How To Deal With A Tangled Oxygen Line

[gerald]

Some interesting points here that are worth a try.

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How To Deal With A Tangled Oxygen Line
By Tonya Hidalgo—November 10, 2017

For those who use oxygen to help manage their COPD, the tube line can often pose a bit of a problem. If you’re not careful with your oxygen line, just walking from room to room can become hazardous. Having an extra long line can be helpful in the house, but it can also present a few problems. There were many times that my mom would be walking through the house only to be jarred to a stop by the long oxygen line either being stepped on or wrapping around something that she didn’t see.
Here are a few tips to tame the tangled mess.

Coil It Up – Although you may sometimes need the full extension of the line, it could be easier to shorten the section you will be using by coiling up the excess and placing it near the concentrator until it is needed. Then you can pull off a few extra feet as you need it. This will keep extra line from following you around the house. For example, my mom used a heavy sculpture to keep the extra line in place. She would lay the extra coil over the sculpture (basically circling the sculpture) so that as she would walk past it, the line extra line would not follow.

Create a Collection Point – You can create collection points around the house. This would be especially helpful in a big house. You could use the same concept as above with a heavy sculpture, a hook or even a mommy stroller hook would work great. For example, if you were going to be in the kitchen for an extended time and you didn’t want the line in the way of other people in other rooms, you could place the line out of the way in the room you will not be in and attach it to a collection point or “pivot” point when you get to the kitchen. This would keep the line from pulling in different directions as you move around the room.

Find the Proper Coiling Method – This may sound odd, but my background in television production also helped in coiling mom’s line. There were many times that she would ask me to re-coil it to get the twists and kinks out. There is a method to the madness, and it is called “over under”. It would be very difficult to try to explain this verbally, so I would recommend finding a video online that will show you how to do this. If the line is coiled correctly, you would literally be able to toss it straight out, and it would land without any kinks. This takes practice, so I understand if this is simply outside of your scope of things to deal with. However, anytime you are going to store the line for an extended time, it would be good to do it this way. Also, sometimes a line needs to be retrained to lay out correctly. All types of cables will learn how they are coiled most often.

Create a Warning Tug – One last thing to consider is finding a way to give yourself a warning tug. My mom would hang the line close to the concentrator. This did two things: It helped to keep water out of the line, but it also gave her a more gentle warning when she was getting to the end of her line.

copd.net/living/tangled-oxygen-line/

[jim]

Thank you Gerald, this is stuff I will have to get used to doing.

[gerald]

Me too!!!   A have almost ripped my nose off a couple of times coming to a quick end of the hose!!

[jim]

[lavishgail]

Gerald, Me to, my whole face drags to the floor HAHAHA

[skate4life]

For new and old timers, this is a good time to scroll down to my November posting "Simple Hints."

Gail and others - I finally got a large bunch of clips to hold my O2 to my shirt. Basically they came from an ID Badge company. It has a very small vinyl band that snaps snuggly around the o2 tubing and came with 2 types of small pinch clips - one with teeth, one with the ends covered in black heavy plastic. If you want to try one of these, send me a PM and particulars and I will gladly send you one after the Holidays. Sorry I don't do photos. Someone said they saw something similar on Amazon.....

Gail, was that a new way to have a 'face lift?' Glad to know you face is up and pretty as ever.....

[gerald]

Skate4life, that is an excellent idea.

I assume these are what you are referring to:

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I think Staples or Office Depot would carry these.

[skate4life]

Gerald - the one on the far right is the one I have. When I was looking, neither Staples or office depot, etc. did not have one that could be converted to the one I got. As you know, I wear an Oxymizer pendant and the weight pulls on my earlobes to the point that the right one's cartilage has broken down. Using this clip greatly relieved the pressure. The clip also keeps tubing securely to clothing even at the waist.

[jarca]

I use the clips on the right= "badge clips" and I get mine from walmart. They are in an odd section in the store; I think in back with the post it notes & stuff (office supplies).
but if one shops online just look up "metal badge clips" as i accidently got ones once that the clip was plastic & didn't hold well.
I just looked & amazon has them online cheaper than walmart & they have several different size packages.
Since I purchased 50 of the things & 1 lasts a long time, I have a lot of uses for them, they are handy for more than just holding my 02 line!

[lavishgail]

I wonder IF a close pin will work? Not the to tight type? They come in all shapes and sizes! And colors too, we can match our outfits , just noticed THIS thread again. Skate, no facelift, , soon though..ha ha hehe

[jarca]

i know people that just use a baby safety pin to slide line thru----i'll stick to the badge clips, seems they were made for just this purpose as they fit so perfectly