How A Portable Oxygen Concentrator May Improve the Lifestyle of a COPD Patient

Several medical studies reveal a portable oxygen concentrator may benefit COPD patients. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of disability and death in many countries. Patients suffer progressive breathlessness, loss of strength, and, in its later stages, chronic hypoxaemia, which is an abnormally low level of oxygen in the blood, which could lead to organ failure and death.
The studies show POCs not only gave the patient better resting hypoxemia (blood oxygen when at rest), but also better blood pressure, heart function, and indeed, the capacity to exercise longer and ability to do more strenuous activities, which generally improve other health metrics as well.

 

 

One way to get supplemental oxygen is through an oxygen tank usually positioned beside hospital beds or your own bed at home. Most patients, though, although suffering the effects of COPD, are not yet so  incapacitated to allow themselves to be attached to their bed so many hours in a day.

“The whole purpose is to basically improve your lifestyle. Because a portable oxygen concentrator may benefit copd patients like me, I’m not afraid to get back to some of the things I love doing, whether it be a hobby or an outing, to enjoy your kids and grandkids, that kind of thing.” – COPD patient

a portable oxygen concentrator may benefit copd

New technology has made it possible for patients with COPD and other lung diseases or disorders to carry their oxygen around in shoulder bags or backpacks.

Because a portable oxygen concentrator may benefit COPD sufferers, the fact that POCs are now light and small enough to carry around are the best thing that could happen to supplemental oxygen. You can carry them anywhere, charge them up in your car, and even bring them on planes and cruises.

In most cases, supplemental oxygen is a chronic therapy —  used over a long term. That means patients would need to get used to using the POC most hours and most days because, as what all the studies would indicate, that’s how you get the long term benefit.