ADDITIONAL OXYGEN

All of us have to use the mask in every night .
With a lot of discomfort and difficulties.
But , we may have an advantage in this condition.
We may use an oxygen concentrator with a flow of 2-3 l/min additional oxygen supply .
In addition to this if we use a fullface mask with the shape similar to respironics fitlife , we can have facial oxygen therapy at same time.
Is there any body ever tried this?
Any ideas to support or object this possible application ????
Thank you...

O2 Treatment is a prescribed drug, (Go Figure). While we may do better with it and or feel better, it has a down side, with it our body is getting use to having it and may adjust accordingly to added O2. Since the planet isn't going to change O2 levels very fast, you end up masking some problems you may have.

O2 levels can be toxic if overdone, as can everything in excess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

Im just wondering if people who struggle a bit more with breathing

dream about getting a little bit more O2 this way..

I have to say, to me, it sounds very interesting!

Im a shallow breather,and if I take a big deep breath, all hell breaks loose, so I just wonder................

Goofproof wrote:O2 Treatment is a prescribed drug, (Go Figure). While we may do better with it and or feel better, it has a down side, with it our body is getting use to having it and may adjust accordingly to added O2. Since the planet isn't going to change O2 levels very fast, you end up masking some problems you may have.

O2 levels can be toxic if overdone, as can everything in excess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

Thank you for your kind interest.
I have understood that the excess amount of oxygen is harmful and dangerous.
But , there should be a optimum beneficial amount.
The normal air contains 78 % nitrogen , 21% oxygen, 1 % carbon dioxide and other air gases .Whereas in cities due to engine fumes etc. these proportions are not valid.
Remember the camping times in a arboraceous area where oxygen proportion of the air is higher due to exhaled oxygen by the trees during the photosynthesis. You always feel energetic when you wake up early in the morning and during the day, I think this is the effect of this clean air and good oxygen feeding our cells all through night .
I am talking about this sufficient amount of additional oxygen . I do not know , How much the air flow rate should be . But I think it can be adjusted.
I am waiting for your contributions...
Thank you..

I was put on O2 after a heart attack, 2L per minute, when I left the hospital I couldn't maintain a 90% O2 level without it. As soon as possible I had a sleep study and was put on XPAP @ 14.5 CM with 2 L of O2. Knowing about the mask venting most of the O2 out of the flow, I reset it to 4 LPM on my own.

I used O2 for 6 months, then the doctor decided I didn't need it anymore, my O2 levels were the same when he took the O2 off, as when he had called for it in the first place, still at 90. Now a few years later, I am at 93 to 94 MAX. I also am a shallow breather, but now that I have my own pulse ox, I have found that breathing faster and deeper doesn't make my O2 levels rise over normal breathing. I can climb one flight of stairs or walk 150 feet and I'm out of breath a panting like a dog, but my O2 levels are still 92. At least I've seen for myself that the cause isn't low O2 levels causing the weakness. Jim

Jim, I'm not saying this is true in your case but thought I would point it out for the good of the order.

When caring for my dad, his Visiting Nurse mentioned they had an 'In Service' to let know that some (I guess) O2 meters actually sense or measure carbon dioxide in the blood. They were to be careful when using the O2 meters.

Also worth noting when his O2 level dropped I would go over hook him up and put on his CPAP and have him watch as his O2 level increased on room air. Whatever the reason it did in fact increase his blood O2 without additional O2 bleed.

HTH

GumbyCT wrote:Jim, I'm not saying this is true in your case but thought I would point it out for the good of the order.

When caring for my dad, his Visiting Nurse mentioned they had an 'In Service' to let know that some (I guess) O2 meters actually sense or measure carbon dioxide in the blood. They were to be careful when using the O2 meters.

Also worth noting when his O2 level dropped I would go over hook him up and put on his CPAP and have him watch as his O2 level increased on room air. Whatever the reason it did in fact increase his blood O2 without additional O2 bleed.

HTH

That would make sense to me, as more volume of gasses, would be available for the lungs to extract O2 from. With the O2 out of the equation, That would leave poor blood flow. (my heart has much damage and I worked in a enviroment inhaling too much rock dust.) Diabeta, is also a big problem. Jim

Road Hard and Put Away Wet!

gvz wrote:Capnography is the general term to measure blood CO2 levels. There are non-invasive devices from Nonin and Respironics that do it, and even have a data-output to an RS-232 COM port. I'd love to get one of these but they are 1) Very expensive and 2) I could be wrong but I think you have to breathe into a sensor to get a reading, so that would mean to somehow link up the exhaust port from the CPAP mask into a connector that interfaces to the Capnography device.

