I am not asking for medical advice. I’m under a doctor’s care (primary and specialists) but want to know how others’ recoveries have been like because mine seems to be going so slowly. After a few weeks of a hacking, productive cough, my doctor ordered an x-ray that showed pneumonia. I came home from the hospital eight days ago with an oxygen canister (set at two liters) that I wheel around the house, plus some small tanks for trips outside the home. I’m to see my pulmonologist but couldn’t get through to his office last week. Apparently, it’s difficult to predict how recovery will go; one of my nurses (age thirty-something) said she’d had pneumonia and it took two months to get over it. Since age seems to be a factor, I have to confess that I am in my sixties.
I’m on the oxygen most of the time, but take 30 minutes to an hour without it to do some household chores (no heavy lifting), after which I feel like I need to go back on the oxygen. I don’t know if this “need” to get back on the oxygen is genuine or psychological. I wish I had an oximeter, as that would help reassure me. I’ll talk to the pulmonologist about this, but in my general experience, he’ll tell me to go by how I feel. I don’t how I feel – do I need oxygen or is it just a crutch because I’m afraid I won’t be able to breathe? More pertinent info: 30-year smoker, quit 15 years ago; x-rays have not revealed any other pulmonary issues.
Do you have COPD, chronic bronchitis, emphysema or asthma? If not, then yes, go by how you feel. Oxygen for people without COPD isn’t really subject to abuse or getting hooked on. Keep it at the prescribed level, of course, but if you feel short of breath, then use it.
You can buy simple pulse oximeters at the drug store - look over by the blood glucose meters and blood pressure cuffs. Some people find them comforting, others find that they make them more anxious. You know better than I which type you are.
For what it’s worth, you sound like you’re about where I’d expect you to be in your recovery.
You could buy a Peak Flow Meter at a local pharmacy. I have asthma and I’d have to say that sometimes it is psychological and measuring my breathing helps me determine if I do need to use my puffer or not.
Are those actually available OTC? Last time I looked at those online, the websites all said “prescription required”. Which is sort of silly - I mean, anyone who knows enough to use a PFM is most likely under a doctor’s care.
Do people with COPD tend to abuse oxygen??? I had not hear this (then again, you have medical training and I don’t…).
I do know that pneumonia can leave you wiped out for quite a while. I’ve never had it, though I’ve had some pretty nasty bouts of bronchitis with an asthma flare, and those can leave me trashed for several weeks.
You should definitely discuss with the doctor to find out his experiences with patients using supplemental oxygen after discharge. But yeah - use it as much as you feel you need to to be comfortable and get good rest.
When I bought mine many years ago, I just went to the pharmacy and picked one up. I’m in Canada so maybe it’s different up here. Also it was so long ago, maybe they now are only available with prescription.
Never mind - I think in the US they’re available OTC as well now (I just checked Allergy Control Products’ website). I do remember seeing this in the past, however, and some others may still ask for them, and also it may require a prescription if you want to try to get it covered by insurance.
I always got them from the doctor’s office (they usually have a stash to give out - I assume it got billed as part of the visit).
/hijack :).
They are available onlineand in stores, no Rx required.
Well, they don’t “abuse” it like it’s a drug, but it can theoretically cause them to stop breathing at high doses.
It’s got to do with the mechanism that makes you take a breath. For you and I, when the sensors which sense that carbon dioxide is too high in our body are triggered, we take a breath. Some patients with COPD, on the other hand, *always *have too much carbon dioxide in their bodies. Air gets stuck down in there and can’t be expelled efficiently and so carbon dioxide builds in the blood. Those carbon dioxide sensors get overstimulated and the diaphragm and lungs of the person with COPD start to ignore them.
Luckily, our respiratory drive has a back up plan: There are other sensors which sense low oxygen, not high carbon dioxide. So if a person with COPD has his “low oxygen” sensors triggered, he’ll take a breath. Which is great, and keeps them breathing…unless you give them too much oxygen. Then the “low oxygen” sensors won’t be triggered and the “high carbon dioxide” sensors are shot, so there’s nothing left to trigger the person’s diaphragm to move and lungs to take a breath.
People with COPD can and do use oxygen, but they have to be careful to stay in the correct prescribed parameters for oxygen use, or they may not breathe often enough or even stop breathing entirely. So I wouldn’t say, “if you feel like you need it, use it” to a COPD patient, because it’s more complicated than that for them.
Now, this theory has recently been called into question by some new studies, and it’s possible that it’s all bullocks and there’s no need to worry about or limit oxygen use in patients with COPD. But current best practices still include careful monitoring and restriction of oxygen for COPD patients, so I’ve got to stick with that until something shifts in nursing care practices.
Whether I had, or have, COPD isn’t clear to me. When I smoked, I could count on a bout of bronchitis once a year, and that’s all. No bronchitis since I stopped smoking 15 years ago. BTW, when I last saw my primary care doc, she said that my mucus showed fungus (yeast) in my lungs. She gave me a prescription for that, so perhaps that was the culprit. Today, I went to the grocery store – I put the small travel oxygen canister in the car, but didn’t take it in the store with me. I was in the store for only about half an hour and had no problem (but it stayed on my mind). Trying to be objective about it, I do believe I’m improving day-by-day and simply need to not over do it. Also, I need to see the pulmonolgist, who wants to do another CT scan, but I’ve been putting it off because one of my cats needs life-saving surgery and she’s my #1 priority at this point. Thanks everyone for your thoughts.
If you’re not sure if you have COPD, then just stay in the prescribed range and you should be fine. And when you see your pulmonologist, do ask him if you have COPD. If you ever go into the ER with a breathing issue, it’s important that they know. (In addition to the oxygen thing, there are certain medicines we shouldn’t give to people with COPD.)
So sorry to hear about your cat. What a rough week you’re having! 
I had pneumonia twice in my 30’s. To put it bluntly, it sucked balls - I felt more winded after the actual infection was declared 'gone". It took over a month to feel normal.
Now I’m 52 and would imagine it sucking even worse. You have my sympathy and I wish you a speedy recovery.
Whynot and BwanaBob: Thank you very much! That helps. I couldn’t get an appointment with the pulmonologist until the last week of this month. So I guess I’ll stay on the oxygen (intermittently) until Medicare won’t pay for it anymore.