Welding vs Prescription Oxygen & how 2get a script

[thisorthat]

I said I'd repost in a new thread, so here goes.

I did read up on the welding vs. medical oxygen. It's quite complicated. There are various grades, various concentrations, and various mixtures of different trace gases. USP which is prescription grade oxygen comes in 7 grades, "A" being the minumum for safe consumption and "G" being aviator grade. "G" has the added advantage that  doesn't freeze up at high altitudes. Each grade has different ratios of other gases such as co, co2, methane, etc. I have not been able to find a breakdown of non-prescription welding oxygen.

There is also a difference in how the tanks are lined, and filled. Prescription tanks are lined better to prevent corrosion. 

There is no evacuation of the tanks before they refill them in industrial or welding oxygen. This could possibly cause issues in altering the concentration of gasses, etc. 

A quote: "The requirement of always evacuating a cylinder, regardless of cylinder pressure, is a step intended to minimize contamination that might occur from "back-filling" of a cylinder improperly connected to a gas cascade system, or left open to the atmosphere for extended periods of time. It also prevents the accumulation of possible contaminants from repeated fills from a compromised source. The primary distinction of oxygen cylinders intended for medical (emergency applications are also medical procedures) procedures and respirators and all other uses is this evacuation step between fills."

Here is a good site that explains this in detail and shows the chart of the different grades of USP Oxygen.  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lpt/oxlabel.htm

One other thing...Oxygen toxicity is an issue. I believe my dry eyes and partial loss of vision was due to breathing too much oxygen. Once I stopped breathing the oxygen a couple days, my eyes cleared up.

Again I'd do anything to kill a ch. I'd shoot uranium in my veins if it killed a cluster. I'm not telling anyone not to breathe welding oxygen, I just thought you should know some issues that might arise and see if you can get a prescription.

I got a concentrator at 10 LPM that worked great for me. I got it from lincare. I have health insurance but they gave it to me for a $100 a month without using my health insurance. The conectrator is an unlimited supply of oxygen. Unless your doctor prescribes a mask they just give you the tubes that go in your nostrils. I put those tubes in my mouth and sucked hard through my mouth and blew out through my nose. Worked great. If I got it early enough it never took more then ten minutes to kill a ch. If I got it late it took around 15 minutes. Theres a very specific way your doctor has to prescribe it in order for health insurance to cover it and to get the amount you need. Concentrators only go up to 10 LPM but you can get more then one and connect them via a t-connector if you need a higher LPM.

Your doctor needs to write the pad prescription as follows:

On his/her official pad script(which inclues DEA NO., Date, patient name, etc.)

Line 1) Patient has a saturation of 82% oxygen room at rest.

Line 2) Diagnosis of cluster headaches

Line 3) rate of flow 10 LPM 4 hours

Line 4) <patients name> <patients date of birth> <patients phone number> Call patient directly for more info.

Line 5)  Dr's signature.

In the first line your doctor has to put an oxygen saturation of less then 88%. I just picked 82% because it sounded good. If you want a higher flow then he should state that instead of 10 LPM for example he should put 15 LPM. Also if you want a breathing mask he needs to add an extra line that states "issue a breathing mask for patient".

Any MD can write a pad script for oxygen. It is not a narcotic or controlled like scheduled drugs are.

Lincare works with you on price. They are a large company and have bought out other oxygen companies all over the country. They have a form you fill out with your financial info and that gets the price down from $400 a month to $100 a month. They will also give you a bubbler, as much hosing as you want, etc. for free.

Good Luck.

[FunGuy]

If a concentrator at  10lpm and about 90 to 94% O2 is working for you then that is wonderful.

For me it's 15+lpm and the oxygen is at 99%.

But its what works for you that matters.

I could find nothing in the literature or online message boards about oxygen therapy causing dry eyes and partial loss of vision.  I urge you to discuss the vision loss with a Doc, you said it took a couple of days to clear up and that does concern me.

You asked about the differences between medical grade oxygen and welding oxygen.  There isn't any.

From the article you noted:

Many moons ago, gas supply vendors typically maintained two separate storage facilities for oxygen: " welding or industrial or technical" (a non-USP, or illegal to sell for human consumption label) variety and gas intended for human use in respirators or medical procedures (a USP label). Since most gas supply vendors have decided that it is simply not cost-effective to store separate grades of medical gases, almost all oxygen sold in the US is a USP grade (meets USP requirements for human consumption). However, there are distinct differences in how the cylinders are filled. (see below). So, the debate as to whether to use a non-USP welding gas or a USP medical grade oxygen for diving is mostly irrelevant since most vendors are now filling all cylinders with USP gas.

Forget about the other grades and trace elements, that is all specialized stuff.

Regarding medical and welding oxygen, the only difference is not in the quality of the oxygen but the chain of custody of the tanks. If you bring an oxygen tank in to get refilled, they will give you another refilled oxygen tank of the same category (i.e. welding, aviators or medical) that you gave them but not likely the exact one you brought in. Here's the issue: If a welding tank is used, you don't know where it's been and if it has been left open, contaminants may have gotten in at some work site that used it previously.

I've said if before, no one should have to resort to using welding oxygen to treat their cluster headache.

Sad that they do.   It should not be that way.

[Pixie-elf]

Unless you're diving, in a hyperbaric chamber, or a premature baby, you should NOT be having oxygen toxicity on a concentrator. (Or at ALL...)

I'd get to an opthamologist ASAP because going partially blind can be a sign of several neurological conditions that can cause actual blindness. Or can kill you. Please, talk to a doctor. Get an exam. If they say oxygen toxicity, okay then. But seriously, don't risk your vision or LIFE.

Mystina

[thisorthat]

I think that is what I stated. The difference is the trace elements, which is even true of USP oxygen, ie the reason for the chart and the ratings of A-G. And the nuances of those gases matter to me. Breathing methane, CO, etc. or other toxic gasses would not be something that I would desire even in small amounts if it can be avoided(and I know they are present in regular air). I've taken Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Biology, and Genetics at college level so I have a decent working understanding of all this.

The other thing I mentioned was the way the tanks are handled and refilled.

Not sure what you're taking issue with what I said.