hermiei can give an interesting tidbit about how patients with smoker’s lung need to be treated with oxygen. in others, in case of smoke inhalation or any other reason for low oxygen in bloodstream, u can just give them the mask and help them get it up again. but with this patient group that could actually be the opposite of helping them, it worsens their condition and might actually kill them! let’s go to the start, what even is this syndrome. we’ve got chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. wat dat mean. chronic=that’s just the way their body is now, obstructive=something is obstructing from normal function, pulmonary=pertaining to the lungs and disease=disease. so this patient has chronic low lung flow and efficiency, which makes it so their exchange of O2 and CO2 aren’t as efficient. this makes it so they store way more co2 and less o2 than the average patient (spCO2 and O2) now why would it be bad to give this patient oxygen? this has to do with how the body regulates respiratory frequency, we’ve got two chemoreceptors which give a shout if there’s a too much of a concentration of a gas in our blood. our main one is the co2 chemoreceptor, but since these patients have chronic high pCO2 (and the body is a persevering fuck) they’ve gotten used to the low measurement and doesn’t shout out anymore. so for them, it’s the other one, which measures pO2. so if we rescue an old man who has been saved from a fire, undoubtedly inhaled a ton of smoke (CO2) and jam the oxygen mask on him (like u do), he might actually pass out since his lung frequency drops way down. we bring his pO2 way up, the chemoreceptor chills out and tells the lungs to chill out, so instead of trying exhale the CO2 out his system. so if we jump the gun, we might just induce CO2-narcosis in patients with this. my grandma had this and i had no idea what it was actually was before i started studying. not the lowest rating as it isn’t incompatible with life, but quality of life must suck
No comments yet
Sign in to comment.