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How Do You Wear Your Oxygen Cannula?
Recently I watched a video from Chloe Temtchine on how to feel confident wearing oxygen. This was particularly helpful for me as a young adult living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)! Chloe discussed the importance of feeling confident, among many other helpful things in her YouTube video. I wrote a full forum post about this last week.
One of the things that Chloe talked about in her video was how she wears her oxygen cannula. She chooses to wear it with the chord/tubing hooked up behind her back vs. falling under her chin. I thought I’d never seen anyone wear their oxygen cannula this way, although now that I think of it I have seen pictures of people wearing oxygen that don’t have excess tubing hanging down in front of them. I guess I never really noticed how they did this, until Chloe brought it to my attention. Somehow the ‘obviousness’ of wearing oxygen seems a little less when wearing it this way …
I decided to try flipping the cannula over my head and tightening the adjustable piece at the back. A bonus of doing it this way, was that I could tuck the connector/adjustable piece under my hair if I was wearing it down! It took a little while to get used to at first as I kept grabbing at the excess tubing that normally falls in front of me and under my chin, but it was behind me. It also took some adjustment to manage the tubing behind me, ie. not sitting on it or tripping over it since it was behind me and could get tangled without my knowing it. Once I adjusted though, it has actually become my preferred way of wearing my oxygen cannula now.
I find when the tubing is behind me, and the adjustable piece is tightened at the base of my skull, the cannula across my face seems to fit snugger and doesn’t move around as much. I also find that the small piece of my nose between my nostrils (sorry, folks!) is not as irritated or sore when I wear my cannula this way. Alas, you learn something new every day!
Had you ever heard of or deliberately worn your oxygen cannula this way?
Do you think you’ll try it, or is your preference to have the tubing be in front of you so it is easier to access?
Curious to hear your thoughts!
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4 Replies
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I wear mine curve side down , but when I wake up in the morning it’s most likely in my ear !
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LOL Chuck – a few people have made comments like this, which gives me a hilarious visual and always makes me laugh. Thank you for that! Don’t you notice that it falls off your face in the night? My machine would beep like crazy as it picks up no breath sounds if it isn’t in my nose, and then I wake up with a spitting cough as well if it isn’t on. Glad this doesn’t happen to you 🙂
Enjoy your Saturday!
Charlene.
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hi chuck
I wear mine with the tubing in front of me and it works for me.I tried it running thru my shirt and down but the tubing can get crimped, I some times lose the cannula during the night but my machine beeps and wakes me ip.good luck
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Hi Ray,
Thanks for getting in touch with us and sharing your experiences about how wearing your cannula works best for you 🙂 My machine (Respironics SimplyGo) also beeps to wake me up if the cannula falls off in the night! Hope you continue to do well, and thanks for sharing!
Charlene.
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