Breathing is essential to life. It’s, therefore, important for caregivers to know how to support family members who struggle to get adequate oxygen, who need help clearing their airway, or who suddenly stop breathing. Techniques for helping to improve and manage breathing difficulties in various ways build confidence in a caregiver’s ability to manage safety at home.
Managing Oral Secretions Many medical conditions produce thick secretions that are difficult for weak individuals to clear out of their lungs. These secretions block the airway passages preventing oxygen from entering the bloodstream. What causes this problem? Suctioning may be the only way to remove these secretions to allow a person to breathe. However, […]
Tracheostomy Care at Home The normal pathway to receive air into the lungs and expel carbon dioxide is into the mouth or nose, down the throat, and into the lungs. Suppose a blockage occurs anywhere along that path preventing air from reaching the lung. An emergency surgical incision may be performed through the neck and
Breathing Therapy When someone is struggling to breathe, the diagnosis’s name may help the doctor determine the course of treatment, but for the caregiver, all you want to do is help them breathe easier. Therefore, it is often useful to become familiar with both the common and unusual symptoms of a condition and the “home
Abnormal Breath Sounds Noisy Breathing Normal breathing is quiet. When breathing is noisy, it’s considered abnormal breath sounds and often means something about the airway is making it more difficult for air to get through. Most of the time, the “something” is congestion that developed due to an infection, but it can also be
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Normal Respiratory Function To recognize when something isn’t working right, you need to know what it looks like when working perfectly. Therefore, let’s do a lesson on normal respiratory function. Don’t worry; it won’t be painful. Overview of the Normal Respiratory Function The purpose of the normal respiratory function is to breathe oxygen from the
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Oxygen Therapy It may surprise you to know that oxygen is a regulated drug. Like all other medications, it has a therapeutic dose, known side effects, and risks associated with misuse; therefore, using it requires a doctor’s prescription. Although you can buy small bottles of oxygen in pharmacies to support climbers or runners, and anyone
