Inhalations
Inhalation treatments
With inhalation treatments, by means of equipment appropriately studied and certified in accordance with the law, the more or less finely fractionated thermal water and the gases contained therein are introduced into the respiratory system.
In addition to the local action on the walls of the oral cavity, absorption through the mucous membranes and the arrival into surrounding tissues and organs through the lymphatic vessels is obtained; then, through blood circulation, the action is generalized until it affects more distant organs.
Inhalation care centre
The action of the waters of the Antonimina-Locri Thermal Baths is anti-inflammatory for the mucous membranes, anticatarral and antiseptic. The methods of administration are: inhalation, normal aerosol, irrigation, micronized shower, spray.
Chronic pulmonary diseases centre
The symptoms associated with these pathologies find highly effective responses in thermal treatments such as pulmonary ventilation, respiratory gymnastics and inhalation treatments.
Rhinogenic deafness centre
Treatment of the middle ear and the tuba of Eustace, tied to the nose and pharynx, with insufflations, politzer, micronized showers, aerosols and audiometric tests.
THERMAL WATER AEROSOL
The thermal water aerosol uses a finer and more homogeneous fractionation of the thermal water. The water is drawn in by compressed air and discharged under pressure. It is thus crushed into very fine and homogeneous particles of 2-4 microns in diameter at a temperature of 28-30 °C.
This is an individual therapy and can be performed orally or nasally by means of appropriate nasal mouthpieces or forks or with a mask. The aerosol reaches deep into the airways and into the pulmonary alveoli.
Indicated in case of chronic diseases of the upper and lower airways; nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea and bronchial tree. One application per day for a cycle of 12 days.
Duration: gradually increasing, from 5 minutes on the first day to 11 minutes.
STEAM JET INHALATIONS
The steam jet inhalation as a preparatory care is usually foreseen in an inhalation treatments cycle; in fact the vasodilatator steam effect prepares the tissues for the absorption of the constituents successively delivered by aerosol.
Inhalations are individual direct steam jet therapies. They are practiced by spraying the thermal water in particles of the size of 8-10 microns which is sucked by a stream of steam under pressure. At the outlet nozzle, a thick mist of water particles is obtained at a temperature of about 38°C. The patient is placed with his mouth open at the same level as the jet, at a distance of about 20-30 centimetres.
Indicated in case of chronic diseases of the first airways (nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea and large bronchi).
MICRONIZED NASAL SHOWER
Individual treatment to fluidize the secretions present in the nasal cavity and in the nasopharyngeal and faringeo district by an abundant flow of particles of thermal water. The particles of thermal water are larger than those of a traditional aerosol and are pushed directly into the nostrils under pressure. It is a type of treatment generally well tolerated by children, even small ones, and very useful to treat middle ear pathologies in pediatric age.
Particularly indicated in all chronic catarrhal pathologies of the nose and throat: rhinitis, rhinosinusitis, nasopharyngitis. Useful in secretive middle otitis (or medium otitis with effusion) of the child and in chronic otosalpingitis of the adult.
It can be performed at intervals of 2 days or 1 day or daily for a total of 12 days.
Duration: gradually increasing from 6 minutes on the first day to 12 minutes.
SPRAY
The spray represents the conclusion of a complete thermal inhalation cure. In this type of collective treatment, the thermal water is introduced in the form of a dense, moist mist consisting of countless minute drops of bicarbonate-sodium, fluorinated thermal mineral water suspended in a saturated common environment, where the patient will remain for the duration of the application.
The thermal water with its mineral salts penetrates into the entire respiratory system, upper, middle and lower, restoring, at the end of the complete cycle of inhalation treatments, the best conditions of surface moisture of the mucous membranes of the various districts.
Indicated in case of chronic pathologies of the upper, middle and lower airways including therefore simple chronic bronchitis and obstructive chronic bronchitis.
The duration of the treatment, in general, is progressively increasing: from 10 minutes on the first day up to 30 minutes, increasing by 5 minutes each day.
ENDOTYMPANIC INSUFFLATIONS
This particular individual treatment is reserved for all those patients suffering from rhinoearic deafness or tubal catarrh.
Rhinoearic deafness is a set of pathological situations that determine the conductive hearing loss linked to inflammatory processes of the nasopharynx, the Eustachian tube and the middle ear.
In addition to the inhalation treatments described above, performed using the sodium bicarbonate fluorinated thermal water, the tubal insufflation is performed using the sulphurous mineral water.
This therapy consists in putting the sulphurous gas through the Eustachian tubes into the middle ear.
Tubal insufflations are exclusively performed by specialized medical personnel, by inserting a small probe into the patient’s nose, called “Itard catheter”, which is pushed to the throat ostium of the Eustachian tube. At this point the doctor starts the introduction (insufflation), at low pressure, of the sulphurous gas released by gurgling of the sulphurous thermal water, through the catheter, in the tube of Eustace.
The arrival of the thermal gas in the middle ear cavity produces a rustle that is felt by both the patient and the insufflator thanks to a phonendoscope resting on the patient’s auricle.
This application allows the eventual tubal stenosis to be overcome at the phlogistic process and helps the tube itself and the tympanic cavity to get rid of the present secretions.
The pathologies of the middle ear and the tube that can cause hypocausia or rhinococcal deafness are closely related to those of the nose and pharynx: it is therefore essential to associate the tube inflations with inhalation treatments (inhalations, aerosols, micronized nasal showers).
The catheter is painless, and each catheter is plastic and disposable. The treatment usually comprehends one application per day for a minimum of 12 sessions and a maximum of 20 sessions.
The duration of the insufflation varies from 1 to 3 minutes, depending on the prescription of the specialist. Many doctors agree on the fact that it is useful to repeat the treatment for several consecutive years.
In particular cases it may be useful to perform two cycles of treatment in the same year, at different times. (e.g. a first cycle before summer, a second cycle in autumn).
Access to the thermal baths
The Antonimina-Locri Thermal Baths are accredited by the National Health Service (SSN) and can be accessed on the simple request of the attending physician, a pediatrician or a specialist.