According to my pulse oximeter, I should be dead :) Buy an oxygen concentrator?

[simon43]

Thanks for all your comments.  I have had pneumonia on many occasions over the past 25 years, including a week in Bumrungrad for a severe pneumonia infection (which probably did most of the bronchi damage).  I know with my body what the first symptoms of pneumonia feel like and I'm happy to say that I've avoided pneumonia for the last 15 years or so.

 

I am uptodate with my pneumonia (2 types) jabs, also Covid and flu. It's important for me to minimise any health risk 🙂

 

Probably my oximeter (which cost 200 baht on Lazada) is .. er what's the word?  Oh yes krap!!

 

I never feel faint or light-headed - the shortness of breath is due to the damn mucus blocking up my airways 🙂  BTW, my lungs themselves are fine - hence I can briskly walk 10km every day without getting short of breath, (even with chronic bronchitis I start short of breath but after 10km it hasn't got worse.

 

Finally, I do various 'huff' breathing techniques that are recommended to loosen up sticky mucus, plus take some medications for the same purpose.

 

Last evening, I had to abandon the 3rd of my hourly online science lessons 'cos I had a coughing fit.  Tonight, I turned off the air-con and ran my steam humidifier for the 3 hours.  It was like sitting in a Turkish sauna!!  But my lungs were much happier and no coughing 🙂

 

 

[simon43]

2 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

An Oxygen concentrator sounds like a scam. The only way to get more oxygen in your air is to add Oxygen.

 

The machine sucks in the air, extracts the oxygen component and then feeds this via thin tubes to your nose for breathing in.  So it sucks in the air at a rate far more than your body would inhale, thus enabling the 'concentration' part. 

 

(With my scientist hat on...):  Bear in mind that air only has about 21% oxygen in it and most of the rest is nitrogen, which we don't need.  Even when we breath out, our exhaled gases still have about 15% oxygen! Thus, you can see that we really don't need much oxygen to be healthy and normal, so a little extra oxygen into your body can really help.

[simon43]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

 

How much is a medial oxygen bottle? If all you need is a couple of puffs a month? 

Yes, that is another option!

[cdemundo]

23 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

An Oxygen concentrator sounds like a scam. The only way to get more oxygen in your air is to add Oxygen.

Not a scam.

A standard medical device used in lieu of supplemental oxygen in tanks.

You use a nasal cannula to breath the output of the concentrator that takes in room air and decreases the nitrogen level to output oxygen at about 95% O2.

I don't know why you would think it is a scam.

They can be expensive if you are self pay.

[sungod]

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

Last week I had to go to Jomtien Beach to finish up my rented condo.  The location was nice, the condo was cheap, but the smell of cannabis was everywhere, and my lungs definitely didn't like it!

You know, I live in Pattaya and when people say the smell of weed is everywhere, I seriously wonder where they hang out as I dont find that at all.

 

Dont think the aroma would cause you harm, more likely an infection, there is a bug doing the rounds at the moment, or maybe your cheap condo has some irritants? 

[richard_smith237]

18 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

An Oxygen concentrator sounds like a scam. The only way to get more oxygen in your air is to add Oxygen.

 

Tell me you failed science at school without telling me you failed science at school.... 

 

At standard atmospheric pressure and temperature, air is a gaseous mixture consisting of approximately 78.08% nitrogen (N₂), 20.95% oxygen (O₂), and 0.93% argon (Ar), with trace amounts of other gases including carbon dioxide (CO₂ ~0.04%), neon (Ne), helium (He), methane (CH₄), krypton (Kr), and hydrogen (H₂).

Additionally, the concentration of water vapour (H₂O) varies significantly with altitude, temperature, and humidity, typically ranging from 0% to 4% by volume.

 

From air, any of its constituents can be extracted and concentrated.

 

 

[Patong2021]

4 hours ago, simon43 said:

Right now, my blood oxygen level is around 88%, heart rate normal.

 

I have bronchiectasis (widening of the lung bronchi, caused typically by previous pneumonia).  Because my bronchi are very sensitive to air irritants, I moved to Khanom Beach, with clean, salty air, and that suited my lungs.

 

Last week I had to go to Jomtien Beach to finish up my rented condo.  The location was nice, the condo was cheap, but the smell of cannabis was everywhere, and my lungs definitely didn't like it!

 

I came back to Khanom with bad bronchitis, which I've had dozens of times previously.  Bad cough, tons of thick mucus in my lungs, very tired, and I still need to teach online 🙂 I had to abandon some lessons due to uncontrolleable coughing attacks.

 

Today, things seem a little better, after taking anti-biotics and mucus thinners and 'huffing' exercise.  But I bought a pulse oximeter from Lazada to check my oxygen % level.

 

88%, sometimes 90%.  Hmm...... Dr Google told me to get to the nearest hospital!

 

I have been short of breath, due to the mucus partly blocking my bronchi, but no worse than what I've experienced with this poxy illness over the past 25 years.

 

Does anyone with a lung condition use an oxygen concentrator?  I might buy one to help me a little during these flare ups.  Does anyone have experience of these?  Thanks.

 

The Chinese sourced consumer devices are unreliable. They are not medical grade.

[cjinchiangrai]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Tell me you failed science at school without telling me you failed science at school.... 

 

At standard atmospheric pressure and temperature, air is a gaseous mixture consisting of approximately 78.08% nitrogen (N₂), 20.95% oxygen (O₂), and 0.93% argon (Ar), with trace amounts of other gases including carbon dioxide (CO₂ ~0.04%), neon (Ne), helium (He), methane (CH₄), krypton (Kr), and hydrogen (H₂).

