Logan Voss
Depending on your current health and past medical conditions, it may make a lot of sense to acquire a portable oxygen concentrator. If you find yourself constantly trying to catch your breath even without strenuous physical activity, it’s a good idea to find out if a portable oxygen concentrator is right for you.
Health Conditions
Not everyone needs oxygen therapy, but it’s a common treatment for certain medical conditions. For instance, patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or people recovering from lung cancer treatments are often prescribed an oxygen concentrator to help ensure their blood cells get enough oxygen. Ask your doctor if oxygen therapy makes sense, given your medical history.
Improved Quality of Life
Constant breathlessness will take its toll on anyone, and oxygen concentrators seek to address this very issue. Along with breathlessness, you may always feel lightheaded or as if there’s a persistent mental fog over you. A portable oxygen concentrator could be just what you need to take a deep breath again.
Ability to Exercise
Check with your doctor to determine what exercises are safe, but a portable oxygen concentrator opens up the world of working out significantly more than a traditional 50-pound tank. Going on walks with an oxygen cart would be difficult, if not impossible, but once you have a portable unit, you can get fresh air while getting your heart pumping.
More Freedom
When it comes to quality of life, you can’t discount freedom. Portable oxygen concentrators offer you the opportunity to travel, whether in a car or on a plane. With a standard oxygen concentrator, you’d have to struggle through a flight uncomfortably, but portable units can come with you wherever you go. Just make sure you check with the airline first— certain brands of concentrators aren’t allowed.
Now that you know if a portable oxygen concentrator is right for you, talk to your doctor about starting oxygen therapy and get ready to breathe deeply again.
