4 replies to this topic

[Jane M. Martin]

Good morning, all......

It's finally April in Michigan and although we're back to chilly weather and the threat of frost this week, spring is almost here! The tulips are blooming early and visitors - and their cameras - have come to our town.

I thought that this would be a good time to talk a bit about Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, commonly referred to as Alpha-1. Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency is a lung condition passed on genetically from parents to their children. So, yes, it is possible to have COPD if you never smoked.

If you have COPD, Asthma, or another obstructive lung disease, ask yourself these questions.....

-Are you age 20-50 and short of breath with little effort?

-Do you have asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or bronchiectasis?
-Did you quit smoking with no improvement?
-Do you have frequent lung infections?
-Do you have a family history of lung disease?
-Do you have cirrhosis of the liver without a history of alcohol?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, talk with your doctor about being tested for Alpha-1.

I'll be here today and checking in, so feel free to ask about Alpha-1 or anything else. That's what I'm here for!

Jane.

[Dee]

Good morning, Jane.

I have a question about oxygen saturation.

What would be a good oxygen saturation number when I have my oxygen on and am going to bed. I guess I'm asking what saturation is necessary to assure that my saturation won't fall too low. Is there any issues with having more than you need?

[Jane M. Martin]

Hi Dee,

Good question. Your oxygen saturation while sleeping depends a lot on how fast or slow you breathe and how deeply or shallowly you breathe during the night. The way to know for sure if you're at the right oxygen liter flow setting is if you have an overnight pulse oximetry check. This can be done quite easily by getting your oxygen equipment company to loan you a pulse oximeter overnight -- one with a finger clip that will stay on all night (you can usually get it to stay on by wrapping around it with medical tape) and a machine that will record your saturations and heart rate all through the night. Then you and your doctor can look at the print out and see how low you drop down, when, for how long, etc.

Issues with having more oxygen than you need? You may have heard that it can be dangerous to turn your liter flow up, and to tell you the truth, there is now some debate about it. Although, a person who is in a critical situation at the hospital should not have 100% oxygen flowing through a closed system mask or a ventilator for several days because that can cause something called "nitrogen wash-out" and that is not good.

I hope this helps, Dee. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Jane.

[Dee]

Thanks, Jane.

I have had the overnight oximetry test, and that led to the prescription of overnight O2. I checked my oxygen the other day when I got up and it was 100. I just thought that maybe I could do with a lower O2 setting. I did a little more research and found the following excerpt:

"Quoting Dr. Tom Petty (and it doesn’t get much better than that) from his book “Adventures of an Oxyphile” “Unfortunately, quite a few physicians believe or fear that oxygen use will cause retention of carbon dioxide. This is generally not true. The majority of patients using only a little supplementary oxygen just to correct the oxygen deficiency state, a saturation of above 90% but not greater than 96% will have no bearing on carbon dioxide level.”

Source:
http://www.oxyview.c...genTherapy.aspx

If I'm reading it correctly, I don't need to have such a high O2 reading.

[Jane M. Martin]

You know, Dee, oxygen needs do change over time -- and not always for the worse.

A couple questions....do you have the details of your initial overnight O2 test, and if so, how low did you go? That would be interesting to know.

When was that test done? Could it be that's it's time to repeat the test to see what your O2 needs are now? Maybe your O2 needs at night have changed due to a change in breathing pattern, etc.

I'm glad you have Dr. Petty's book on oxygen. Did you know that Adventures of an Oxyphile 2 is now available? Yes, I think you've read that correctly. We don't need high O2 Saturation readings to have enough oxygen in our blood.

It's interesting to know that all of us, here on Earth, breathe about 21% oxygen in the atmosphere. If you are wearing a 2 liter per minute (lpm) nasal cannula, you are getting a total of about 28% oxygen. So, as you see, many people don't need all that much extra - just a little bit.

Hope this helps!

Jane.