Polio Survivors Being Given Too Much Oxygen
Dr. Bruno’s Post: “Oxygen: Too Much of a Good Thing?”
"We will give you a little bit of oxygen'." "No we will not!" Exactly right. Oxygen is like Tylenol in the hospital or in an ambulance. Don't feel well? They "give you a little bit of oxygen."
As with any other drug, there needs to be a REASON for the prescription of oxygen (O2), because O2 DEPRESSES polio survivors' damaged breathing control center in the brain stem. Also, a weak diaphragm causes some polio survivors to retain carbon dioxide (CO2) which is toxic. If there are medical or surgical issues that cause MEASURED blood oxygen to drop to the low 90s, then both giving O2 and TREATING the cause could be lifesaving.
But, without a respiratory or other disease causing O2 to be in the low -- for example for coming out of surgery or using CPAP or Bi-Pap -- polio survivors should not just be given "little bit of oxygen" for no reason. If you just have apnea or shallow breathing during sleep, CPAP or Bi-Pap should bring your O2 into the normal range without need for extra O2.
CO2: THE GAS POLIO SURVIVORS HAVE TROUBLE GETTING RID OF.
Polio survivors retaining carbon dioxide is not discussed enough.
I got a call from an anesthesiologist in North Carolina about a polio survivor who'd had her gall bladder removed and while in the recovery room was "fighting the tube" placed in her windpipe during the surgery. Well, nearly every post-op patient "fights the tube." But, the nurses thought she was having trouble breathing, even though her measured O2 was 96%, so they turned up the O2. Turns out that the patient's trouble was retaining CO2; the extra O2 depressed her breathing, she went into respiratory arrest and died. The anesthesiologist almost cried when I explained this to him.
"Why don't we know about this!?" he asked. I thought "If only he had the internet where a doctor could search “surgery, breathing + Polio survivors” and find the article Preventing Complications in Polio Survivors Undergoing Surgery (or) Receiving Anesthesia in the Encyclopedia of Polio and PPS. You can easily find it in the Index under the topic “Anesthesia”.
Yes, yet again, polio survivors must always have a discussion with the anesthesiologist before any test (e.g., a colonoscopy) or surgery using anesthesia. They need to understand that polio survivors can retain CO2 and the dangers of O2 suppressing breathing.
Please download the easily available Anesthesia Warning Card and show it to your physician.