Additionally, the concentration of water vapour (H₂O) varies significantly with altitude, temperature, and humidity, typically ranging from 0% to 4% by volume.

 

From air, any of its constituents can be extracted and concentrated.

 

 

I didn't but how would you do that without a complicated extraction system? Either add Oxygen, or remove Nitrogen. If it is not a scam, it is ripe for creating one.

[newbee2022]

46 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

This.

 

Might also be fake or substandard model. 

I still hope if you buy it in a pharmacy and it is made by Omron eg, it's not a fake.

However, these oximeter offered at Lazada I expect to be fake.

[simon43]

12 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

I didn't but how would you do that without a complicated extraction system? Either add Oxygen, or remove Nitrogen. If it is not a scam, it is ripe for creating one.

Actually, it's an interesting scientific question as to how the oxygen gas is extracted.  Very basically, the gases are pushed through a membrane with tiny holes in it.  Oxygen molecules are smaller than nitrogen molecules, so pass through the membrane, while the nitrogen molecules are too big to pass through 🙂

 

Now some clever chap will point out to me that according to the Periodic Table, nitrogen gas atoms have 7 protons, whilst oxygen have 8 - so oxygen atoms are bigger yes?  Actually no, because the larger number of protons in oxygen atoms means that the atomic force pulling on the electrons (flying around the outside of the atom) is stronger than for nitrogen atoms, so the oxygen atoms are physcially smaller.

 

Science is a wonderful subject 🙂

[richard_smith237]

21 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

I didn't but how would you do that without a complicated extraction system? Either add Oxygen, or remove Nitrogen. If it is not a scam, it is ripe for creating one.

 

Its not really that complicated...  It works through whats called a Pressure Swing Adsorption Process (PSA).

 

Ambient air is compressed and forced into one zeolite-filled tower...  Nitrogen is adsorbed onto the surface of the *zeolite under pressure.

 

(*Zeolite is a microporous, aluminosilicate mineral... its like a sponge made of crystals. It has a strong natural affinity for nitrogen due to its surface structure and electrostatic properties).

 

The remaining Oxygen (and other trace gases I listed earlier) pass through to the reservoir.

Thus, ultimately, this is a Nitrogen removal process, rather than a Oxygen concentration process.

 

Once the zeolite-filled tower is saturated with N2, it becomes ineffective, when pressure is reduced the N2 is vented to the atmosphere... and the cycle is repeated - usually by switching between two towers.

 

 

Of course, scams could exist, and for such equipment it would be difficult to trust Lazada etc...  sourcing from a reputable brand and re-seller / seller is obviously key.

 

 

 

 

 

[cjinchiangrai]

3 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Actually, it's an interesting scientific question as to how the oxygen gas is extracted.  Very basically, the gases are pushed through a membrane with tiny holes in it.  Oxygen molecules are smaller than nitrogen molecules, so pass through the membrane, while the nitrogen molecules are too big to pass through 🙂

 

Now some clever chap will point out to me that according to the Periodic Table, nitrogen gas atoms have 7 protons, whilst oxygen have 8 - so oxygen atoms are bigger yes?  Actually no, because the larger number of protons in oxygen atoms means that the atomic force pulling on the electrons (flying around the outside of the atom) is stronger than for nitrogen atoms, so the oxygen atoms are physcially smaller.

 

Science is a wonderful subject 🙂

RO for mixed gasses. OK. On Lazada you can buy one for 3300 or 42000. I bet the cheap one is fake.

[KhunLA]

@simon43 When you asked Ms Google, did you mention bronchiectasis ?

 

Ms Google just told me, <90 w/bronchiectasis isn't rare at all.  Not good of course, but better than <88.  

 

With that, I would doubt if the oximeter is off or fake.  Are there some therapy, or exercises you can do to increase lung capacity, and or oxy absorption.   If not, I guess you'll be looking at an oxy tank, or whatever in the future.

 

Good Luck

[simon43]

9 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

@simon43 When you asked Ms Google, did you mention bronchiectasis ?

 

Ms Google just told me, <90 w/bronchiectasis isn't rare at all.  Not good of course, but better than <88.  

 

With that, I would doubt if the oximeter is off or fake.  Are there some therapy, or exercises you can do to increase lung capacity, and or oxy absorption.   If not, I guess you'll be looking at an oxy tank, or whatever in the future.

 

Good Luck

My lung capacity is normal.  It is not my alveoli but my bronchi.  Bronchiectasis affects breathing out more than breathing in.  So I breath in totally normally, but sound like a steam train as I exhale 🙂  Been like that for 25 years and has never got worst over those years, (except when I have a lung infection, such as now).

 

My oximeter currently tells me that my oxygen level is 87%.....  I feel totally normal, I think it is telling porkies!  I might pop down to the local pharmacy and see if they have a unit to compare it against.  If it really was 87% I think I would be lying on the floor and struggling to breath 🙂

[KhunLA]

27 minutes ago, simon43 said:

My lung capacity is normal.  It is not my alveoli but my bronchi.  Bronchiectasis affects breathing out more than breathing in.  So I breath in totally normally, but sound like a steam train as I exhale 🙂  Been like that for 25 years and has never got worst over those years, (except when I have a lung infection, such as now).

 

My oximeter currently tells me that my oxygen level is 87%.....  I feel totally normal, I think it is telling porkies!  I might pop down to the local pharmacy and see if they have a unit to compare it against.  If it really was 87% I think I would be lying on the floor and struggling to breath 🙂

Doing a bit of reading, and you seem to be at the threshold to consider some supplemental oxygen.  Hopefully your #s are better when infection free.