There are portable vaporiser machines currently being marketed for use when sick to breathe in a salt solution – would this be bad for your lungs? I have used these type of devices for asthma when I’m sick with a prescribed medication solution, however, I’m interested if anyone has tried this with just water (and does it work?) Or with the salt solution (and does it work?) Or is salt a very bad idea as can the salt crystallise on your lungs?
In: Biology
The saline use is isotonic saline. The same one that get infused into your body.
It barely tastes salty.
The lungs are perfectly capable of absorbing those minute quantities of saline (10 ml NS is the common volume used for adults, even less for children to apply asthma drugs).
You inhale more water walking through dense fog.
Your lungs can deal with a surprising volume of water without any problem.
The minute amount of salt is just in there because it irritates the lungs less than pure water would, because it matches the salinity of the regular lung fluids.
Additionally salt helps reduce viscosity of mucus making it easier to cough it out.
People with cystic fibrosis have a gene defect which prevents their bodies from naturally putting salt into any mucus they make, meaning the inside of their lungs is covered in much thicker mucus. They will inhale 6% multiple times daily to correct that specific issue of their disease.
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