Oxygen Treatment ?

[sharongannon123]

Hello Friends,
I've been powerstorming lately. My son Kevin who has CF is 18 years old. He's having a tough year with lung function. I've been wondering how about some oxygen therapy ? he's not on oxygen and does not need oxygen right now . His pft's are in the 60-70's range. But wouldn't it make sense to "help out" his lungs and his energy level by having oxygen available at our house for him to take a "hit" of in the morning when he gets up for a jolt of quick energy , when he gets home from school, to perk him up enough to have something to eat and go outside and play basketball instead of him going to bed for 2-3 hours every day after school ? Wouldn't the extra oxygen give him the "kick" he needs to give him the strength and desire to go and exercise, thereby increasing his lung function in the long wrong? Also doesn't oxygen make you feel "good" and his current lack of regular amount of oxygen is making him sick and tired all the time leading to sadness? He does not drink or do drugs either. I'm just wondering, all over the world I am seeing these "oxygen" businesses/clubs where people go and do a hit of oxygen to get "high" and it's totally HEALTHY so why wouldn't this be used for CF folks and people with lung problems BEFORE they have to GO ON the oxygen every day. Is this way out in left field or does this make sense to anyone? I emailed his doctor about it couple of times and he never responds so maybe my thinking is crazy or that it's already been discussed or used and found to not be helpful (although I would find that surprising). Anyone else every think about this idea? You see when he was diagnosed at 11 days old 18 years ago in 1994, I started reading books/articles about CF (this was before internet) , and at the time said to many people "if they lack salt in their system and lungs, why can't they find a way to transfer cleaned salt water from the ocean into their blood thru transfusion, or inhale salt water, or quite simply, drink salt water, and I was looked at like I was crazy. Now hypertonic Saline is used ALL THE TIME........so my idea about oxygen treatment can't be that far fetched can it ? Please I would love comments and responses to this to see if anyone else considers this a good idea . I hope to hear back from you. Thanks for listening.......... Sharon Mother of Kevin

 

[Twistofchaos]

Hi Sharon,

The saturation levels/oxygen levels in our blood or body go up and down continuously depending on what we do, how we're breathing and so on. And so taking a "hit" of oxygen will have only a very short lasting effect.
Also if his lungs are luckily still in good shape then his body is already taking in enough oxygen. His saturations will be at or near 100% most of the time and his body can't take in much more.
Worse, with healthy-ish lungs breathing in high concentrations of oxygen for any length of time is slightly dangerous to various tissues around the body. Because strange as this might sound, oxygen is slightly poisonous. And so our bodies are adapted to the ~20% oxygen found in the air and not for breathing in the ~70% or even 100% oxygen found in concentrators and bottles which leads to too high concentrations of oxygen going around the body with various harmful effects if exposed for too long. (Hyperoxia, the opposite of Hypoxia.)
Till our lungs give out and we run seriously short of oxygen all the time and that's when we need to start breathing in higher concentrations of oxygen.

No, those wacky oxygenbars are not healthy for healthy people and hold the same risks as I just described. But ofcourse "fashionable" things are usually wacky.

I'm sorry to have to be negative about your idea but it's very good to see you are thinking of ways to make life better for your son.

 

[Beccamom]

Has your son done a test for exercise toleration? I'm not sure how it is done, but maybe he needs oxygen when he exercises? What about his vitamin levels and\or CFRD?

Best wishes