Before Starting Oxygen Therapy
What is Oxygen Therapy?
Oxygen therapy—or supplemental oxygen—is a medical treatment prescribed to you by your doctor if you can’t get enough of it on your own.
Oxygen can be stored in a tank, or pulled from the air around you by a concentrator, and is delivered through a mask or nasal prongs.
Not everybody with COPD needs oxygen therapy, and not everyone who uses oxygen will need to use it all the time. Your doctor will run diagnostic tests with you to determine what dose of oxygen you need and how often you should take it. More information about diagnostic testing getting a prescription for oxygen therapy is in the section below.
In this Article
How Oxygen Therapy Can Help with COPD Getting a Prescription for Oxygen Therapy What You Can Do Today
How Oxygen Therapy Can Help with COPD
COPD can make breathing more difficult because over time, the tiny air sacs in your lungs become damaged or destroyed. This can exacerbate feelings of breathlessness and make doing some activities more difficult.
Oxygen therapy can help alleviate your symptoms and improve your quality of life. For example, oxygen therapy can help improve your energy, concentration, mood and ability to exercise. Using your oxygen as prescribed can also protect your heart health and increase your life expectancy.
Not using oxygen therapy as prescribed can raise your risk of heart problems and lead to high blood pressure in your lungs.
Getting a Prescription for Oxygen Therapy
If you’re worried about your oxygen level, the first step is to speak with your healthcare provider. Let them know what your oxygen saturation levels are and how much shortness of breath you are experiencing.
Your doctor will then order diagnostic testing to determine whether oxygen therapy is right for you.
Diagnostic Testing
There are two commonly prescribed tests. A pulse oximeter measures oxygen saturation. An arterial blood gas (ABG) test takes a sample of blood from an artery, usually in your wrist, to measure oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
An ABG result of less than 55 mg of oxygen in your blood usually means that you need oxygen therapy. The same is true if the pulse oximeter shows your oxygen saturation level is at or below 88%. Of course, these thresholds might be different if you have another heart or lung condition.
Your Prescription
When you receive a prescription for oxygen therapy, the amount you should take will be listed in liters per minute.
Your provider may also tell you how much oxygen you should use at different levels of oxygen saturation. If your provider doesn’t include these instructions on your prescription, be sure they write it down for you on your My COPD Action Plan or another safe place.
Your prescription will probably not be sent to you, but to the durable medical equipment (DME) company that will provide your oxygen.
If you decide to purchase your own oxygen equipment, make sure your device is FDA approved and FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approved. Buying equipment that is FAA approved will make it much easier for you to travel with your oxygen.
What You Can Do Today
- Talk to your healthcare provider or Wellinks care team about the benefits of oxygen and what you should or should not expect from using oxygen as prescribed.
- Pay attention to times that you are short of breath and start using your pulse oximeter to check your oxygen saturation.