Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to Air: The Breath of Life
Posted 01-27-2009 at 05:01 PM by linicx
I cared for lung patients for many years. I still do. Over the years I learned things that are not usually mentioned in traditional articles, and decided this blog might be a place to share. If you've been there and done that. skip this information. If you have not, this is a good place to start.
The number one thing to remember is the dial on a concentrator is not a toy for children or the curious to fiddle with. The litre flow is dicatated by the doctor and the condition of the lungs. Too much oxygen can kill. Do not change the concentrator setting without your doctors permission.
When I sold my house I made the mistake of leaving the concentrator in plain sight. I expected parents with children to have sense, but they do not. When I returned my patient says, "I think I am getting too much air". Sure enough the little kid twisted the dial and the liter flow had been changed from 2 to 9!
I do not pretend to know how lungs work but I do know that when lungs begin to fail - regardless of the cause, the air volume slowly decreasesis which is why lung patients can do less physically before becoming 'short of breath'. It is also more diffiult to breathe deeply which is why oxygen by portable tank or concentrator is used as a suppliment.
Regardless of whether a patient breathes through the mouth or through a "cannula" in the nose, the oxygen equipment provides a steady metered flow of life.
The biggest problems associated with the cannula - the plasitic device that inserts in the nose, drapes over the ears and coneects to oxygen equqipment - are the nose and the ears.
The plastic tubing can rub the ears and make them sore. All of the Home Health companies offer small foam sleeves to wrap around the plasic tubing to provide relief to the ears. Others
like Lincare also offer cannulas with the foam sleeves already attached. I personally like this better as the foam does not slip off during sleep as the other sleeves do. It is the same sleeve, but with the later thee is no way to remove the sleeves. .
The cannula presents a special problem because it is a hard, inflexible, plasic that can cause a nose bleed. "Nasal Ayr", was developed specifically to treat nasal problems. It is inexpensive and most every pharmacy has it or can get it.
The problem with a nose bleed is blood. Regardless of what the nose is doing, the patient still needs that oxygern. Cut off the cannula and stick the oxygen tube in the patients mouth. And don't forget to open a new cannula when patient returns to normal. The one you just cut up is NOT re-usable; throw it away. My personal policy is to leave my patient - the one I married - on the mouth tube for at least an hour so that the blood clots in the nose will form and begin to dry. In this case dry clots = a healthy nose. Continued bleeding - especially if the flow is heavy - needs medical intervention. Keep tube in mouth and go. It is possible to "bleed out", but that is unlikely - even if your patient is also on a blood thinner, as mine is.
And for all you machanics out there.... oxygen tubing can be used under the hood, too.
The number one thing to remember is the dial on a concentrator is not a toy for children or the curious to fiddle with. The litre flow is dicatated by the doctor and the condition of the lungs. Too much oxygen can kill. Do not change the concentrator setting without your doctors permission.
When I sold my house I made the mistake of leaving the concentrator in plain sight. I expected parents with children to have sense, but they do not. When I returned my patient says, "I think I am getting too much air". Sure enough the little kid twisted the dial and the liter flow had been changed from 2 to 9!
I do not pretend to know how lungs work but I do know that when lungs begin to fail - regardless of the cause, the air volume slowly decreasesis which is why lung patients can do less physically before becoming 'short of breath'. It is also more diffiult to breathe deeply which is why oxygen by portable tank or concentrator is used as a suppliment.
Regardless of whether a patient breathes through the mouth or through a "cannula" in the nose, the oxygen equipment provides a steady metered flow of life.
The biggest problems associated with the cannula - the plasitic device that inserts in the nose, drapes over the ears and coneects to oxygen equqipment - are the nose and the ears.
The plastic tubing can rub the ears and make them sore. All of the Home Health companies offer small foam sleeves to wrap around the plasic tubing to provide relief to the ears. Others
like Lincare also offer cannulas with the foam sleeves already attached. I personally like this better as the foam does not slip off during sleep as the other sleeves do. It is the same sleeve, but with the later thee is no way to remove the sleeves. .
The cannula presents a special problem because it is a hard, inflexible, plasic that can cause a nose bleed. "Nasal Ayr", was developed specifically to treat nasal problems. It is inexpensive and most every pharmacy has it or can get it.
The problem with a nose bleed is blood. Regardless of what the nose is doing, the patient still needs that oxygern. Cut off the cannula and stick the oxygen tube in the patients mouth. And don't forget to open a new cannula when patient returns to normal. The one you just cut up is NOT re-usable; throw it away. My personal policy is to leave my patient - the one I married - on the mouth tube for at least an hour so that the blood clots in the nose will form and begin to dry. In this case dry clots = a healthy nose. Continued bleeding - especially if the flow is heavy - needs medical intervention. Keep tube in mouth and go. It is possible to "bleed out", but that is unlikely - even if your patient is also on a blood thinner, as mine is.
And for all you machanics out there.... oxygen tubing can be used under the hood, too.
Total Comments 0
