Living with Oxygen.

Home oxygen therapy involves breathing in air that contains more oxygen than normal from a cylinder or machine in your home.

It may be prescribed if you have a heart or lung condition that causes low oxygen levels in your blood.

You can take oxygen in a number of ways using a:

• tube positioned under your nose (nasal cannula)
• face mask placed over your nose and mouth
• a tube placed into your mouth and down your windpipe

The tube or mask is attached to a ventilator machine.

How home oxygen therapy can help

If you have a health condition that causes low levels of oxygen in your blood, you may feel breathless and tired, particularly after walking or coughing. Fluid may also build up around your ankles.

Breathing air with oxygen increases the amount of oxygen in your blood.

This makes it easier to carry out activities that might otherwise be difficult and helps reduce your symptoms.

Oxygen therapy also helps prevent damage to the heart and brain, which can be caused by low levels of oxygen in the blood.

It can help people with a range of health conditions, such as:

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• pulmonary fibrosis
• heart failure
• obesity-related hypoventilation
• severe long-term asthma
• pulmonary hypertension
• conditions affecting the nerves and muscles or ribcage
• cystic fibrosis

People who have oxygen therapy have different requirements. For example, you may only need oxygen for short periods during the day when you’re walking about (ambulatory oxygen), or you may need it for longer periods during the day and night.

When oxygen therapy shouldn’t be used

Oxygen therapy shouldn’t be used to relieve breathlessness if your oxygen levels are normal.

This is because it can decrease your fitness level and cause a delay in finding out what’s making you breathless.