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The following was originally published on April 15, 2015 at healthcentral.com/copd. Do you need oxygen therapy?  Sometimes people with COPD need to inhale more oxygen than what is provided in the air. The way this is accomplished is by using oxygen therapy. So what is oxygen therapy, and do you need it? Oxygen in room air contains 21 percent oxygen. Usually this is plenty of oxygen. However, certain disease conditions, such as what may occur as COPD progresses , or during COPD flare-ups, may create areas inside your lungs where oxygen is inhaled, but cannot get to your bloodstream. When enough of these areas exist, your blood oxygen levels may decline. To learn more about oxygen and oxygen levels, please read my post “ Understanding Oxygen and Oxygen Levels with COPD .” What is oxygen therapy? It involves inhaling supplemental oxygen, or oxygen percentages that are greater than 21 percent. It allows you to inhale 22-100 percent oxygen, depending on the device used. Nasal C...

The following was originally published on April 3, 2015 Understanding Oxygen and Oxygen Levels Oxygen is essential to a normal functioning body. The progression of COPD , and COPD flare-ups , may cause your oxygen levels to become low. So what does this mean to you? Here is all you need to know about oxygen and oxygen levels. What is oxygen? It’s an element with the symbol O. It makes up about 21 percent of air. When you inhale, it travels through your lungs to your bloodstream, and then travels to tissues, such as heart tissue. A cell on this tissue will use it to make energy needed for it to perform its work. Lack of oxygen may cause tissue damage, such as heart damage. How are oxygen levels monitored? There are two tests: Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) . This involves an blood draw from your wrist or arm. Thankfully, this test doesn’t need to be done too often thanks to another, simpler test called... Pulse Oximetry . A probe is placed over your finger or earlobe. Since this...