Helpful Information and Stories About Oxygen Therapy

Another Way Oxygen Therapy Can Save Your Heart

It’s a fact that our whole bodies need oxygen to stay alive, and we need a certain amount to stay healthy and live a long life. Every cell needs oxygen, with it being even more important for 2 organs specifically – our brains, and our hearts. These two organs work harder than anything else to keep us going and running properly, and if our lungs can’t bring in enough oxygen, this is when we need to use oxygen therapy. If we aren’t getting enough oxygen to our hearts, it will eventually result in heart failure, as well as a number of other health problems.

It’s not just lung diseases that can create the need for oxygen therapy. Recently, a professor at the school of medicine in Dartmouth, New Hampshire observed that oxygen therapy can prevent cell death in the muscles around the heart after a heart attack.

December 6, 2013April 7, 2021 Scott Ridl

Conditions that Oxygen Therapy is Used to Treat

Usually, when you see someone using oxygen therapy, what comes to your mind? Many people associate oxygen tanks and concentrators with someone who has a severe case of COPD (emphysema or chronic bronchitis), but this isn’t always the case. There is a stigma over those who need to use oxygen – “He/She smoked too many cigarettes and now needs to use oxygen therapy.” Even if they need to use it because they have COPD, people shouldn’t be so judgmental. There are several other reasons someone may be using an oxygen concentrator.

July 18, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

Miscellaneous Things You Need While Using Oxygen Therapy

When using oxygen therapy, there will be other things you’ll find yourself needing besides just your oxygen concentrator. The miscellaneous accessories you need with the use of an oxygen concentrator will make your life easier and generally give you more peace of mind. These things contribute to your safety, first and foremost.

Pulse oximeter: It’s helpful to be able to check your blood oxygen level at any point during the day, without having to visit your doctor or an emergency clinic. If you have been having trouble and you suspect a exacerbation is coming on, you can tell if you need to seek medical attention right away if your blood oxygen level has dropped. By keeping an eye on this, an exacerbation can be quickly treated before it worsens, or your doctor might be able to up your dosage of oxygen.

April 21, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

How Oxygen Therapy Can Improve Poor Circulation

If you have COPD or another breathing problem, you might find yourself getting cold when everyone else is hot, or getting numbness in your hands, feet, or other parts of your body in your extremities. These are classic signs of poor circulation, but if you haven’t been specifically diagnosed with this by your doctor, you will need to pay him or her a visit, since these symptoms can also be signs of other health problems, as well.

Even mild COPD can affect your blood circulation, so if you are not already on oxygen therapy, your doctor might decide that this will help your COPD, and your poor circulation at the same time, instead of putting you on more drugs. Keep in mind that when oxygen is prescribed to you by a doctor, it is considered a drug, even though it doesn’t bring with it the side effects of other medications. You have to treat it just like a prescribed medication, which means not changing the flow of the oxygen yourself.

April 14, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

Talking to People About Oxygen Therapy

If someone has never seen an oxygen concentrator before, they will likely be very curious about it. Sometimes, because of a lack of understanding and/or knowledge, someone might look at it and think that you have some sort of communicable disease, or assume that you only brought it on yourself with years and years of smoking. People who think this way are simple misinformed and it might help them understand if you are educated enough to explain it to them.

April 12, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

New to Oxygen Therapy? Here are Some Things You Should Know

Oxygen therapy can be used to treat a number of different conditions, but in any case, oxygen therapy is used when not enough oxygen is being absorbed by the tissues of the body through the lungs and the bloodstream. The condition of not having an adequate amount of oxygen in the blood is referred to as hypoxemia. The most common diseases that have an effect on the level of oxygen in the blood are COPD (Chronic Obstructed Pulmonary Disease), asthma and cystic fibrosis.

If you are prescribed oxygen therapy, it was because you can’t get enough oxygen to your bloodstream because of an illness or injury, and it would benefit you to be administered a pure amount of oxygen for a certain amount of time, and at a certain flow amount. Your doctor will determine exactly how much oxygen you need and prescribe it to you. This is why it’s so important for you to not change the the settings on your oxygen at any time.

March 20, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

Things That Oxygen Therapy Can Help

You breathe without thinking about it, but this is a bodily function that is extremely important. When you take a breath, the tiny alveoli in inside your lungs absorb the oxygen. When you exhale, carbon dioxide is breathed out. Tiny blood vessels then absorb the oxygen from the alveoli so it can be distributed throughout the rest of your body. Every bit of your body needs oxygen to live and function properly.

March 10, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

Share your COPD and Oxygen Therapy Experiences with Others

When people find out that they or a loved one has been diagnosed with a chronic disease such as COPD, they tend to start learning as much about it as they can. They might go to the library or buy books on the subject, or take to the internet and search for as much information as they can find.

People will often search for ways to combat the disease with medicines or alternative means. They will have many questions, and sometimes the best person to answer them is, is someone who has plenty of personal experience with the disease and its treatments.

February 16, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

Why Does My Doctor Say I Need Oxygen Therapy?

Like any other prescription from your doctor, oxygen has been deemed necessary and is considered a medicine that you need to be taking to keep your body healthy. Your doctor has found out that the oxygen levels in your blood are much lower than they should be, either when you are at rest or moving and doing things.

February 6, 2013August 27, 2020 Scott Ridl

How to Avoid the Risks of Oxygen Therapy

As long as it is administered properly, it’s rare to experience any major side effects from using oxygen therapy. Everything that is mostly beneficial, any type of treatment for an illness, can have its share of drawbacks and possible dangers.

Just jogging every day would be great for your hear and lungs, but it might be causing damage to your knees. You could be getting a great exercise from playing tennis, but your elbow is now in pain. There is a good side and bad side to everything. Many of the problems you might face with oxygen therapy can be prevented, however. You just need to know what to watch out for and what you can do to avoid them.

February 5, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

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