Oxygen Without CPAP??

My mother rarely offers information about any of her medical issues, unless I directly ask about them. I live across the country from her, so I sometimes don't even know what issues to ask her about. Recently, my son was visiting her and he told me my mother said she is being treated for sleep apnea. He looked at her machine, to see how it compares to mine, and told me that she is using a Total Home Health Invacare Platinum XL oxygen concentrator but no CPAP machine.

I can't figure out why this would be the treatment she is receiving. I understand why someone would have oxygen with a CPAP, but I don't understand the logic of using it as a stand alone treatment. I am hoping someone here could shed some light on this for me.

A bit of background information-- My mother is 68 years old. She was a very heavy smoker for at least 45 years, maybe longer. She quit smoking five years ago. Prior to quitting, she had a horrible chronic cough. The cough is no longer as bad or as constant, but is still there to some extent.

Thanks for any insights anyone has about this!

Paper_Nanny wrote:My mother rarely offers information about any of her medical issues, unless I directly ask about them. I live across the country from her, so I sometimes don't even know what issues to ask her about. Recently, my son was visiting her and he told me my mother said she is being treated for sleep apnea. He looked at her machine, to see how it compares to mine, and told me that she is using a Total Home Health Invacare Platinum XL oxygen concentrator but no CPAP machine.

I can't figure out why this would be the treatment she is receiving. I understand why someone would have oxygen with a CPAP, but I don't understand the logic of using it as a stand alone treatment. I am hoping someone here could shed some light on this for me.

A bit of background information-- My mother is 68 years old. She was a very heavy smoker for at least 45 years, maybe longer. She quit smoking five years ago. Prior to quitting, she had a horrible chronic cough. The cough is no longer as bad or as constant, but is still there to some extent.

Thanks for any insights anyone has about this!

It's going to be very hard to do anything from such a distance, but...

I was a long term, 2.5-pack-a-day smoker for about 25 years. I quit 37 years ago but came away with COPD. I was recently told that high levels of oxygen is dangerous for people with COPD.

If it were my mother, I would try to find out if her sleep doctor is a certified sleep doctor, if she had a sleep study and a titration study, and I would try to get her to see a pulmonologist.

Maybe she failed compliance. You have to ask her.

Paper_Nanny wrote:My mother rarely offers information about any of her medical issues, unless I directly ask about them. I live across the country from her, so I sometimes don't even know what issues to ask her about. Recently, my son was visiting her and he told me my mother said she is being treated for sleep apnea. He looked at her machine, to see how it compares to mine, and told me that she is using a Total Home Health Invacare Platinum XL oxygen concentrator but no CPAP machine.

I can't figure out why this would be the treatment she is receiving. I understand why someone would have oxygen with a CPAP, but I don't understand the logic of using it as a stand alone treatment. I am hoping someone here could shed some light on this for me.

A bit of background information-- My mother is 68 years old. She was a very heavy smoker for at least 45 years, maybe longer. She quit smoking five years ago. Prior to quitting, she had a horrible chronic cough. The cough is no longer as bad or as constant, but is still there to some extent.

Thanks for any insights anyone has about this!

There have been discussions about this type of scenario on the forum over the years. It has been the general consensus that trying to get oxygen into a person with Obstructive Sleep Apnea is somewhat futile........because the airway is not always open to receive it.......consequently, the therapy is poor at best.


Den

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If she also has COPD from the smoking, therapy would conflict with what she might use with apnea, so first find out what she really was diagnosed with because just asking us is going to be futile without more definitive answers.

The belief of Oxygen only treatment for sleep apnea, is as effective as washing your car with the hose kinked shut, you may as well just wait for rain. Jim

Thanks, everyone! I feel much better equipped to talk to her about this now that you have confirmed my original suspicion that using oxygen only to treat sleep apnea doesn't make much sense and have given me some ideas about specific questions to ask. It is difficult being so far away, with her so reluctant to offer information unless I ask the right questions. And, I am still rather new to this role with her. When my father was still around, he kept track of what was going on with my mother, kept her from making any really bad medically related choices, and kept me in the information loop. Now that he is gone, it is different. So, I really appreciate the input!

Depending on her exact medical condition and the characteristics of her breathing problems, she might get away with just oxygen. Yes, is she stops breathing for 45 seconds 40 times an hour, O2 won't help. If she has short apneas, hypopneas, hypoventillation, etc., O2 might help. O2 might even help some people with some forms of central apnea.

It's also possible she doesn't have apnea, but some other breathing problem and it just wasn't clearly explained to her. She may have gone for a "sleep apnea" test, and they found some other problem.

However, some sort of screwup is also possible. Lots of medical people think O2 is an alternative to CPAP when it isn't.