Does anyone know if there is a Capnography device that works in some other way besides breathing into it, that you could use while sleeping with a CPAP in a home environment?

Using something that would hook up to the mask, wouldn't work, as you are wanting to measure lung output gasses only. The flow and gas makeup would be different at the mask, due to the air coming in also by air in the mask being retained by the airway being covered. Jim

gvz wrote:Right. If they can beam in a fingertip to measure your O2 + Pulse levels, why not the CO2?

Pulse oximeters emit light beams that measure the color of the blood. Oxygen binds to iron in hemoglobin and affects the color of the blood. CO2 binds to protein in hemoglobin and does not affect the color of the blood.

A different technology would be needed to detect the amount of CO2. I don't know what that would be in a non-invasive finger-tip model.

During a sleep study, it may be determined that you have low oxygen levels as a result of the apnea. O2 concentrator may be prescribed. Overtime, you O2 levels may improve and remove the need for it. This is often documented on your sleep study report. I wouldn't just add it. If the doctor knew you needed it, then someone would have written the script. Some people after partying hard one night, night whif some oxygen, but as others said, I wouldn't make this call yourself. However, cooper medical on the forum, sells a pulse ox for a reasonable price. Buy one and monitor your o2 levels. If they start looking low, 80%? 70% or 60% talk to someone about it.

Point of reference. It is a well known fact among nurses that if you use a fingertip pulse ox after someone smokes a cigarette that the SpO2 will increase to 95-96%. Not because of the O2 but because of the CO2 retained, so they are not always accurate.
Shar:)

Hospiceangel wrote:Point of reference. It is a well known fact among nurses that if you use a fingertip pulse ox after someone smokes a cigarette that the SpO2 will increase to 95-96%. Not because of the O2 but because of the CO2 retained, so they are not always accurate.
Shar:)

The SpO2 DOES go up, but not because of CO2; rather it goes up because of CO. Carbon monoxide in the system can cause a higher reading than the true value.

gvz wrote:So what happens if you breathe supplemental oxygen in an acceptable atmospheric pressure range and you don't have COPD or other issues in the lungs that cause CO2 levels to get out of whack?

Do you just simply stop breathing and die in your sleep?

I don't know, but that's a good question. I believe CO2 in the blood triggers the body to breathe, so if those are not out of whack, perhaps you're OK. Maybe somebody who knows will address it.


Didn't the astronauts used to have 100% oxygen on board until that one spaceship (Mercury?) caught on fire on the launch pad or somewhere on earth before it was launched? There were astronauts who died in that fire, and my recollection is that the accident resulted in a change of procedure so that 100% oxygen was no longer used.

In any event, my point was that if that's the case, for most people there probably isn't a problem short-term breathing 100% oxygen.

gvz wrote:I'm definitely not an expert but it is amazing to me, reading about this stuff, the body has multiple chemosensors that measure O2, CO2, but primarily the PH acidity levels to regulate your breathing patterns. From what I understand, the physical mechanism for triggering your diaphragm muscles to breathe is the presence of excess PH / acidity levels in the blood (higher acidity means a higher presence of CO2). Also, the function of the ATP energy molecule creates CO2 during energy production so that's why when you exercise, you breathe hard because the CO2 needs to be expelled from the body via the gas exchange of the lungs. It is fascinating.

That is interesting to me because it explains a part of one puzzle for me. On blood tests my CO2 is usually out of range on the high end but my pH is normal. I also don't have a very strong drive to breathe. Something else, perhaps, is keeping my pH balanced, and I am not breathing enough, resulting in higher levels of CO2. I wonder if that's the right understanding, and if I could figure out what is balancing my pH?

gvz wrote:Check it out for some explanation of buffers in the body:

http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/~edudev/ ... uffer.html

Wow, thanks for that link. It's too long for me to absorb tonight, but I will definitely take a look at it later. Thanks for taking the time to post that, because I probably would not have started looking for this information without your earlier post, and would not have known what to look for without your more recent posts.