The following article shares the information of home oxygen therapy in question answer format which can be understood by every body. In today’s era home oxygen therapy is advicated in many lung diseases and we all need to know about it.

HOME OXYGEN

Everybody Needs Oxygen:

Oxygen is essential for life. One of the reasons why life exists on earth and not on mars or on moon is because earth’s atmosphere contains 21% of oxygen.Our lungs inhale the atmospheric air through the nose. In the lung, there are air sacs (about 30 crores of them) called alveoli, which transfer oxygen into blood. Of course we all know that blood carries oxygen from lungs to every little organ, tissue and cell of the body.

Lungs with severe Disease can’t perform well:

Lungs have a very remarkable reserve capacity to withstand the onslaught of disease. But when the extent of lung disease is large, the lungs are unable to perform well and thus are unable to transfer enough oxygen in blood. These include disease like chronic bronchitis & emphysema caused by tobacco smoke, diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, chronic persistent severe asthma and some cases of lung cancer.

When is home oxygen prescribed?

Normally arterial bloods (‘the good blood’) contain about 90 units of oxygen (90mmHg in scientific term. But in some of the diseases as mentioned earlier, inspite of all the drugs (eg. Antibiotic & other medicines like bronchodilators) the lungs may be unable to sustain an oxygen level of 90 units in blood. As disease advance & physiological derangement worsens the blood oxygen level may fall to less than 60 units! At this point the person suffer from sustained breathlessness, aggravated further even by slightest of the activity like shaving, combing hair, walking a few steps, eating etc.,

What are the effects of low oxygen in blood?

Low oxygen in blood is called Hypoxia by doctor. Apart from producing breathlessness, rapid breathing
Palpitation anxiety, the person will also experience intense lethargy, fatigue (tiresomeness) initability, incoherent talk etc., low oxygen also increase the work load on the heart which eventually in unable to perform it’s pumping action well. What is most important to remember is that low oxygen levels in blood eventually affect the quality of life & length of life span.

What is Home Oxygen?

In the earlier year oxygen was given to patients only in the hospitals, later, several well-planned scientific studies showed that quality & quantity of life can be improved dramatically by using oxygen at home.

How long should one use Oxygen?

This question will basically be answered by the concerned doctor, but generally use of oxygen at home is life long.

How many hours in a day?

There were several scientific studies on this issue & expert finally concluded that Oxygen for 8 hours is good, Oxygen for 15 hours is better but Oxygen for 24 hours is best.


How can I get oxygen at home?

There are three way of using oxygen at home:

A) OXYGEN CYLINDERS: You are familiar with its appearance & use. An average cylinder runs about 48 hrs if you use at 2 liters per minutes, but may get exhausted sooner if you use at the rate of 4 liters per minutes.

Advantages: The only advantage of Oxygen cylinder is the easy availability & low initial investment ( refundable deposit of Rs. 5000/- to 1000/- : Cylinder refilling Rs.350 Per cylinder:rent for cylinder Rs. 5/- Per day: Transportation charges (eg Auto )Rs. 50/- to 100/- each time.

Disadvantage:
1. Need for frequent refilling
2. Hassles of transporting
3. Explosion hazards
4. Un predictability (you never know when the cylinder gets exhausted.
5. Huge expenditure ( appox. Rs. 70000/- per year) in the long run.

B) OXYGEN CONCENTRATOR: Are machines, which run on electricity, & has very specialized high efficiency compressors, to extract oxygen from atmosphere & concentrate to 95% pure gas. Its weight about 22 Kg & has caster wheels for easy mobility.
Advantage:
1) Safe, silent, Efficient & convenient
2) No recurrent Expenditure
3) No frequent hassles of transportation
4) Low maintenance cost

Disadventage:
1) Expensive Rs. 60000/-
2) Needs Electricity (although can run on car battery or inverter)

C) LIQUID OXYGEN: Packed in small tanks, the size of a large thermos flask. One refilling can run for almost 2 to 3 day.

Advantages:
Handy, portable, easy to use

Disadvantage:
1) Very expensive (exact cost known)
2) Not available in India

What about the mask etc:

Oxygen can be used through either a soft nasal prongs or a face mask

Nasal Prongs: Are easy to put on, light, convenient & more acceptable it allows you to eat, drink & talk.

Face mask: uncomfortable to wear for long hours. Ideally suited for use at nights.