Masks

[uncoverdc.com]

I wondered about those people that have to wear those masks for 8 hours, breathing in their stale air and that has to affect them.

Liz

"Absolutely. Lower oxygen levels is one result. A 2006 study showed that reduction in blood oxygenation (hypoxia) and/or an elevation in blood C02 (hypercapnia) can create painful headaches for people required to wear masks all day. It should also be noted that people with asthma or hypotension are at a greater risk of stroke, cardiac arrest, or an irregular heartbeat when suffering from hypoxia"

So I did the test, I tested my SpO2 with a pulse ox. 95% (I live at 5,500' and this is normal). Wore mask for 20 minutes. Retested SpO2 - 95%. As noted below, as I train for higher serum CO2, I know what it feels like & my cotton mask doesn't increase CO2. This one, which I have and use for that purpose during exercise, does.

Interestingly, because of the Bohr effect hemoglobin has less affinity for O2 as pH is reduced (goes more acidic). This is what happens as serum CO2 increases. When this happens (the bond is reduced) your cells actually get MORE not less O2. The urge to breathe is mostly controlled by serum CO2 levels. This trigger is something that can be trained, so you learn to breathe less (think free divers as an end point). Russian doctor, Konstantin Buteyko, devoted his life's work to getting folks to have higher serum CO2 and treated asthma, hypertension & much more by doing this. He did a lot of research on breathing with relationship to what was optimum for their space program. I train for this with a Russian rebreather, a Frolov device, as well as I always breathe through my nose, even with intense exercise. I even tape my mouth shut during sleep to insure I don't mouth breathe then.

For more on this here is a podcast with UK MD Rangan Chatterjee interviewing Irish breathing instructor, Patrick McKeown (who was trained by Buteyko)

Most of the data suggest these non medical masks protect others from you, not as well you from others. See here for a visual.

George:

Lot of interesting stuff. But your 20 min. test doesn't equal a person wearing the mask for 8 hrs. I understand that small droplets of the virus can get through most masks. Lots of differences of opinion among doctors and scientists. People tug and push at their masks which I guess they shoudn't do.

Quote
Elizabeth
But your 20 min. test doesn't equal a person wearing the mask for 8 hrs

I do a lot of playing around with breath. I disagree with this. If the SpO2 is going to change, it changes rapidly. When I wear a training mask, as I linked above, I can restrict flow and drop O2 right away.

What can happen, depending on the mask, is that CO2 will accumulate, though it will reach a steady state in a few minutes. Because CO2 signals the urge breathe, those where this signal is set at low level may feel like they need to breathe more, or can't breathe.

Russian Dr. Buteyko developed a simple test that he called "control pause" or CP. This tests the level of your brain's CO2 trigger. Briefly, you are breathing in and out normally through your nose. On a normal exhale, not an extreme exhale, you hold your breath out. You time it till you feel the first urge to breathe, not an extreme breath hold and time it. More detail here and video instruction.

Dr. Buteyko developed a chart for the CP time and health. Buteyko actually measured serum CO2 and correlated it with the CP time. Longer is better. Mine is around 27 seconds - not great, but not horrid. I continue to work on it.

When Buteyko was a young medical student, he was assigned to observe people who were dying. He got to the point he could predict when they were about to expire, based on breathing rate. When you become observant, you can see that people who aren't in good health breathe rapidly at rest and many times through their mouth, not nose.

As to non-medical masks, what they are good at is capturing or slowing down exhaled droplets. They won't help you if you are in a cloud of aerosols. Assuming that people can transmit when they are a) asymptomatic; b) pre symptomatic; c) symptomatic but not isolating, the masks can help reduce these transmissions. The article I posted here noted, "Successful Infection = Exposure to Virus x Time." My understanding is that aerosol transmission requires time, hence the choir practice scenario is a risky situation.

This is personal for me. I do many things to reduce the probability of a serious case, some of it thanks to your Dr. Brownstein. I have an adult son whose been diagnosed with glioblastoma for 3 years (this is what killed John McCain in a year and my son's neurosurgeon gave him 12-18 months after his surgery). My son's immune function is trashed from the treatment and the illness. I help care give and take him to appointments, so if I get the illness and don't know it, it could be fatal for him. Hence I pay great attention to how to avoid it.

