Oxygen Therapy at Home

This post is only made for general information ,always contact a register physician or professional prior if you may/think you require oxygen therapy at home. Also make sure to contact your supplier for any required care towards your oxygen device. Oxygen therapy at home If you have a lung condition and your blood oxygen levels are always low, you may be given home oxygen therapy. We've put together this information to explain what home oxygen therapy entails.

What oxygen therapy is, why it's used as a treatment, and who can benefit from it?

Oxygen is a gas that all the cells in your body need to live. For all the work our bodies do, they need oxygen. Things like breaking down food, making muscles contract, or even just thinking.

If you have a lung condition and your blood oxygen level is too low, you may be given home oxygen therapy. This is done to raise these oxygen levels to satisfactory levels set by your health professional,one achieves this by breathing in air with more oxygen in it.

There are a few different kinds of oxygen therapy that can be done at home:

• Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) is used to keep oxygen levels stable for at least 15 hours per day.

• Ambulatory oxygen therapy (AOT) helps you move around more. It can also be taken with you when you leave the house.

• Palliative oxygen therapy (POT) is used to help people at the end of their lives who have very low oxygen levels.

Who can be prescribed home oxygen therapy? One may be prescribed oxygen therapy for home use if you have been diagnosed with one, or a combination, of the following conditions and have constantly low blood oxygen levels:

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

• interstitial lung disease, which includes idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

• cystic fibrosis

• bronchiectasis

• pulmonary hypertension

• severe heart disease

• obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA)

You should be assessed by a Respiratory specialist, who will advise if extra oxygen is useful for your condition. Assessment may be done by monitoring your oxygen levels through a pulse oximeter, a non-invasive oxygen monitoring device. This may be done whilst the patient is rested and also during physical exertion such as walking. Arterial blood gases may also be taken to assess your oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

Different lung conditions need different treatments and oxygen prescriptions are tailored to your individual needs.

How will I be evaluated for oxygen therapy at home?

Once you've been referred, a respiratory specialist is required to conduct the oxygen examination. There are many locations where this may occur. Sometimes a hospital's outpatient clinic may evaluate you.

During your oxygen evaluation, you will be questioned about your smoking habits and, if you currently smoke, offered advice and support to stop, since you cannot be smoking and have oxygen therapy due to the high risk of fire as oxygen is a highly flammable gas. Due to a handful of extremely dangerous (even deadly) cases, current guidelines highlight safety issues regarding smoking while receiving home oxygen therapy. Therefore, unless a smoker has undergone a program of treatment and support to quit, it is not advised that home oxygen therapy be provided. Once they stop smoking, smokers who have low oxygen levels frequently find that their levels rise and they no longer require home oxygen. This is because smoking produces a poisonous chemical called carbon monoxide, which reduces the amount of oxygen accessible to the body's essential organs. By time this carbon monoxide will leave the body once you stop smoking , thus it is important to stop ; check out our smoking cessation page here.

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Oxygenation procsess in Malta. Once deemed that you would need the oxygen , and a form of oxygenation is prescribed, you will be directed to a supplier in Malta. Generally short burst oxygen therapy is supplied by a gas filling company called 'Poligas' , on the other hand long term oxygen therapy involves the use of (remove will give one the access to purchase) an oxygen concentrator. An oxygen concentrator would generate a higher concentration of oxygen thus increasing the percentage of inhaled oxygen in air. There are 2 main types which are the portable and stationary oxygen concentrators for home use. Oxygen delivery devices Once you acquire a oxygen gas tank/generator you would need an oxygen delivery device ,there are various oxygen delivery devices such a nasal cannulae, simple /normal oxygen face mask or a venturi mask. Generally the nasal cannulae are given or preferred by the patients needing oxygenation. Though your physician may require you to wear a facemask if you would require a higher percentage of inhaled oxygen(i.e:FiO2 ;fraction of inhaled oxygen).

Oxygen monitoring Your physician may also suggest that you buy a pulse oximeter , this medical device will help to assess your oxygenation percentage. This works by shining an infrared light through the capillaries to check oxygen levels.

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Safety Preacautions

1. Install smoke detectors in your home and make sure they are operational.

2. When using your equipment, refrain from smoking or allowing anybody else to do so nearby. Smoking will also greatly reduce the effectiveness of your oxygen therapy.

3. When using your equipment, avoid utilizing flammable liquids like cleaning solution, paint thinner, or aerosols.

4. Mantain a minimum distance of 3 meters between your device and any open flame such as a gas cooker or fireplace.

5. When using your device avoid using oil based emollients like vaseline and keep it at least 1.5meters from electrical devices such as hair dryer or television.