> I'm told that using a spacer increases the amount of medication
> that you get when using the inhaler.

Thanks, Thompson: *that*'s the word for what I use with my asthma inhaler.* If you don't use a spacer, and (as directed) breathe in hard when you use the inhaler, the active ingredient tends to hit the back of the throat, rather than going down to the lungs as it should. (That's why my brother, a fellow asthmatic, got thrush at one point.)

Much of course depends on the type of inhaler. The ones I was given at one point looked like a very small flying saucer, but those might have specially-designed spacers ....

* For those who haven't seen one, a spacer looks a bit like the cardboard tube from the middle of a toilet roll. You plug the inhaler in one end, and breathe in the dose at the other.