Through my Family Services contact a man said he has a  10 lpm concentrator that is being recalled because he can no longer afford it since his Ins. has been cancelled.

I gave him ALL that I know about e-tanks, sent him the 02 link, told him what I did to get around the Ins. Co.  I told him everything and he insists the 10lpm concentrator is the only thing that will work for him.

I'm stumped.  Anyone with any other advice I can give to this guy???     (Yes, I told him about welders also)   I feel like I've failed him.  He lives in Pennsylvania, so it's not like he lives in another country with different rules.    :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

It is quite possible that his 10lpm concentrator is working for him, however it's highly unlikely that this is the only way he can abort. He should be able to abort using oxygen from cylinders at 10lpm and get quicker aborts too.

As to how to convince him of this, you could send him various scientific research papers about aborting with oxygen, none of which mention using concentrators and all of them use oxygen from cylinders.

Thanks Marc and Mike.

      I'm going to combine your answers and give it to him just that way.  I suppose the rest is up to him. 

Would a 25LPM regulator on a normal tank perhaps work better than  a 10LPM concentrator and work out cheaper for him? I can't get the conc. so haven't tried it, but it does for me (in Sydney, so not that useful).

MrHorse wrote on Apr 15^th, 2011 at 12:48pm:

Would a 25LPM regulator on a normal tank perhaps work better than  a 10LPM concentrator and work out cheaper for him? I can't get the conc. so haven't tried it, but it does for me (in Sydney, so not that useful).

For the costs, this will be highly dependent upon where the person is located.

For treating CHs, concentrators only concentrate the amount of oxygen, they do not remove all the carbon dioxide, this means that they are less effective than oxygen from cylinders which will have almost zero carbon dioxide content.

I know from my own experience that 25lpm will abort my CHs about twice as quick as 15lpm, meaning I use less oxygen (cheaper) but also am pain free faster too.

So switching to oxygen from cylinders will almost certainly result in quicker CH aborts and it is likely to be cheaper too (important in this case).

I suppose he said he had in fact tried direct O2, because I had a concentrator 10 lpm for years and yes I could abort a HA with use of the concentrator it always took me forever nothing remotely as fast as O2.  I had no idea how effective the O2 would be until I met Batch in Dallas a few years back at an OUCH Convention and he explained everything and from then on I have been on O2. The concentrators are very expensive (heck you can buy one for what the rental is for a year) rent and in my opinion from having used a concentrator (9 years) and now O2, there is no comparison but from a flow perspective and as well as the fact with a concentrator you are only getting about 85% O2.

Wishbone

Linda you have not failed him

Thanks Wishbone.  Like I said, I gave him every ounce of info there is to know.  The rest is up to him.  Sometimes when I know I am right in something and a person tells me something like..."oh, that won't work for me"  I just want to shake them silly til it sinks in.  sigh....

he can google the brand & make of his concentrator, & find a medical supply online that has them. The cheapest I have seen what he is looking for is $1,400, brand new.

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This link has one at about $1,650 but there are others out there.  If that is what he wants, he can find it but it will cost him.

Was he asking about financial assistance? Would one of the places that helps with medicine be able to help him with this?

Charlotte

Linda,
You cannot change a person's mind when he is determined to not listen to reason.  You did not fail him.  There are some people who are determined to be "different" from everyone else.

Jerry