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Dyspnea, like pain, is one of those conditions with a massive psychiatric component.

I've had patients who had a blood oxygen level of 97% who never the less needed to be put on a morphine and midazolam drip to keep the dyspnea at bay, and I've also had patients who are down to 80% and feels perfectly fine on room air.

I was a respiratory therapist for a long time and I was always amazed at how much a fan could help people.

That's good to know!

Give me morphine and be done with it.

Maybe that's also a reason why people with respatory illnesses where often send to places with fresh air and wind and reported feeling somewhat better, although this didn't treat the illness at all.

I've had a few MRIs in my life. This last time I noticed they had little fans blowing on my face. It did help relax me a bit.

I think it's mostly that air in those place typically have lower levels of particulates in the air.

Fan life is real.

South Koreans hate it.

I keep a small fan in my bedroom, year round. The light air circulation is calming and I notice I don’t wake up all congested.

Perhaps, but it could also simply be that without a fresh breeze, the oxygen in the room might be depleted enough from rebreathing to matter. Or perhaps more likely, the raised C2O causes problems with blood ph.

I almost can’t sleep without a fan on. My body has mad trouble regulating its temperature, but a small breeze on my face helps keep me from getting sweaty. I also like the white noise aspect, I think.

> the oxygen in the room might be depleted enough from rebreathing to matter.

You have to be sucking air down at a truly prodigious rate to noticeably deplete the oxygen levels of a modern mechanically ventilated room

I’ve advised the use of fans for my hospice patients for years. It really does work.

Thats why ceiling fans in the bedroom or sitting room can really help a person with SOB (shortness of breath or dyspnea)

My son's pediatrician said that one issue with babies sleeping on their stomachs is that they end up re-inhaling their own CO2 because their breathing is so shallow. I wonder if the fan is just moving the air enough to get that CO2 out of the way?

No. The science on it says no. Just no. All of it. No.

Pt o2 sat at 52%. Fan on, NC in place running ar 2%

No difference. Pt still panics. Tissue still become ischemic.

This isn't a new or revolutionary or unknown study, and it's not the only one to mention this

-Frankie's husband, the former palliative care nurse

The last time I had to have one done, there was no fan. It was so hot and I had horrible panic attacks

Imagine how much the hospital will bill for this as a line item

Does it actually improve the O2 saturation or just relieve the SoB symptom?

I think it just relieves the symptoms.

Well , they could have used them recently.

The white noise also has a calming effect, at least for me anyway.

For some reason blowing air towards my face, even gently, from a fan or ceiling fan, makes me feel like I'm suffocating.

"fan death" lol

Depends on what is causing the dyspnea. If you have lung disease, most likely supplemental o2 will only do so much at low levels, and can lower your respiratory drive if the flow rate gets too high. Heart failure on the other hand, can be greatly improved by supplemental oxygen, regardless of flow rate.

A fan blowing in your general direction can also relieve and prevent motion sickness in VR gaming.

…casually looks over to my bedside fan as I read this…

The things we do to trick our little lizard brains

I think that's a lot of it, from what I understand, most of our sensation of suffocation is a buildup of CO2, not a lack of oxygen, so it would make sense that that's what makes people feel short of breath.

There's been some studies about fans/ moving air in babies rooms helping prevent sids, so possibly.

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>I'm thinking that at some point a fan would become ineffective

There's a neat thing in science called the Bernoulli Principle. Here's a simple demonstration with air.

I imagine the volume of airflow you'd get with a fan gives a lot of relief.

I can confirm this helps. As a high level quadriplegic with deteriorating neurological function I am starting to experience all the symptoms myself. A fan directly in the face definitely makes a difference to how I fall asleep and my quality of sleep.

All MRI machines have fans now, as some scans (such as your lower back) tend to heat you up. Ask the technologist to turn it on beforehand if you know it will relax you.

Light air circulation lowers my body temp and helps me sleep. The downside is I struggle without it.

I’m sure you know this, but if you are not on entresto and can tolerate it, get on it. It has done wonders to alleviate fatigue in my patients.

I can't sleep without a fan on, now i know why

How do you type?

You’re being downvoted but you may not be wrong. The paper in OP’s link seems to be essentially talking about a placebo effect that makes patients feel better.

Furthermore. CO2 buildup in indoor spaces (or more generally poor indoor air quality) has been identified as a problem in many building and in fact building codes are changing to require measurement and corrective actions (if required).

All of this contributes to how patients do and feel.

I need moving air. I could be 40°f in my bedroom and I'll still use a fan. It's not about temperature control, I can't breathe without moving air.

So are you actually short of breath or is it all psychiatric? I sometimes feel short of breath by my o2 levels are normal. I think it’s probably due to anxiety.

Did you grow up in a cold climate?

“Insane pressure to do well academically from a young age that leads to a suicide the parents refuse to accept they contributed to” death.

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Honestly helps my car sickness a lot too

When I had covid for the second time, lung damage from the first. I had fans on the whole time. I thought it was just a placebo

Windy City makes sense

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Thank you for the suggestion, I just read the Wikipedia article on entresto and will bring it up with my doctor next time. I sure could use less fatigue since I've got a balance disorder in addition to the heart failure and HPB and I get really wobbly when standing. My biggest worry is falling, which I've done numerous times.

I have sleep apnea and before I was diagnosed I became religious with my bedside fan. I got such better sleep when I had it on. I attributed it to less sweat during the night because a major symptom for me was night sweats. Maybe the fan helped me get better sleep in more ways then one! I’d love to see this effect studied on more sleep disorders.

Are you getting wobbly only when changing positions (lying to sitting, sitting to standing), or does it happen randomly? This might be orthostatic hypotension. You may want to invest in some compression stockings.

XD

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Ive tried some compression stickings but had a real problem getting them on due to limited use of my hands (arthritis and advanced dupuytrens) and herniated cervical discs. The socks were probably not the right size so I'm pr8babky going to try again uto get my leg BP up a bit. But it seems like the fatigue is mostly the cause of my shaky legs when standing for more than a couple of minutes, complicated by general lack of balance, apparently related to major head injuries years ago and occasional bouts of vestibular vertigo when changing my head position too quickly. I use a cane and a chair when going out but am mostly bedridden due to the weakness and fatigue, which only makes it worse. But I have cable and a fun game I'm invested in, so I've got that giung for me, which is nice. ;) I appreciate your spending the time to chat with me, and I posted a couple more comments elsewhere with more detail. Short version is that I'm 69, just falling apart and pretty much OK with it.