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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Weird experience using O2..??
        
(Message started by: Cooked Brain on Apr 28^th, 2004, 4:02pm)

Title: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by Cooked Brain on Apr 28^th, 2004, 4:02pm

hello folks...

I have a question about using o2. I recently got it for the first time, been using it during this cluster for about a week (on averge an hour a day) now and have noticed something very weird last night.

While inhaling the oxygen half asleep I felt a light shaking sensation through my chest and neck, like someone was gently trying to wake me (and I was not dreaming ::)). No pain or discomfort, just very weird. I got worried when I felt this cause I have never had this kind of weird feeling.
Anyone had this before?

Also I am feeling kind of dizzy lately (since I start using the oxygen). Is this normal?

Any input will be greatly appreciated!

PFD&N

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by FZfan on Apr 28^th, 2004, 6:35pm

Are you saying you are breathing the o2 every hour or do you mean for a total of an hour in a day? And what flow rate are you using? When using o2 as an abortive you should breath pure o2 at a high flow rate for 20 minutes. If your h/a doesn't abort, turn the tank off and suffer, 'cause if o2 doesn't bring relief in 20 minutes, it's not going to work for that h/a. My experience has been it knocks most of them down, but not all of them.

You said you were inhaling the o2 while half asleep. I assume that means you are trying o2 as a preventative, since it would be impossible to be half-asleep while trying to abort an attack. Be aware that breathing too much pure o2 can be harmful to your lungs!! This could account for your experience. If you are going to try o2 as a preventative, do so under a doctor's care. In this case you would be breathing o2 at a low flow rate using a canola.

Oxygen is probably the safest thing you can try to treat clusters with, but even o2 has to be used properly to avoid damaging your lungs.

I went through over 30 e-tanks of o2 during my last cycle and never experienced any dizzyness. I used it to abort only, have never tried it as a preventative but I know there are a few folks here who have had success keeping the night attacks at bay by wearing a canola during sleep.

Dizzyness could be indicating something else or even something different going on. Definitely seek a doctor's advice.

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by HypnoticFreddy on Apr 28^th, 2004, 7:54pm

When I was given oxygen therapy in 2002, it was done improperly. I did not get a non-rebreathing mask, nor did I get a high flow rate gas regulator. Another key device you will need. Very simple, is a humidifier bottle.

This will ensure your lungs do not DRY out when administering oxygen. It is just a plastic bottle filled with water that the oxygen passes through before entering your lungs.

Also, from what I have learned here, it is generally not recommended to sleep with oxygen on. If you do, you are supposed to un-strap the mask. This way, naturally your body will roll over or the mask will be pushed off. Too much oxygen can be dangerous.

-Scott

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by mynm156 on Apr 28^th, 2004, 11:42pm

GUYS YOUR KILLING ME!!!

Lets try to get a couple of things down.

1: O2 Will NEVER HARM YOUR LUNGS!!! If your DR. said so They LIED!!! THE WORST CASE SENARIO IS WHILE USEING A NON-REBEARTHER SET UP YOU COULD AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME SUFFER FROM NITROGEN WASHOUT. Which would result in the collapsing of parts of your lungs. HOWEVER IN 15 YEARS EXPERENCE AS A RESPIRATORY THERAPIST I HAVE SEEN THIS TWICE!!!

2, AS FAR AS THE Dizziness and shakey feelings? This sounds more like Hyper ventilation. Our bodies breathe off its desire to have or get rid of CO2. When you blow off too much this results in the (DIZZINESS and othe sensations that U describe) However, It sounds as though you like me get little or no relief from O2.

Good Luck !!!!!

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by HypnoticFreddy on Apr 29^th, 2004, 12:16am

Ok this is from:

http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_treatments_cluster_attacks_000099_8.htm

Oxygen Treatment
Breathing pure oxygen (by face mask, for 15 minutes or less) is one of the most effective and safest treatments for cluster headaches and is often the first choice. Inhalation of oxygen raises blood oxygen levels and therefore relaxes constricted blood vessels. Between 57% and 93% of patients have found it to be beneficial. It should be noted that pure oxygen is toxic to the lungs when used for long durations.

and then from Ask Doc Greg right here from this website:

OXYGEN: It’s use, why it works, and why it can hurt

One of the features of cluster headaches, is that it is often very responsive to oxygen. The response can be only temporary, and not work at all in some people, but for many, it is a quick and painless way to treat acute attacks.

Oxygen is a medication controlled by the FDA. To get it, you need a prescription. There are people who work around this by getting oxygen intended for non-human consumption (i.e. welding, etc), but the users run the risk of it not being pure. The same restrictions are not present when making industry grade oxygen when compared to medical grade. Toxins, oil, etc, are not as closely monitored, and may be present. Beware.

Most people require high concentrations of oxygen to benefit them significantly. This is obtained at 8+ liters per minute flow through a mask. Relief is usually seen within a few minutes, but may only be partial. Removing the oxygen will often cause the headache to return.

Why does it work? Well, remember that cluster headaches are considered a vascular headache (actually much more involved than just vascular, but there is a definite vascular component to it). Many of the medications that relieve CHs cause constriction of the vessels in the brains (Ergotomines, Imitrex, etc), and oxygen is no different. The brain closely regulates how much oxygen it receives…and if the levels get too high, it clamps down the vessels to decrease the amount of blood flow. So, when you inhale high concentrations of oxygen, the brain says "Wow, too much," and starts to clamp down. This reaction happens to benefit those with cluster headaches.

