This week on
YouTube.com/@CatchYourBreath60
Tuesday Tea Time I was LIVE and discussed an interesting fact.
Used My BiPap For 7 Years
I asked my Respiratory Therapist if I was still in danger of retaining oxygen or if I could by now stop using my BiPap. It’s not the BiPap that I find uncomfortable, I actually appreciate using a BiPap and I it use religiously anytime my head hits the pillow. But the mask! that is what causes my problem. You see, my pressures are so high that I have to have a tight fit of the mask. Anything less and it starts to leak, sending out screeching alarms that wake the entire house. I seem to be the only person who can sleep through them. I walked away with an answer that I didn’t understand.
To My Disbelief
A Respiratory Therapist told me that in one afternoon nap, my lungs could be filled with carbon dioxide (CO2) . It is a deadly gas that develops when our compromised lungs retain trapped air due to emphysema. It had already caused massive fatigue for me, intensified my shortness of breath, along with having regular tremors in my hands and feet. I was a retainer and my lungs became so compromised that my heart stopped.
I Asked An Expert
I had to ask an expert so I asked the smartest person I know. My daughter is a College Professor in the field of Social Work and teaches Life Cycles, Addiction and Aging from a mental health stance.
She explained to me that now that I was stable, I will have lost my tolerance for retaining as much CO2 as I once did. A step back in that direction could prove fatal, fairly fast. When my symptoms began many years ago, I was better able to tolerate them because they happened intermittently and gradually. I was starting from a healthy place. Now however, the shift of our illness lowers our tolerance levels.