My wife's lung capacity is 49% generally. She often has difficulty breathing and is quickly severely out of breathe with physical activity. Walking even a short distance is very difficult. This has reduced her activities. As a result she is adding weight making matters worse. It seems she has a growing number of other health issues. Her doctor prescribed medication, but the side effects were so terrible she won't take it. They were paralyzing her legs and other terrible side effects.
Her concern is that if she ever uses oxygen therapy even just for physical activities or to catch her breathe then she will permanently be required to use supplemental oxygen as a dependency. Her doctor told her if she ever uses oxygen she will have to use it the rest of her life, but if she does not take all the prescriptions she will "die." She the prescriptions have such terrible side effects she won't take them.
Is that accurate? If a person occasionally uses oxygen to allow physical mobility does that weaken a person's lungs creating a permanent dependency? My sense is that she needs to exercise and walk for many reasons including to address serious weight gain - and without supplemental oxygen she can't. Lack of mobility also is adversely affecting her quality of life.
Any thoughts on this?