Contact the airline that you are using to make sure they allow the Respironics EverGo on the airline during flights. Most of the larger airlines allow Oxygen Concentrators during flights. The airline will require that you submit a written prescription. Please notify the airline a month in advance and let them know you will be using the Respironics EverGo during flight.

Be prepared to adjust your travel schedule and have a well planned itinerary so that you don’t need to make last minute changes. Most airlines require as much as 48 hours notice to reschedule flights with passengers using oxygen. Try to plan a direct flight without layovers to converse battery power.
Be familiar with the latest airport security screening policies and plan for extra time for inspection of your EverGo.

Passengers using the EverGo may not sit in exit rows, or the EverGo can’t block another passenger’s access to seats or to the airplane’s aisles. You must be able to see the alarm lights on your EverGo when it is stowed away. Ideally, you would want to keep your EverGo under the seat in front of you.

Passengers are not allowed to plug the EverGo in during flight to charge their battery. You will need to plan to bring enough batteries for your entire flight, including check in time, security time, take off and landing time. For safety reason, it is strongly recommended that patients that use Portable Oxygen Concentrators on airplane flights carry enough extra batteries that will last twice the duration of the flight to ensure the battery power will not run out during flight.

The EverGo and EverGo batteries are considered medical devices; they will need to be screened by TSA personnel but they will not count against your carry-on baggage allowance.

During the flight drink fluids but avoid caffeine and carbonated drinks; they will make you feel bloated.

If you follow these steps, you should have a safe and hassle free flight.

This will also help out patients who only need an concentrator once in awhile and choose to rent instead of buying a concentrator. Renting a concentrator can become costly if the patient is planning a long trip and multiple batteries are needed. Most companies charge per battery and these costs can start adding up fast. With the Inogen G2 and its battery life of 8 hours, less batteries will be needed for your trip.

While increasing tissue-oxygen levels is a primary therapeutic effect of HBOT, other benefits include reducing edema, modifying growth factors and cytokine effects, stimulating more rapid development of capillary budding and granulation tissue formation within the wound bed, promoting cellular proliferation, accelerating collagen deposition, and increasing microbial oxidative killing.

Damaged tissue can have decreased oxygen levels that reduce the activity of several antibiotics, including aminoglycosides, sulfonamides, and fluoroquinolones. By raising the oxygen in ischemic tissue to normal levels, HBOT may normalize the activity of these antimicrobials. Additionally, HBOT may potentiate the activity of certain antimicrobials by inhibiting biosynthetic reactions in bacteria. HBOT can modulate the immune system response and also enhance oxygen-radical scavengers, thereby decreasing ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Although any therapeutic application of hyperbaric oxygenation is intrinsically associated with the potential for producing mild-to-severe side effects, the appropriate use of hyperoxia is one of the safest therapeutics available to the practitioner.

It is unknown if hyperbaric oxygen therapy will cause congenital defects in horses. In human studies it has not been shown to have adverse effects. In our hyperbaric center, we do not hesitate to treat a mare with HBOT, especially when the benefits outweigh the risks. It is not unusual in our clinic, if treating a foal, to allow the mare in the chamber during treatments to aid in the relaxation of the foal.

Once the critical level of oxygen is determined, oximetry may be used to adjust oxygen flow settings over time (see Symptoms and Diagnosis of Lung Disorders: Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) Analysis). Oximetry is painless and uses a simple device that is attached to a finger or ear to measure the concentration of oxygen in the blood.

Oxygen for long-term home use is available from three different delivery systems: electrically driven oxygen concentrators, liquid systems, and compressed gas. Inside the home, liquid and compressed gas systems use large tanks to store oxygen. Small, portable tanks of compressed oxygen also may be needed for brief periods—a few hours—outside the home. Each system has advantages and disadvantages.

Oxygen is typically administered with continuous flow through a two-pronged nasal tube (cannula), even though this system is highly wasteful of oxygen. To improve efficiency and increase the person’s mobility, several devices, including reservoir cannulas, demand-type systems, and transtracheal catheters, can be used. Usually, a respiratory therapist or physician instructs the person about proper oxygen use.

While using oxygen therapy at home, it is important to stabilize the tank (possibly using a stand) and store it in an area that is out of the way so it will not fall. Tanks should be closed tightly when not in use. Because oxygen can cause an explosion, it is also important to keep tanks away from any flammable source, such as matches, heaters, or hair dryers. No one in the house should smoke when oxygen is in use.

