Message Boards for the CF Trust

Replies: 4 Pages: 1

Dawn

Posts: 29
From: Worcestershire
Registered: 06-Nov-2006

oxygen at home
Posted: 01-Dec-2006 23:41

Reply

hi, is it possible to get oxygen at home? or should I say how difficult is it to get it? My daughter feels that she could do with it when she is struggling to breathe, whih is usually a few times a day.

Angel

Posts: 491
From: London
Registered: 17-Feb-2004

Re: oxygen at home
Posted: 01-Dec-2006 23:49

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Hi Dawn,

Oxygen is available at home. Long term users often have a concentrator installed which generates its own oxygen, therefore doesn't run out. I think you can get it prescribed for the short term too, for example if someone has low sats due to a tough infection. When starting to use it long term most people with CF begin using it overnight only (as that is when stats tend to drop first).

Oxygen is a prescribed drug, so you would need to talk to your daughters team about this. They would also be best to advise if it would in fact help your daughter, or whether the breathlessness might be caused by a different problem such as restricted airways which could be alleviated by bronchodilators or something. Hope that helps a bit, and that your daughter feels better soon.

Dawn

Posts: 29
From: Worcestershire
Registered: 06-Nov-2006

Re: oxygen at home
Posted: 02-Dec-2006 11:28

Reply

Hi Angel, thanks for that. I will get her to have a word with her Consultant at Heartlands.
PS whats a bronchodilator?

Angel

Posts: 491
From: London
Registered: 17-Feb-2004

Re: oxygen at home
Posted: 02-Dec-2006 12:20

Reply

A bronchodilator (which I have probably spelt wrong

) is a medication which helps relax and open up the airways, so is used to combat things like tightness and wheeziness. Restricted airways can cause quite significant breathlessness which is why I mentioned them. Ventolin is a commonly used one, as is bricanyl. You can get them in inhaler or nebulised form. Hope that helps

softie

Posts: 1,070
From: Croydon, Surrey
Registered: 07-Feb-2004

Re: oxygen at home
Posted: 02-Dec-2006 13:51

Reply

There are three types of treatment for restricted airways:

Relievers: These are bronchodilators that open up the airways by "pretending" to be adrenalin. They work fast but don't last long, and are usually taken to relieve an "attack" of wheezing, or to open the airways before physio to make physio easier. These are inhaled.

Preventers: These are bronchodilators similar to relievers, but they work less fast and last longer. They may "pretend" to be hormones other than adrenalin. They are often inhaled but some are taken as tablets. They are usually taken twice a day, and keep the airways open all day.

Steroids: These get at the cause for the constriction:- An over-active immune reaction at the airways causes the muscles to tighten up and the lining of the airways to get puffy and inflamed. Steroids work by damping down this overreaction, relaxing the muscles and reducing the inflammation so the airways are less tight. Steroids have to be taken for several days before they start to work. Steroids come as inhalers which are usually taken twice a day for life, or as tablets which are given for a couple of weeks to deal with a serious episode of chronic wheeziness.

Richard.