colistin questions

[anonymous]

I am getting ready to start colistin for the first time and wondered how much sterile water you mix with the powdered colistin in the vial?I received my colistin, syringes & sterile water, and it said "use as directed" on all containers, but didn't "direct" me on how much to mix, etc.I thought if a couple of people could let me know how much they use, I would have an idea. (any suggestions for reducing foaming, etc would be appreciated too)My CF doctor only has a few patients on coly and I'm thinking they use saline rather than sterile water.Thanks a bunch! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[anonymous]

When my daughter uses Colistin, we mix 3cc of steril water with it in the morning. She uses 1.5cc in the morning and 1.5cc in the evening. Be sure to NOT shake the vial! It will foam a LOT!! gently roll it between your palms to mix, squirt it slowly into the neb also. Be sure to refridgerate the mixed portion. I hope this helps, as I'm sure your aware, your doses could be different. We really like the Colistin, it is much faster than Tobi.

 

[anonymous]

I use 2cc of sterile water to mix with the Colistin, and, yes, roll not shake. Then I do 1cc in the morning and at night. I mix the 1cc with 2cc of saline. You might want to check with your doctor or nurse, they really should know how to mix it.

 

[anonymous]

Thanks alot for that info. Are you basically saying that you put 3 cc of sterile water in each colistin bottle & then use half a bottle (of what you've mixed) in the am and the other half in the pm?Thanks for the suggestions on reducing foaming.

 

[Liza]

Hi, like mentioned before your docs should know how they want you to mix the colistin. We, my daughter, mixes 2cc sterile water to mix, roll, don't shake the bottle (like mentioned by others). We fix up two vials in the AM. She uses one in the AM treatment and one in the PM treatment. We don't mix it with saline anymore as that is suspected why it foams sooooo much more. We were told after having a severe foaming problem to try not mixing with the saline but add another 1cc of sterile water OR mix in the albuterol (and eliminate another treatment) So instead of doing an albuterol treatment first then the coli we just put it together. Last of all, we were told that we did not have to refrigerate the coli after mixing if it was going to used within about 24 hrs. Hope this helps.Liza

 

[anonymous]

Thanks for all of your responses. I am currently using 2.5 cc of sterile water. It's great to have this forum to ask questions, get support, etc<img src="i/expressions/sun.gif" border="0">

 

[anonymous]

what is colistin?I had never heard of this medicine before.I am age 27 and was diagnosed at age 2.Is this a new medicine to inhale?Jessica

 

[anonymous]

colistin, or colomycin is an antibiotic used to combat pseudomonas. once someone grows PA, they are generally started on colistin nebulisers long term to keep exacurbations down to a minimum. or at least thats the way it works in the UK! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> hope that helps!

 

[anonymous]

Some advice for reducing foam is... when you are "shooting" the sterile water into the vial, aim it at the side, or tip the vial upside down.... i would also mix mine up 3 days in advance... i was told that you can mix them as early as 7 days in advance.... as far as foamie while you nebulise it... no solution there... it is VERY annoying.... I do not use it anymore though but when i did i found it too thick and would add another 2cc of saline too it once it was out of the vial... so a total of 4cc... Julie