Is my inhaler ineffective?

My doctor said my illness would get over in a week. I was sick for one month as well as coughing for one month. I have been taking an inhaler for a week since last week. Basically I've been taking it since last Wednesday April 20, 2011. I have been taking it for a few days and I don't feel the affects of it that much any more. I mean usually when I take it I hold my breath so that it settles in my lungs, after I exhale and breathe normally I can breathe the medicine like taste the medicine in my lungs if you know what I mean. Now I take it and I don't feel the medicine in my lungs. And I take it and the dose seems less. I twisted the medicine capsule just to see If the inside of the inhaler was dirty, twisted it back in now it seems like the dosage is different even though it is a fixed amount. The thing is dairy and spicy things make me have have mucus/metal/blood like taste in my throat. I stopped coughing for a while. Then this morning I started coughing high pitched and have the mucus/blood/metal taste while/when I am coughing. Is this a morning thing, or like a relapse. I used to cough more in the evening, now I think this morning I started coughing.Oh and can the steroids in the albeuterol cut up your lips, or are they dry. I have this cut in my upper inside lip. I never did anything to cut it.