What You Should Know About Using Oxygen At Home

If you have a chronic lung disease such as emphysema, you may eventually need to wear oxygen so you can breathe more easily. A respiratory therapist or other healthcare professional will set up the equipment you need and teach you how to care for it. You will probably have a big unit for your home and a small portable unit for when you leave the house. Here is some information you need to know:

Home Oxygen Units

Your doctor will prescribe the type of oxygen unit you'll need. There's a choice between liquid oxygen and an oxygen concentrator. Concentrators are a common choice because they are easy to use and care for. Concentrators are machines that pull in room air and concentrate it so they can deliver oxygen. Instead of storing oxygen, they make it on the spot. To do this, they need a constant power supply.

To make sure you'll have oxygen in case of a power failure, you'll need to keep a small oxygen cylinder at your home too. These store oxygen and do not need power to operate. A cylinder has a meter on top that let you know how much oxygen is in the tank. You always want to keep track of the amount of oxygen you have left, so you can have the tank switched out before it gets too low.

Using Home Oxygen

Oxygen is a drug, and you need a doctor's order to buy it from a medical supply company for your home. Your doctor also prescribes the amount of oxygen you are to use. It's important you don't change the setting when you get short of breath unless your doctor has told you it's okay to do so. It's also important to keep wearing your oxygen even when you feel better if you're supposed to wear it all the time. Your doctor may tell you to wear the oxygen at all times, just at night, or only when you feel short of breath.

Oxygen can be annoying to wear. The part that fits in your nose is uncomfortable until you get used to it. It might make your nose sore. Oxygen is also very dry so you may develop a dry mouth and throat unless you use a humidifier on the concentrator. If you have problems like this, consult your doctor or respiratory therapist for a solution rather than leaving your oxygen off.

Staying Safe With Home Oxygen

A oxygen concentrator is very safe to have in your home. You don't have to worry about it exploding. However, oxygen adds fuel to a flame. That means a flame will blossom into a fire very quickly in the presence of oxygen. Therefore, you want to stay away from a gas stove, equipment that could spark, a fireplace, and cigarettes when you're wearing oxygen. You also need to protect the backup oxygen cylinders because they are gas under pressure. Store them in the appropriate stands so they don't get knocked over. Keep them where you can reach a cylinder in case of emergency, but make sure they are out of the reach of kids and pets.

Also make sure you don't create a tripping hazard with your equipment. You can roll the concentrator around the room, but it must be plugged into the wall. The cannula that fits in your nose is a long tube that runs from you to the oxygen concentrator. Both the plug and the cannula can cause you to trip if you get tangled in them, especially at night when you can't see well.

When you first bring oxygen into your home, you and your family will have a period of adjustment to go through, but you'll quickly find it's easy to live with oxygen. Being careful becomes second nature, and you'll even be able to wear your portable oxygen in public without concerns. The benefit you get of being able to breathe easier and move around without getting exhausted is well worth learning to live with an oxygen device.

To learn more, contact a company like Corner Medical.