Peggy i have Emphysema and a ''Retainer'' which is actually a person that has a Gas Exchange Issue...What that means in simple terms is basically we can get enough Oxygen in but have difficulty in expelling the Carbon Dioxide so we get SOB... An ABG is the best way to find out for certain.

This is caused by our Lungs losing their elasticity to expand again once deflated. This is where we need to master PLB or Purse Lip Breathing, a technique that helps us get rid of the Carbon Dioxide....

You do not need to be on Oxygen to have this issue. I have only 18% Capacity and my Normal Saturation rarely dips under 98% at rest or play. Bi-Pap is usually the last port of call if you cannot get rid of this waste Carbon Dioxide by yourself and could lead to Respiratory Arrest that can possibly lead to Intubation....But that is another story....

About the dying bit...What it means is the More Oxygen you take in either normally or by being on Supplementary Oxygen that produces extra Carbon Dioxide that cannot then be expelled, will or can cause a build-up in the blood stream causing your heart to work twice as hard to keep you functioning....Eventually Cardiac issues is what kills most people and not the COPD...

i am a c02 retainer and i am on o2 24/7, i use 2 liters but can bump it up to 3 for excerising or doing anything strenuous. If u are a retainer, u can use a bypap at night which will help get rid of the co2 , i get o2 throught the bypap.so it helps in that i recieve th oxygen i need and i am breathing deeply enough to blow away the co2. No one has ever told me not to use more than 2 liters .

We're all CO2 retainers to some extent and that's real. Where I and many others have a problem is with the "Nor more than 2 lpm of O2 or you lose the will to breathe" That's known as the "hypoxic drive" theory and it was debunked in the 1980's.

While it's quite true that if your O2 sats are down below 88, increasing the O2 will help by keeping your sats up, you may still be SOB. If your sats are still in the mid-90s, increasing the O2 won't do any good at all. The fallacy in the hypoxic drive is that even people who are retainers can have their O2 sats decrease when they are exerting themselves. It's been demonstrated in a number of studies that known retainers whose sats deteriorate with exercise benefit from increased O2 during exertion. Reducing the O2 when exertion is over works fine.

Wow! I love learning. This interesting. Thanks and have a great day