Too Much Oxygen
Watching Carl Stough's video called Breathing the Source of Life I learned that during his research in developing the diaphragm he learned that oxygen can have a suffocating effect when used excessively. I am reminded of the ancient yogic axiom "If you don't use it you will lose it".
A client working at a famous West Coast sleep laboratory told me that when people use the CPAP or IPAP that they rarely ever get away from needing them for the rest of their life.
I suspect that the oxygen supplementation and or assisted breathing with forced air through a tube (IPAP & CPAP) can atrophy one's natural breathing and cause oxygen toxicity or mechanical dependability.
It is ironic then that the below article talks about reducing deaths by 20% due to reduced excessive oxygen. Like it was a great awakening. Stough's research occurred 30 years ago. Where have these people been?
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/ucsf-sci031000.html
From Dr. Len Saputo:
In people with severe lung disease, when you give them too much
oxygen from an external source, they often will slow down their
breathing enough that carbon dioxide can build up to dangerous levels.
This is called CO2 narcosis. I doubt that this could occur from natural
breathing... So in these people, when we give supplemental oxygen it is
important to measure blood gases to be certain of what is going on.
From Mike:
Excessive CO2 actually causes tension in the muscles and I strongly
suspect that it inhibits deepest easiest breathing long before the
pulmonary specialist believes it is harmful.
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