LO has been ordered home oxygen. The machine is so loud it literally hurts my ears when it is on. There is no place to put it, LO's bedroom is packed with things, everywhere else it is extremely loud. Put it in the bathroom but it is still loud and it generates extreme amounts of heat (we are already in a near tropical climate). Now they are saying we have to lug these large silver containers of oxygen with her whenever she goes to medical appointments (she has many). They only each last two hours a piece, just getting disability transport to arrive and get her there is going to take up one. Oxygen will have to be replaced during the medical appointment, and then likely again to another tank on the way back waiting on disability transport. She is in a wheelchair and now I have to push her plus lug large tanks of oxygen to all her appointments. I am overwhelmed and I really cannot deal with this. Does anyone have any experience with a LO requiring home oxygen and it being EXTREMELY LOUD to the point of hurting your ears, and then having to manage a wheelchair plus multiple tanks of oxygen on your own? As she is desaturating repeatedly at different times I have to go back and forth and adjust the oxygen as needed, which now means sleeping in hypervigilance in the event her 02 monitor alarm goes off periodically and she desaturates so I can increase the oxygen. I am really overwhelmed. Any advice on the oxygen situation from others who have dealt with it? Thanks.
Some options: see if the pulmonologist can order a type of bulky oxygen cannula called an Oxy Miser to use on the tanks. You can lower the flow by almost half. She will not like to wear it all of the time because of its bulk.
You can ask for a simple mask to wear over the cannula to conserve some exhaled oxygen.
Obviously I assume that you live in a rural area and I would worry about weather disasters or long outages. If this happens, grab many tanks and bring her to the emergency room where she will need a social admit.
Ideally, she will not have so many ups and downs to be in LTC. Unless you are sharing housing because of finances. Such high oxygen with uncontroled dips may mean she is coming to the end of her days. Can you survive without her income?
My mom's machine also is loud but it doesn't bother her and it throws off heat. One of the fb group members posted a funny photo of hers with the caption "I identify as a space heater"
I wish you luck.
There is no way around the large tanks unless your LO can afford to buy a portable oxygen machine that comes in a backpack. Look online, FB Marketplace and Craigslist, etc. I purchased myself a very small in size oxygen concentrator at an estate sale for $30. Its so quiet, I forget it's on at night when I need to use it. It was pretty new when I bought it, so make sure of the age of a unit if you buy one. The difference is amazing, in size and in noise output.
Lastly, You may have to consider placement for your LO with this level of oxygen dependence. Very few of us are equipped to handle such a fluctuating, dire need on a 24/7 basis! What about YOUR life and sleep needs?
Best of luck to you.
We kept the oxygen concentrator in our dining room as my husband was in a hospital bed in our living room, and while it was a bit loud, it wasn't what I would call annoying. And to be honest I got used to it after a while.
Perhaps you need to call the company supplying the oxygen concentrator to have them come out to see if there is something wrong with it, and if there's not you'll just have to get used to it if you're going to continue to live with your loved one.
And I would just keep the oxygen level at a number where you don't have to worry about it going off overnight as you do need to get a good night's sleep if possible.
I never adjusted my husbands I just kept it on what the hospice nurse said it should be on.
And if all of this is getting to be just too much for you it may be time to think about having your loved one placed in the appropriate facility where they will receive the care they require and you can get back to just being their loving family member and advocate and not their overwhelmed and burned out caregiver.