Oxygen therapy improves the sense of well-being in a person starving for oxygen because of a disease or injury. Oxygen therapy can be long-term or short-term, depending upon the patient's needs. It has been known to decrease the workload of the heart in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease as well as the patient who has suffered an illness, such as pneumonia, in which the lungs have been weakened. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 million persons in the U.S. get long-term oxygen therapy yearly through Medicare.
Interstitial Lung Disease Treatment
Oxygen is used in treatment of interstitial lung disease, which refers to a range of maladies that result in scarring of the lungs. It can be due to trauma, toxic intake, drugs or other unknown causes. While the Mayo Clinic reports that oxygen therapy can't reverse the progression, it aids the sufferer in breathing. It can make sleep easier for the patient and reduce blood pressure on the right side of the heart, protecting you from pulmonary hypertension, a weakening and sometimes fatal failing of the right ventricle heart muscle.
COPD Treatment
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is actually a group of lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Because of damaged airways, there isn't a proper oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange in breathing. This makes your heart work harder to pump needed oxygen to your organs. Oxygen therapy eases the strain of breathing on the patient. The Mayo Clinic cites COPD as a leading cause of death worldwide. The clinic's report lists the positive effects of oxygen therapy with COPD as improving heart function, the ability to exercise, relief from depression, improved mental clarity and overall better quality, and sometimes length, of life.
Accidental Poisoning Treatment
Oxygen therapy is part of the treatment for alcohol and carbon monoxide poisoning. While alcohol poisoning often happens during binge drinking, it can also occur accidentally when household products with alcohol content are ingested. Carbon monoxide, or CO, poisoning due to poor venting, appliances or faulty auto exhaust systems is the most common cause of death from poisoning in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic. Oxygen therapy is used to replace the carbon monoxide in the blood in the case of CO poisoning. With alcohol poisoning, oxygen therapy is used along with intravenous hydration, airway protection and careful monitoring.
Gangrene Treatment
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is part of the treatment for gangrene, where interrupted blood flow has caused the death of living tissue, especially in the extremities like fingers and toes in frostbite. A chamber with 2.5 times atmospheric pressure of pure oxygen is used to help your blood carry more oxygen to your affected tissue and inhibit bacteria growth.
Pneumonitis Treatment
Pneumonitis refers to an inflammation of lung tissue including pneumonia. It could also refer to illness as a result of exposure to asbestos, chemotherapy, radiation therapy to the chest, over-exposure to poultry and certain types of mold. Besides antibiotics to fight infection and corticosteroids to reduce inflammation, a Mayo Clinic report says oxygen therapy is prescribed for use as needed, during exercise or sleep, depending on the patient.
Oxygen Therapy at Home
One great benefit of oxygen therapy is it can be delivered at home as well as in the hospital. According to the Cleveland Clinic, home oxygen therapy might be prescribed for a number of illnesses in which your blood doesn't get enough oxygen, called hypoxemia. While atmospheric air contains only 21 percent oxygen, oxygen therapy delivers pure oxygen. This can reduce shortness of breath and strain on your heart. It also improves quality of life by making independent activities of daily living possible with portable oxygen tanks.
