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How Long Do Asthma Pumps Last?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Around 25 million Americans suffer from asthma. Asthma is a difficult condition to deal with. Many people with asthma can’t live normal lives without asthma pumps. 

There are many different asthma inhalers, but some of the most common use albuterol as the active ingredient. Other inhalers work the same way to dilate a person’s airways. This makes it easier to breathe during an asthma attack. 

But what should you do if you have an expired inhaler? How long do asthma pumps last? Keep reading and learn more about what you should do with your old inhalers. 

How Long Do Asthma Pumps Last?

Having an asthma inhaler with you at all times is important. You never know when you might have an asthma attack. The airways in your lungs will become inflamed when you have an asthma attack. 

This causes the airways to swell, making it difficult for air to flow through the lungs. This often causes a feeling of panic due to being unable to take deep breaths. This may cause the person to hyperventilate and feel like they are suffocating. 

A person suffering from an asthma attack may gasp for breath, cough, and wheeze. An attack like this can be life-threatening without an inhaler. Inhalers help by releasing a medication that causes the lungs to relax. 

This makes them less swollen and inflamed. It should be easier to breathe as the lungs calm down. Inhalers have a limited number of pumps. 

Some may contain as little as 50 doses while others may have up to 200. Some inhalers have a marker that helps you keep track of how many doses are left. Others do not have this helpful feature and you will have to keep track yourself.

You can tell when an inhaler has run out since it will not pump out any more medication. Most asthma inhalers last about a year before they expire. Using an expired inhaler won’t hurt you, but it might not help you either. 

This is because the drug inside the inhaler may start to lose its strength after one year. You can still use the inhaler, but you may find that the effects won’t be very helpful for treating your asthma.

The Details

Many people let their inhalers expire without realizing it. 

You may use your inhaler on rare occasions. Or you may have a rescue inhaler for emergencies, and you may not have asthma emergencies very often. You can easily forget about these inhalers if you rarely use them. 

But when you do need them again, they might be expired. It is easy to tell when the inhaler is expired since the expiry date should be on the inhaler. If it is not, it may be on the inhaler’s box. 

It is best not to use an inhaler that is over one year old. While there is a chance that the inhaler is still effective, it likely isn’t. Using an expired inhaler could be detrimental to your health. 

It is instead better to throw away the old inhaler and get a new one. This ensures that you have an inhaler that works as it’s supposed to. Getting an annual replacement is always a good thing to keep in mind.

How to Store Your Asthma Pumps

It is possible for an inhaler to go bad before its expiration date. This happens when the inhaler is not stored properly. Many people store their inhalers improperly without realizing it. 

Many people put their inhalers in their cars and leave them there. This may be ideal for convenience, but it is not ideal for keeping your inhaler in good shape. This is because you should store your inhaler at the right temperature. 

Cars may get very hot, then very cold, then hot again. This temperature fluctuation is not great for inhalers. Very cold temperatures can damage the medication inside the asthma pump.

This may make the medication less efficient. Humidity is not good for inhalers either. Suppose you store your inhaler in a drawer in your bathroom. 

The bathroom is typically the most humid room in the house. Exposing the inhaler to so much humidity will damage the inner workings of the device. It may be difficult to spray the inhaler if it gets damaged this way. 

What You Need to Know

The inhaler should come with storage instructions on the box or on the label. Most inhalers need to be stored at a temperature between 59 and 77 degrees F. The inhaler could explode if it gets too hot. 

This is especially true of albuterol. You can store an inhaler between temperatures of 68 to 77 degrees F if it is Symbicort. You should store it with the mouthpiece facing down as well. 

Storing your inhaler this way will ensure that it lasts a full year. A cool, dry place like a bedroom drawer or a closet is a good place to put your asthma pump. Make sure to dispose of your inhaler properly after it expires too. 

Take the empty pump to the pharmacy and see if they can dispose of it. Throwing it in the trash is not a good idea since the drug canister can explode. 

All About Asthma Pumps

Asthma pumps last around a year before they go bad. You should not use an expired asthma pump since the drug inside has lost its potency. It is instead best to get a new one. 

It is also a good idea to store your inhaler properly so it lasts. To learn more about medication for other conditions, check out what we have to offer.