Trying to get oxygen

@Tigger.co.uk‍ @tranad‍ @Beryl Richards‍ @TrudyE‍ @Nellbat‍ @Benjam23‍ @Miranda‍ @Scotty 2‍ @Thortwenty‍ @JazzyC‍ @wendychick1‍ @Suet50‍ @Frankie's‍ hello! I hope you are doing good. Do you have any advice to help our fellow member @Jean.G‍? Thanks in advance!

Jeanc I wish I could help but I have no experience of this. I would have thought that you could ask the Dr's to contact the clinic and explain your fear of needles. It really bugs me that they don't listen to the patient but insist on unnecessary tests to confirm what you could have told them. Touch wood my COPD is only stage 1/2,not exactly sure which as mine is complicated by chronic brittle asthma which masks the symptoms, I wish you all the best and hope that you get the oxygen and other treatments to help your COPD without putting you through the stress and anxiety of these tests. All the best and please keep us updated, take care. 

I have emphysema  c o p d I used to have asthma but after having my radiotherapy I have now got emphysema I have had a really bad chest infections  but I get very breathless just going from my chair to the toilet I use 2 puffs of salbutamol and 2 puffs of seretide and triophian where you put a pill in machine press side and breath deeply until you find it vibrate when vibration stops you then discard the empty casing ,also I have been to rehabilitation exercise  but because I have other illnesses plus breast cancer I couldn't do exercises but I did go to all the talks with the nhs nurses  twice a week for 20 weeks and I found it helped a lot also they were able to get me stand by antibiotics and steroids, but unfortunately I had to use these twice but they still supplied me more I do see a chest specialist also and I have been in hospital with my chest infections but I was put on a nebuliser for half an hr then bloods were taken and I was given more antibiotics but I'm out of hospital now but they are still keeping a watchful eye on my lungs, but if you ask your doctor he can put your name down for rehabilitation excercise  then they will send you an appointment I find it is worth going very helpful with understanding more about copd emphysema and asthma hope this helps love tiger xxxx 

@Jean.G Jean there are other options of taking blood when an arterial blood test is required. That is from your ear, difficult to do for the medical staff where they use a prong device but may take several tries and can hurt. But they do have various solutions to reduce pain when doing this type of painful tests using local anaesthetics. They don't offer these options and you have to ask for them. A Doctor going through Chemo at the same time told me all about them and I to hate needles, not good as a diabetic and cancer patient. My wife had quite a few arterial blood tests and agrees very painful especially by incompetent medical personnel. Good luck!

I had mild copd my sats were 97 to 99 on a good day. I went into hospital for an operation on my shoulder. While trying to wake me up the aneathatist popped my lung. I spent 2 days on high dependency ward and 5 days on a ward then home. Three weeks ago I was rushed back into hospital then intensive care for 10 days with double pneumonia. I had 6 arterial bloods done which they did properly and the last one amazed me she was so gentle and it hardly hurt.  When I was taken into ITU the doctor tried time and time again to get one. Inside of the wrist is the painful. The top of the arm is the one that didnt hurt. I have never had it before yes would have it in the top of my arm again. Have never heard of any other way to find out what they can with an arterial cannula. Hope you can find another way soon so they know exactly what is wrong.

Thank you all for your help. I have now stopped going to the pulmonary clinic as the new head of that is not even a qualified nurse and appears to think we all fit inside the basic info she has read in a book. I am being treated by my practice nurse who not only has the necessary medical training but also understands the variations from patient to patient as both her Grandfather and her Mother suffer from COPD. There is no way i will ever agree to  arterial blood tests after my previous experience and especially at the hands of someone who has no established medical training.  The machine readings show how low my oxygen stats are from even the smallest  and basic movement and I do not see why this information cannot be used but again, thank you all for your help and I hope you all manage to enjoy some quality of life.