My operating assumptions:
- staying away from people is best
- being around people outside, with 6+ feet between people is next
- if I go inside around people, I do wear a mask, and do not spend a long time inside or near others.

I look at my mask not as protecting me, but protecting those around me, if I'm shedding virus. I feel it is the least I can do for people like the clerks I deal with at the stores. They are exposed to people all day.

{edit} if someone has a problem breathing with a mask, a face shield is also an option. The receptionist for one of my son's therapy appointments was wearing one instead of a mask. Eliminates the O2 restriction and CO2 accumulation issue. From Cleveland Clinic on shields.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2020 12:19PM by GeorgeN.

George there are pros and cons about mask wearing, this article is con, makes sense to me: The majority of people do not do the breath exercises which you do, so perhaps for you wearing a mask has a different outcome and it would for me and the majority of people.

[jennifermargulis.net]


I understand your precaution around your son, sorry, sometimes life is unfair.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2020 03:37PM by Elizabeth.

Quote
Elizabeth
George there are pros and cons about mask wearing, this article is con, makes sense to me: The majority of people do not do the breath exercises which you do, so perhaps for you wearing a mask has a different outcome and it would for me and the majority of people.

A lot of her examples are from wearing N95 masks. These are more restrictive and could reduce O2 and increase CO2. Civilians are not encouraged to wear N95's to keep the supply for medical people. Running or exercising in one would be similar to me exercising in a training mask. I do it intentionally but breathing would be more difficult if you aren't used to it. There are stories of Soviet recruits having to exercise all day in gas masks and they became extremely fit.

However, a two layer cotton mask like I wear doesn't have these issues. As I mentioned, I don't look at a mask as an end all in transmission prevention. Certainly they will do little for aerosols. Their largest effect is reducing velocity and changing the direction on droplets from the person wearing the mask. If people have issues, then a face shield solves the low O2 & higher CO2 ones.

Also, there is a lot of nitric oxide production in the nose. It has great antiseptic properties. People should breathe through their noses to take advantage of this. If you hum, it increases the nasal nitric oxide by 10x, so just go around breathing through your nose & humming.

Professionals talking about dangers of mask wearing
[www.youtube.com]

I do not own this content, for the full video please click the link below.
[youtu.be]

Early in the video she talks about the virus being created with chimeric research.
here is search for it. [www.google.com]

I was wearing a snug fitting n95 mask (not at the tip of my nose, large loose gaping sides like others I see who wear their masks incorrectly) Thursday PLUS a face shield for 5 hours. My oxygen level was 100%. It’s an accurate reading because I spent most of those 5 hours being hooked up to a monitor at the cath lab in the hospital. Wearing a mask didn’t affect my oxygenation. IMHO a n95 is harder to wear than a bogus thin blue paper mask or a 2.5% ineffective cloth mask that hangs from the tip of their nose.

Darwin loves the whole mask thing.

I started out with N95, used surgical masks for a while but now back to N95. Covid is about to get serious.

We try and be smart. I have a daughter who is required to wear a n95 mask, A face shield and PPE 10 hours a day. She is the Director over the Therapist where she works. The individuals they work with are Autistic Kids.
They have ran many random professional standardized test and debunked the 02 and C02 theories. Now, My daughter is 39...... I believe age matters.
I have seen the test ran by professionals hired by her company. That’s all I can say and I believe my daughter. She does not have a choice anyway. You either do it or find another line of work. Like she says That is why I get paid the big bucks.

“Every single American should be wearing a mask when they are outside for the next three months at a minimum,” Biden said during a press briefing on Thursday, adding in his characteristic awkward cadence that “every governor should mandate mandatory mask wearing.”

A nationwide mask mandate would save “over 40,000 lives,” according to the experts, Biden claimed.


Well, I would like to know what experts he is talking about, there is no science that backs that claim. I work outside in my yard and garden, I don't wear any mask and won't, my neighbors don't wear any masks outside either. The guy is getting nuttier.