Hyper” means increased and “baric” relates to pressure. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) thus refers to intermittent treatment of the entire body with 100-percent oxygen at greater than normal atmospheric pressures. The earth’s atmosphere normally exerts approximately 15 pounds per square inch of pressure at sea level. That pressure is defined as one atmosphere absolute (abbreviated as 1 ATA). In the ambient atmosphere we normally breathe approximately 20 percent oxygen and 80 percent nitrogen. While undergoing HBOT, pressure is increased up to two times (2 ATA) in 100% oxygen. In the Sechrist monoplace chambers utilized at our facilities, the entire body is totally immersed in 100-percent oxygen. There is no need to wear a mask or hood. This increased pressure, combined with an increase in oxygen to 100 percent, dissolves oxygen in the blood plasma and in all body cells, tissues and fluids at up to 10 times normal concentration—high enough to sustain life with no blood at all (from 20% to 100% oxygen is a 5-fold increase, from 1 ATA to 2 ATA can double this again to a 10-fold or 1,000% increase).

While some of the mechanisms of action of HBOT, as they apply to healing and reversal of symptoms, are yet to be discovered, it is known that HBOT:

1) greatly increases oxygen concentration in all body tissues, even with reduced or blocked blood flow;

2) stimulates the growth of new blood vessels to locations with reduced circulation, improving blood flow to areas with arterial blockage;

3) causes a rebound arterial dilation after HBOT, resulting in an increased blood vessel diameter greater than when therapy began, improving blood flow to compromised organs;

4) stimulates an adaptive increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD), one of the body’s principal, internally produced antioxidants and free radical scavengers; and,

5) aids the treatment of infection by enhancing white blood cell action and potentiating germ-killing antibiotics.

While not new, HBOT has only lately begun to gain recognition for treatment of chronic degenerative health problems related to atherosclerosis, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, diabetic ulcers, wound healing, cerebral palsy, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, and many other disorders (conditions treated). Wherever blood flow and oxygen delivery to vital organs is reduced, function and healing can potentially be aided with HBOT. When the brain is injured by stroke, CP, or trauma, HBO may wake up stunned parts of the brain to restore function.

Many conditions are being treated with HBO worldwide.

For help finding a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Provider near you.

One of the world’s most experienced authorities on hyperbaric medicine was Dr. Edgar End, clinical professor of environmental medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who voiced his opinion on HBOT’s value for the treatment of stroke in this way: “I’ve seen partially paralyzed people half carried into the (HBOT) chamber, and they walk out after the first treatment. If we got to these people quickly, we could prevent a great deal of damage.”

Using the Sechrist monoplace chamber, HBOT is administered in a transparent, cylindrical chamber, approximately 8 feet long and 3 feet in diameter. The patient is made comfortable on a cot-like stretcher and rolled into the chamber. While in the chamber, the patient has full 360-degree vision through the transparent enclosure. The chamber is equipped with two-way microphones and speakers. The patient can watch TV, listen to music, read, nap, or talk with the chamber operator, family, or whoever is outside. During treatment, usually lasting an hour, the patient is surrounded by and inhales pure oxygen while pressure within the chamber is increased from 1-1/2 to 2 times the outside pressure. At the end of treatment, the patient is gradually decompressed to normal pressure and leaves the chamber.

History

The trend started in the late 1990s in Japan and quickly spread east to California and Las Vegas. Oxygen bars can now be found in many venues such as nightclubs, salons, spas, health clubs, resorts, tanning salons, restaurants, coffee houses, bars, airports, ski chalets, yoga studios, chiropractors, and casinos. They can also be found at trade shows, conventions and corporate meetings, as well as at private parties and promotional events.

Provision of oxygen

Oxygen Bar guests will normally pay $1.00 USD per minute to inhale an increased percentage of oxygen compared to the normal atmospheric content of 21% oxygen. This oxygen is produced from the ambient air by an industrial (non-medical) oxygen concentrator and inhaled through a nasal cannula from a few minutes to about 20 minutes. The FDA has warned against the use of industrial generators, as they do not have the proper filtration, and high concentrations may cause difficulties in breathing for some people with medical conditions. Many bars offer oxygen flavored with an aroma, produced by passing the oxygen through an aromatic liquid.

Claims

Proponents claim this practice is not only safe, but enhances health and well-being, including strengthening the immune system, enhancing concentration, reducing stress, increasing energy and alertness, lessening the effects of hangovers, headaches, and sinus problems, and generally relaxing the body. It has been alleged to alleviate hangovers and help with migraines, but no long-term, well-controlled scientific studies have yet confirmed any of these claims.

Precautions

The medical profession warns that individuals with respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema should not inhale too much oxygen. The FDA warns that some flavoring methods use oils, which if used improperly, and droplets are inhaled, might contribute to an inflammation of the lungs. Some oxygen bar companies offer safe water-based aromas for flavoring in order to maintain compliance and stay within FDA guidelines. Also, concentrated oxygen is a flame accelerant which should be kept away from cigarettes and other sources of ignition. Oxygen may also cause serious side effects at excessive doses. The effects of oxygen toxicity at atmospheric pressure can cause lung damage, and due caution should be exercised when consuming oxygen. In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive publishes guidance on equipment (including tubing) and on staff training, as well as warning on potential hazards, and makes several recommendations to ensure safe practice, principally to minimise fire risks.