Question for oxygen users

What do you do when you travel?

Medicare gives me a home compressor unit and some bottles I can carry when I go out but that wouldn't work if I had to fly somewhere and stay for a few days.

How do you deal with this?

My father would have to notify the airlines so he could carry his tank, and he would get in touch with a DME at his destination to set up delivery of tanks/rental concentrator. Talk to the DME that supplied your concentrator, they should be able to point you in the right direction.

I don't travel, I don't even use 02 except at night. I find life much easier if I ask myself, "Is this trip necessary?", usually the answer is No. If it's No, I stay home where my stuff is at.

If I do go out, I plan ahead and do all the things that need done in one trip. Jim

If you must use 02 24/7, they make pricey units, that cover that it's only money! For me is's not only a 02 problem, it's a moving around problem too. I lood up on Alieve, to get me to my truck, I set in the truck the wife shops, and unloads the truck. If I can make it to the truch, it's a good day.

I only travel for funerals and sadly most of my family iis already gone now. But my wife has adopted kids in a couple of states and something could happen to them that would require us to go there.

My concentrator is way to big to haul around. I suppose I could ship it but I would be very hesitant to do that.

I think I need to visit some of the places that sell these things only and do some research and get a copy of my prescription from my lung doctor because, just like cpap, they make you have a prescription even though these things don't make you high.

Goofproof wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 12, 2018 10:24 am

I don't travel, I don't even use 02 except at night. I find life much easier if I ask myself, "Is this trip necessary?", usually the answer is No. If it's No, I stay home where my stuff is at.

If I do go out, I plan ahead and do all the things that need done in one trip. Jim

If you must use 02 24/7, they make pricey units, that cover that it's only money! For me is's not only a 02 problem, it's a moving around problem too. I lood up on Alieve, to get me to my truck, I set in the truck the wife shops, and unloads the truck. If I can make it to the truch, it's a good day.

As I mentioned before, when traveling longer distances it behooves you to contact a local DME (or a branch of a nationwide DME that you already have dealings with) about short term rental. My father traveled cross-country on several occasions and made arrangements with his DME (Lincare, though I know many here don't like them) to rent the proper equipment at his destination. There were occasionally a couple snafus but for the most part they were very helpful and he had great continuity of care. None of the medical equipment counts toward your carry-on baggage, and in most cases my father was afforded additional assistance by the airlines in making connections (he could not walk long distances without resting) and well-looked-after.

ETA: Dad had advanced COPD as well as severe sleep apnea. He never traveled without his CPAP and when oxygen therapy became necessary 24/7 he never let it derail his travel plans. It simply became one more thing he needed to prepare for in advance. The biggest hiccup was usually making sure the paperwork was in order for the airlines, and that was just chasing down the office personnel at his home DME.

https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2014/04/08/tsa ... ble-oxygen

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/suppl ... the-basics

Do you use O2 24/7 or just with XPAP? If you just need it for XPAP, it must be Full Flow, NOT Pulse Flow.

For longer stays than a day or so your DME should be able to arrange solution.
Small battery powered units that do Full Flow are out there, but are no replacement for a larger home unit. (smaller means shorter lifespans, and li-Ion Batteries are costly. Jim

I know what you mean by friends dying off. I don't plan on going to any more funerals, they should have died sooner, before my health gave out. The last one I went to was harder on me than it was on him, but I would have crawled there to attend, he was the best and smartest man I ever knew, and he had a eight grade of book learning, but he had a PHD in Life!

Goofproof wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 12, 2018 3:12 pm

Do you use O2 24/7 or just with XPAP? If you just need it for XPAP, it must be Full Flow, NOT Pulse Flow.

For longer stays than a day or so your DME should be able to arrange solution.
Small battery powered units that do Full Flow are out there, but are no replacement for a larger home unit. (smaller means shorter lifespans, and li-Ion Batteries are costly. Jim

In support of Goofproof's point:

There are two types of oxygen delivery systems providing supplemental oxygen therapy; continuous flow (Respironics SimplyGo, SeQual Eclipes,) and pulse dose (Inogen One G3, AirSep Freestyle, Invacare XPO2). A pulse dose system is the most commonly used portable oxygen concentrator. Because of its light weight and long battery life, some lasting up to 8 hours on a single battery charge, the units are preferred by patients. Some oxygen users require continuous flow oxygen due to their diagnosis or illness progress. Continuous flow is required by any oxygen user who is titrating oxygen into their CPAP or BiPAP therapy. -- https://www.openpr.com/news/1008886/Por ... -2023.html