So I finally was able to get oxygen for this cycle and have been using it the past week.  Luckily, I was given a humongous S-sized tank and work from home, so I have had time and extra O2 to experiment with.

Observation: is it just me or are all medical supply reps pretty clueless?  I called two places around here and it's like they had never heard of oxygen before.  They seem confused that I'm calling them about oxygen.  It's like I know more than they do about taking oxygen just after reading the O2 information on this site...

Anyway, dosing: I'm having trouble finding what best works for me.  It has definitely helped me either abort or at least mitigate the pain, but I feel it could be better...

I know about the hyperventilating, and about the tingle you're supposed to get in the fingers and back of neck.  I've only been able to get to that point a few times tho, even though I've been trying to be as objective as possible in my inhale/exhale rate.

I'm currently trying 2-second inhale and 2-second exhale (I use a metronome set to 60 beats/minute which also works psychologically to give me something to concentrate on to distract me from the pain), and get as much air out of my lungs as i can on the exhale, but get only spotty results.  This will abort some headaches, but I find I still need to resort to an Imitrex shot once or twice a day (I have been averaging three to four hits a day).

So, short story longer, how do you dose, in an objective measure like seconds inhale/exhale?  Am I doing something wrong, or could I be doing it better?  Should you always feel the tingle to know it's "working" or is it working even without those side effects?

Yeah, I got an Optimask last week; the cheap one they provided was rubbish.

I've been doing the O2 for up to 15 minutes.  If tolerable pain, I'll wait a few minutes, then hit the O2 some more.  Only if after that the pain is worse or still at a high kip do I hit the Imitrex.  I really hate taking so much of it, thus why I'm trying so hard with the O2.

By "keep up" you mean to keep the bag pretty empty?  Is the depth of inhale or exhale important?  Should I always feel tingling?

I'm having trouble finding an affordable 25lpm regulator; been using it at 15lpm in the meantime.

Sorry!  Forgetting to add details!  I have a larger tank; I need the "M-style" CGA 540 type of connection.  I can only find 25 lpm ones that are at least $99.

Also, I've tried various different bags on my mask, the 3 liter one it has, and also larger bin liners.

well, heres what i do, for what its worth. I have 25 lpm regs for my medical tanks, but my large tank that stays beside the bed, only has a 15 lpm reg. I use the o2 mask that i purchased from the link on this site, the one yall spoke of in the earlier post.  I let the bag fill, and inhale a steady breath untill my lungs are full, and i hold my breath untill the bag is full again, (usually 5 seconds or so) exhale, and repeat. That works for me. But i also know everyone is different.  I love the optimask. works great the way i use it. good luck.

aj wrote on Jun 20^th, 2011 at 5:36pm:


Speaking strictly for me and NOT others: Breathing O2 at lower rates works for mild attacks. Whether I breathe it slowly, take quicker shallow breaths or draw in deeply and "hold" doesn't matter much - it will work about the same for me on the mild attacks at 25 lpm.

When the real monsters come to work me over, the only way oxygen works for me is to breathe very, very deeply and quickly at the same time. That requires waaaaay more than 25 lpm for me. (Picture yourself at the end of a long hard sprint and recreate that breathing action)

CGA-540 is the standard fitting for large medical oxygen tanks. It is also the standard fitting on all welding oxygen tanks.

I had one of these that worked very well. I gave to another person in need of it and he is still using it.

Link for pricing -----------> Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

There are others too, but this one is very low cost.

Marc

Just some updates on my progress on the Oxygen Trail...

Until Linda mentioned it, I sort of forgot how rare CHers are!  It's funny that when in cycle, being only surrounded by y'all, my neurologist, and friends who know about my condition, it's easy for me to lose sight of the fact that every one doesn't have or knows someone who has this horrid condition.

I did find at 1 am today that doing the holding-breath method does work pretty well when you're stuck at a 15 lpm flow.  I was able to abort the one that woke me up.  The one that woke me up 6 hours later tho would not die with that technique, but even then, it still stopped that one from getting any worse.

I have been going down the welding regulator road (I now know more about welding that I ever thought I would).  I picked one up yesterday, but in my haste didn't realize I picked up one for argon, not oxygen, so it didn't fit my tank.   I'll be headed back to the hardware store soon.

If a high flow works as well as I think it will, I'll definitely be getting the snazzy Flotec regulator Batch describes as soon as my budget allows: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

We'll have our fingers crossed for you too.