CALS needs help regarding mucus

[abbas child]

hannacat asked me this--I hope this is helpful (starting a thread for her)
Hi, My husband has the bulbar form of als and I can talk about that but today our major problem is mucous. We are fortunate enough to have a Vest and a cough assist -both new to us. He has involuntary coughing and just cannot clear. I don't know if he is better left without machines when this happens or to jump in with either or. Will find respiratory tomorrow,but,in the meantime,have any of you faced this deamon and what do you do?
Hanna
(Ann)

 

[caldona]

my bipap machine helps me more than anything else. One day it dawned on me that when I would have this problem and put y machine on in a few minutes it would be gone. I don't know if its the air blowing or not.

 

[cervus]

My husband used a nebulizer and it helped immensely. The meds he used were Salbutamol and Mucomyst. Ask your RT for this. Hope this helps. Yasmin

 

[caldona]

Is that nebulizer is that like a cough assistant machine and does he still get muscus taking the meds

 

[cervus]

The nebulizer is different from a cough assist machine. It's a device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs. It thins out the mucus which makes it easier to cough up. My husband wasn't able to cough up mucus either and this really helped. He used it about 4 times a day - it takes about 10 minutes each time. Worked wonders!

 

[abbas child]

I could have done better with this; the poor woman has disappeared, after searching all over the forums earlier. Thanks so much for leaving helpful information, cervus and caldona--I just wish I'd had a better title for her thread.

 

[hannacat]

Thank you. I have called alot of professionals to make sure we were using the machines correctly. I appreciate your concern and hope to learn how to use these resources correctly. Thank you,hanna

 

[10steps]

I too thank everyone for posting. It was a timely question and the info helpful.

 

[joni51]

Get a suction machine too. It is like the suction machine at the dentist..get as far back as you can in the throat after using the cough assist. My husbands dr also said to use mucinex to help break it up.

 

[mysticunicorn66]

They put my sister on a med to help with the mucous. I think it is called amitriptiline (not sure of spelling since the bottle is not here beside me).

 

[notme]

If he's having a lot of involuntary coughing--even with ALS--it's also important to make sure that he doesn't have pneumonia or bronchitis. The others have given good info on suction and some meds that can help.

If anything coughed up is yellow or green--that's not a good thing. Secretions from the lungs should be clear.

 

[hannacat]

Thanks for responding. The vest has helped him have a productive cough but absolutely exhausts him. The involuntary coughing is relieved by Roxinol ( morphine) The cough assist is not so effective because of his muscles that prevent a "good seal" We see our MD on thursday and she is in close contact. The problem,I think, is the disease progression that makes it impossible to clear his airway because of the inability to cough effectively.
His lungs are clear but the mucus is just beyond our suctioning ability. The fluid that we were able to get out a couple of weeks ago,thick and viscous,is no longer present. I think that this is disease progression. Anybody out there that has been here? Hanna

 

[cervus]

Yes, Hanna. Been there with my husband. Hence the suggestion of getting a nebulizer. Bob went through the same thing.

 

[Mrs C]

Amitriptiline is antidepressant. The main side affect is dry mouth, that is why they prescribe it for our PALS. Same with rubinol.

 

[druithleigh]

hannacat asked me this--I hope this is helpful (starting a thread for her)
Hi, My husband has the bulbar form of als and I can talk about that but today our major problem is mucous. We are fortunate enough to have a Vest and a cough assist -both new to us. He has involuntary coughing and just cannot clear. I don't know if he is better left without machines when this happens or to jump in with either or. Will find respiratory tomorrow,but,in the meantime,have any of you faced this deamon and what do you do?
Hanna
(Ann)

I would suggest asking your respiratory therapist about a portable suction machine. It works like the ones at the dentist but much smaller and really helps with the removal of mucus and excess saliva. The other thing to ask about is secretion controlling medications. Most of these medications are classified as anti-depressants or sedatives, however; there is one that works pretty good and after trying a variety of anti-depressants that cause dry mouth as a side effect she started on glycopyrrolate (Robinol) which is a secretion control medication.