No oxygen all day

The need for O2 is determined by how well (or poorly) the O2 is transferred from your lungs to the rest of your body. Sone folks with pretty good lungs have bad transfer or diffusion while others either very damaged lungs have excellent diffusion and don’t need or benefit from supplemental O2. Generally, using a device such as a pulse oximeter is the tool for helping determine whether a person needs O2 and at what flow rate under which conditions.

A person’s “stage” of COPD doesn’t really determine whether supplemental O2 is or is not needed. Your pulmonologist should be able to explain all of this & help you develop a good treatment plan.

your PFT will determine what stage you are. I'm not a doctor but if you don't need supplemental oxygen you are not stage 4!

You sound just like me! Stage four but I don’t have oxygen at night very seldom during the day. Did you have a PFT that determined your stage?

I did have a PFT and knew I flunked pretty badly. But I don’t have the symptoms they list for Stage four COPD. I think it’s just numbers they go by and not the person so much.

@mic1953 I had one PFT - I was never given the results . It was ordered because they were trying to verify my need for oxygen. I had been put on oxygen by an ER and held overnight for a c scan the next morning . A doctor came in later that morning and confirmed she saw emphysema in my lungs . I went home with a couple tanks and was on it 24/7. I needed a home concentrator. Before they would prescribe one, they convinced me I needed that test . The machine they required me to use for that test , in their healthcare system , was over 100 miles away .. I went by car to that hospital . It was a machine that had a chamber . I sat on a stool and blew into a device on an air hose . That was it . So then I left . They got to use their fancy machine. To the tune 🎵 of over 3k. / and I got my home oxygen concentrator. Yes , I am jaded . I wish all of you another good day . Peace , Crystalena

@mic1953 I have given the “stage” definition an F for clarity . I don’t use the term any more . People hear stage 4 with cancer . I don’t have cancer . It is a miss used term. There is not a stage scale for. Emphysema . The most one can do is describe how much oxygen you require to stay from 90 to 95 on the oxymeter . The usage goes up with activity. I have been on 24/7 oxygen for 3 years. No one at medical care asks you what stage you are. They want to know how much oxygen you use . If you are not using it at times that is great . But if you are not using an oximeter, then you don’t know. I went without oxygen. Not even knowing I had a problem. When they did check , I was immediately put on 24/7 oxygen . So do not rely on your body to tell you . Use the oximeter

@crystalena I do agree you must use an oximeter. And I do, several times a day.

I did an in-home test for sleep apnea. It involved wearing an oximeter on my finger attached to a device I wore on my wrist to record how much oxygen I was getting during my sleeping hours. The first night I slept I was on oxygen all night. The second night I wasn’t on oxygen.

I have yet to hear the results. But each morning when I wake, my oxygen levels are in the upper 90’s.

Patients gave the right to get copies of their tests and the results. You can ask your provider for them. They can provide them electronically or in printed form.

The oximetry level can fall while we sleep, even if our levels are good to great while we are awake. I’m having another overnight oximetry test to see how I do at a lower O2 setting—currently I sleep with 2 lpm continuous but want to see how I do with 1 lpm continuous. My lung doc said I”ll be nailed test & send it back when I’m done. At rest my O2 level is 94-96 w/o O2; once I start moving it drops rapidly.

@mic1953 I don’t know how an apnea test is measured . I suppose they look for low oxygen periods in the recording . It is unclear to me how one would have the same readings for the night with oxygen , and the night without.

Sleep apnea means you aren’t getting ANY O2 at various times while sleeping because your airway gets obstructed, which is why folks with sleep apnea can startle themselves awake and benefit from
a machine that blows plain room air under pressure to keep airway open.

@mic1953 I did that test and turns out I was stopping breathing 19 timers per hour. I’ve advanced from a cpap to a bipap. With the bipap I average about 5 times per hour. Mike at cardiac rehab said he was stopping breathing 82 timers per hour per hour!! Geez.