So, can use of oxygen cause harm? Yes it can. Oxygen is actually very toxic to the lungs (as strange as that sounds). Concentrations above 21% (room air), cause damage. Small amounts of damage can be repaired. At large levels, though, the damage can cause permanent scarring.

Defining how much the human lung can tolerate without damage is still debated. In fact, some suggest that previous exposure to high dose oxygen can be protective (increases the production of the bodies defense mechanisms against free radicals such as oxygen). There has been good documentation, however, of lung damage done on patients exposed to high dose oxygen for extended periods of time, some as short as 24hours on 100% oxygen.

So, what does this mean? It means that the long term effects of using oxygen for treating CHs are not well known. It is advisable, however, to limit each exposure as much as possible, and not taking in oxygen unnecessarily, such as sleeping with it on.

I think you should at least read a little before making such statements!

-Scott

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by Roxy on Apr 29^th, 2004, 1:47pm

on 04/29/04 at 00:16:50, HypnoticFreddy wrote:

There are people who work around this by getting oxygen intended for non-human consumption (i.e. welding, etc), but the users run the risk of it not being pure. The same restrictions are not present when making industry grade oxygen when compared to medical grade. Toxins, oil, etc, are not as closely monitored, and may be present. Beware.

I'm sorry, but this is bullshit. My medical supply fills their tanks at the welding shop where I get my 02.

YOU CAN'T WELD WITHOUT PURE 02!!

It is the same stuff....no difference.

I don't want people to be scared away from welding 02 when they get can't a prescription for 02 through their doctor.

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by HypnoticFreddy on Apr 29^th, 2004, 2:46pm

Naw I was just saying, there is danger in oxygen as there is danger in water or danger in crossing the street.

Yes, if you can't get a script from a doc, the welding option is good. I am not against that by any means.

-Scott

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by jonny on Apr 29^th, 2004, 4:06pm

on 04/29/04 at 00:16:50, HypnoticFreddy wrote:

The same restrictions are not present when making industry grade oxygen when compared to medical grade. Toxins, oil, etc,

Oil, OIL?....in welding 02?....LMMFAO!!!

Whoever wrote that is out of their fucking mind and has never even seen a cutting torch...What a joke!

Yeah, I get some really nice cuts with the oil shooting through the flame of my torch.....BUAHHHH ;;D

.....................................jonny

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by Cooked Brain on Apr 29^th, 2004, 4:22pm

thanks for all your input guys!

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by HypnoticFreddy on Apr 29^th, 2004, 4:37pm

Yeah that statement that seems to have angered a few was from The University of Maryland. I would like to think that would be a good source of info, but......'tis life.

-Scott

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by mynm156 on May 2^nd, 2004, 11:27pm

Cooked Brain,

You'r best bet is to talk to your Doc. about these side effects you feel and see what they have to say about it.

Good Luck with that.

PS
Scott

I not only did "at least a little reading" about oxygen therapy. I got a degree in it, past my national board exams and became licensed in two different states to practice Respiratory Therapy. I wont imply that you dont know what your are talking about if you dont imply that I dont. We all suffer from these and we are all different in how we treat them. What works for you might not work for me and vice versa.

Good luck in your quest to beat the beast.

MYNM156

Title: Oxygen as Prophalaxis
Post by pamstroud on Jul 5^th, 2004, 1:00am

on 04/28/04 at 18:35:30, FZfan wrote:

If you are going to try o2 as a preventative, do so under a doctor's care. In this case you would be breathing o2 at a low flow rate using a canola.

I was on vacation the last 2 weeks of my last cycle, and for the first time got a rx for oxygen. However, the doc apparently didn't bother to look up the dosage when I asked for it, and I wound up with a machine that pulls oxygen from the air, maxium rate 5 liters, about 98% oxygen. I didn't have internet access so could not check on what the dosage should be but figured out pretty quick that this would never abort a real CH. Fortunately 400 mg of Topomax had brought the CHs down to a manageable level so it was just enough to abort if I sucked it right out off the hose.

However, I used it as a preventative and shadow buster by just breathing in the nearly imperceptible flow through the nose thing. It worked pretty well. Plus there are no tanks to get filled.

I did, BTW, feel some chest tightness/discomfort but I think that's because I was having panic attacks.

Pam

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by ave on Jul 5^th, 2004, 11:34am

Oops, I don't have a degree in Oxygen Therapy. Never had any probl. using O2 either.

BUT - there are a number of posts on this board about people putting on their mask and starting to breath Oxygen, then waking up a long time after with an empty tank and very, very sore lungs.

It may well be that Mynm is right and it is not dangerous, but from the descriptions I got the firm impression that it hurt a lot.

Then there's the problem of an empty tank and the next attack looming.

So the advice here is always: cut the strap on the mask, so that you have to hold it in place - no chance of dropping off then.

Title: Re: Weird experience using O2..??
Post by pamstroud on Jul 5^th, 2004, 8:56pm

That would apply to using the tank, at 7+ rate. I used the machine, which never runs out, at 5-, and used no mask, just the nose thing.