Matty,

If you're having trouble breathing and your lungs hurt after using oxygen therapy to abort your cluster headaches...  see your doctor.  These symptoms are not consistent with oxygen therapy use unless there's another co-morbid condition present.

Under normal conditions, oxygen therapy is very safe...  Far safer I might add, than taking sumatriptan or verapamil with all their side effects.  You would need to breathe 100% oxygen for up to 12 hours continuously without any breaks breathing room air to start feeling the symptoms of pulmonary oxygen toxicity.  The sensations are very similar to pneumonia with sharp pains when you inhale.  Even then these symptoms are reversible and will go away after a few minutes breathing normal air.

I'm an old Navy fighter pilot with over 3000 hours flight time flying jets on and off aircraft carriers.  All of that flight time was spent breathing 100% oxygen from takeoff to touchdown on missions lasting over two hours and some as long as 7.  I'm chronic and I've also been using oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation (≥25 liters/minute) for 5 years...  I'm still here and doing just fine at 65...

A bubbler/humidifier will not work work properly above a flow rate of 15 liters/minute.  Instead of humidifying the dry oxygen, flow rates greater than 15 liters/minute create an aerosol of water mist that will fill your oxygen mask reservoir bag causing bacteria an mold buildup, and it will put too much water into your lungs.

If your mouth gets dry during oxygen therapy, keep a glass of ice water or your favorite cold beverage handy and take frequent sips to keep your mouth wet.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Matty,

Thanks for the kind words.  Sometimes getting old and learning from mistakes as well as staying on a problem until you have a solution has some advantages... 

From your description, it sounds like the irritation is more in your trachea and bronchus.  Taking frequent sips of ice water should help.  The oxygen will pick up water vapor from this moisture as it passes through your mouth and that should ease the irritation.

Coughing is a normal initial reaction to the dryness of compressed oxygen or air and another condition called atelectasis. 

Cells lining the lung's alveoli, the trachea and bronchus all react to the dryness of compressed oxygen by secreting slightly more fluid.  Coughing due to the dryness usually takes place as we start to inhale oxygen and it can last 10 to 15 seconds.  Even the mouth has a similar reaction with increased saliva flow. 

I'm almost like Pavlov's dog when it comes to oxygen therapy...  My mouth starts to water as soon as I place the oxygen mouthpiece to my mouth even before I start inhaling the oxygen.  I used to have something similar happen when SCUBA diving so would take a few gulps of air to check the regulator and clear any coughing before entering the water.

The second reason some of us cough each time we start breathing 100% oxygen, atelectasis, occurs most frequently when awaken from sleep with an attack.  This coughing occurs when the lungs approach a fully inflated state and it's caused by local areas of the lungs where the alveoli have collapsed and are stuck in this condition due to mucus plugs.  Smokers tend to have more viscous mucus as a reaction to smoking, so are more prone to coughing due to atelectasis upon getting up in the morning and during the first few breaths of oxygen therapy. 

Atelectasis is characterized by an uncontrollable urge to cough as the alveoli start to reinflate upon awakening in the morning or during the first few breaths of oxygen as the lungs approach being fully inflated. 

The process of coughing re-inflates the remaining collapsed alveoli and this coughing clears as well within 10 to 15 seconds after starting oxygen therapy.

Nani, emphysema is one of the co-morbid medical conditions I was talking about and you appear to have worked out an effective procedure to use oxygen therapy at higher flow rates for your cluster headaches without aggravating your emphysema.  Good on you for sharing that with us.

The long-term treatment of emphysema and other COPD conditions also includes oxygen therapy as a supplement for low arterial oxygen levels, but at much lower flow rates.

Lance, during oxygen therapy, I breathe straight from the 22mm "T" fitting on the O2PTIMASK™ kit or the 22mm nipple on the demand valve.   I also exhale away from the device instead of using the exhaust valve.

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I find this method gives me the highest concentration of oxygen without any cross-contamination caused by inhaling exhaled breath that's highest in carbon dioxide that remains in the manifold if you exhale through the exhaust port.

As you can also see from sticky with a tally of my aborts in this photo of my oxygen kit, I managed 30 aborts with one M-sized oxygen cylinder using oxygen flow rates that support hyperventilation.  That works out to 130 liters/abort.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch