Salbutamol (albuterol) 100 mcg inhaler, 200 doses

Yes. Salbutamol and albuterol are two names for the same medicine. Salbutamol is the international non-proprietary name used in Canada, the UK, India, Australia and most of the world; albuterol is the name used in the United States. A US label may describe a puff as 90 mcg of albuterol base while the same inhaler is labelled 100 mcg of salbutamol sulfate - that is the same amount of drug measured two different ways, not a stronger inhaler.

For most adults and children the usual dose is 1 or 2 puffs when symptoms appear, up to a maximum of 4 times in 24 hours. Your prescriber may set something different for you, and that instruction takes priority. During an asthma attack you can take up to 10 puffs with 30 to 60 seconds between each; if you are no better, call emergency services. Needing your reliever more than 4 times in 24 hours, or on 3 or more days a week, means your asthma needs urgent review.

That depends entirely on how often you use it. A canister holds 200 metered doses. If your asthma is well controlled and you use the inhaler occasionally, one canister can last months. At the maximum of 8 puffs a day it would last about 25 days. Check the dose counter rather than shaking or floating the canister, which are unreliable. Order a replacement before you run low, and remember that four test sprays are used up each time you prime a new inhaler.

Yes, if your prescriber has told you to. The label directs 2 puffs 15 to 30 minutes before exercise to prevent exercise-induced bronchospasm, and the NHS gives the same advice for known triggers such as exercise or being around animals. Preventive puffs still count towards your daily maximum. If you need the inhaler before every session, or exercise regularly leaves you wheezing despite it, tell your prescriber - that usually points to asthma that is not fully controlled.

No. Salbutamol inhalers are prescription-only where we dispense, and we cannot supply one without a valid prescription from your licensed prescriber. There is a clinical reason behind it. Rising reliever use is the single clearest warning sign that asthma is deteriorating, and a prescription keeps a clinician looking at that pattern. Send us a valid prescription and our pharmacist reviews it against your other medicines, and will contact you or your prescriber if anything needs clarifying.

We dispense salbutamol inhaler as 100 mcg (200 doses, 1 inhaler). The current price for each pack is shown on this page and again in your cart before you pay, with no membership fee and no tiers. Stock may be branded or generic on any given day, depending on what is in supply; the active ingredient, the strength and the pack size are what the label says either way. What we dispense is set by your prescription rather than by what you select, so if the quantity on your prescription differs from the pack you picked, our pharmacist will contact you before anything is sent.

We dispense only where we are licensed to, and the checkout tells you whether we can ship to your address before you pay. Prescription medicines cannot lawfully be sent everywhere, and the rules differ by country and by province or state. If we cannot dispense to your address, nothing is charged. Because a reliever inhaler is something you should never be without, order your replacement in good time and keep a spare where your prescriber advises.

Treat it as a warning sign rather than a technique problem to shrug off. Contact your prescriber the same day if your usual dose no longer relieves symptoms, if relief lasts a shorter time than it used to, or if you are reaching for the inhaler more often. If your breathing gets worse immediately after a puff, stop using it and seek urgent help - that can be paradoxical bronchospasm. In an attack, take up to 10 puffs a minute apart, and call emergency services if you are not improving.