Cannula Discomfort

[Lance F]

I was on a cannula for almost 4 hours today, and my nose kind of hurts. How tight do you have to draw up the cannula against your nose? How long to the little tubes that go into your nose have to be? Flying high (15,000') today was great for the weather and fuel economy, but my nose didn't like it.

 

[Walt]

Lance,
I wear cannulas fairly often and have found a looser fit works better than drawing them tight to your nose. If you can keep your headset sealed it is easiest to loop the lines over your ears. If your nose gets dry and chafed be careful what lotion you use as oxygen can promote an explosion. It does not happen often but when it does it creates a real emergency.

 

[bbchien]

Lance,
I wear cannulas fairly often and have found a looser fit works better than drawing them tight to your nose. If you can keep your headset sealed it is easiest to loop the lines over your ears. If your nose gets dry and chafed be careful what lotion you use as oxygen can promote an explosion. It does not happen often but when it does it creates a real emergency.

Lance, they need to fit loosely. When you inhale the 35 ml of oxgen in the reservoir (oxmizers) entrains via bernoulli effect and sucks out the reservoir. If you are using the straight cannulas (no reservoir) there's even less reason to have a tight fit. At 3L/min, that's only 20 ml of total flow during a 400 ms inspiration. If they fit tight you'll strangulate.

 

[wsuffa]

Lance,

My suggestion: use a pulse oximeter and try different positions & see the impact. I find that works well for me. I have DC headset, and I find the fit to be about right (for my fat head) to loop the oxy tubes over the volume controls on the headset. That way they're not affecting the ANR seal (enough trouble with my glasses).

 

[HPNFlyGirl]

If you have the grooves in your face from where the cannula was sitting, you had it a little too tight.

 

[Paul Allen]

I was on a cannula for almost 4 hours today, and my nose kind of hurts. How tight do you have to draw up the cannula against your nose? How long to the little tubes that go into your nose have to be? Flying high (15,000') today was great for the weather and fuel economy, but my nose didn't like it.

Lance,
How's the Mooney fly up at 15,000? I have an 81 201 and I have never been that high.
Thanks
Paul

 

[Ed Guthrie]

Lance,
How's the Mooney fly up at 15,000? I have an 81 201 and I have never been that high.
Thanks
Paul

The 201 starts getting a little mushy, wallow, less than crisp, call it what you want, in roll around 15-16k and the wallow, less than crisp, whatever, increases from there--downright funky as you near 18k; and the nose pitch up angle starts getting notable (to me) around 16k+, but otherwise the 201 doesn't care all the way to 17,500' (as high as I've gone--still climbing at that point).

Attached is the sight view at 15,000', can't really tell clearly from the picture, but nose is pitched up a few degrees more than "normal". Note IAS in the flap speed arc.

 

[AdamZ]

Bruce: I know in hospitals they run the O2 lines through a water resivoir I assume to add moisture so you don't dry out. Would a squirt of saline solution such as "Ocean" help at altitude while using 02 to keep the nasal membranes hydrated? I can't see how it would cause any problems. I use it all the time when flying commercial.

 

[gismo]

I was on a cannula for almost 4 hours today, and my nose kind of hurts. How tight do you have to draw up the cannula against your nose? How long to the little tubes that go into your nose have to be? Flying high (15,000') today was great for the weather and fuel economy, but my nose didn't like it.

You definitely don't want the tubes all the way in, just enough so they don't fall out if you move your head or hit a bump. I have also found that a little hydrocorizone cream (not ointment) before or after reduces the irritation. The goal is not to seal the tubes against your nose, you just need to insure that when you inhale all the gas coming out of the tubes goes into your nostrils. It's also important to limit your mouth breathing. Anytime you inhale with your mouth open you lose O2, and the higher you are the worse that effect is.

 

[Iceman]

After using them for 30+ hours on our trip to Alaska I found that the most comfortable way to have the cannula is to go over the volume controls (over the ear cups depending on headset) and adjust them to a length where the plastic ridge of the cannula is just off the end of your nose (not touching) and the two outlets are just inside the end of your nose. Then adjust your microphone so it supports the total weight of the cannula. You might have to play with it a few times but it should get to the point that you forget you have them on.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

I was on a cannula for almost 4 hours today, and my nose kind of hurts. How tight do you have to draw up the cannula against your nose? How long to the little tubes that go into your nose have to be? Flying high (15,000') today was great for the weather and fuel economy, but my nose didn't like it.

A light wrap of the breathable continous tape type bandage found in drug stores provides cushioning where desired and can help dissipate minor condensation for longer duration flights but it's not worth it for short hops.

 

[bbchien]

Bruce: I know in hospitals they run the O2 lines through a water resivoir I assume to add moisture so you don't dry out. Would a squirt of saline solution such as "Ocean" help at altitude while using 02 to keep the nasal membranes hydrated? I can't see how it would cause any problems. I use it all the time when flying commercial.

Yes it helps, but also doesn't address the deep down the trachea loss of what we call the "mucociliary elevator" which dries out in just dry air after about three hours....

....hours and hours in cannulas.....

 

[Lance F]

Man, this forum is great. I did not have problems with dryness. I just had the lanyard cranked up tight. I'm very glad that a loose fit is the way to go. My plan is to get one of the pulse oxymeters at the AOPA Expo in Nov. Hoping one of the suppliers is having a show special .

The Mooney was great at 15k as Ed said. The last couple thousand feet of climb were a bit slow. I didn't notice the pitch up, but I wasn't looking for it either. It was my highest climb in the plane so far. The numbers were great. 147 TAS and 7.1 gph (5 to 10 dF LOP). Somebody figure density altitude for me...the temp was 5 dC. I'm very happy with this plane as a cross country machine. I put 16 hours on it this week, all IFR and one loggable GPS approach (IMC past the FAF).