complementary-medicine-refuse-conventional-twice-likely-die-says-study-13214

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2410154/

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/06/a-triumph-of-hype-over-reality/240464/

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/06/america-land-of-the-health-hucksters/240809/

Those are the articles available to civilians. Scholarly articles in the peer-reviewed literature are behind firewalls, so I can't reference those here.

.

you only have a 50% chance of survival.

.

I'm going to call PillPack and see if I can get 90 days. I'm an RN and I'm anticipating having to spend days at a time at work, have a bag packed in the car already. I'm also diabetic/hypertensive and don't want to be worried about being without medicine to take care of myself while I'm trying to care for others.

Take care and be well.

her copd is severe without her "sprays"