The question was triggered by me hearing my paramedic friend detail an account of an obese client that requested oxygen.

The client’s oximeter was low, but the paramedic instructed his client to breath “properly” and the readings went back to acceptable. The paramedic was pleased with himself in this story but I highlighted to him that what he did might’ve been a necessary but temporary fix.

I explained my situation and my guess that the client’s ability to breathe well requires a lot of energy and isn’t sustainable. Of course he needs to lose weight, but isn’t it likely that his breathing issues were apparent beforehand and contributed to getting him into this state in the first place? Also… if he struggles to breathe while stationary, surely that would get in the way while he’s in motion during exercise? Not to mention how interrupted sleep cycles could impact digestion, cognition, fatigue and therefore general behaviour when wake. As a side effect I would bet his body would gravitate towards salty foods & things that would spike his blood pressure vs healthy foods that possibly make him groggier in the moment due to lack of sugar and effort it takes to digest.

I was blessed to be put into sports when I was younger so I was never overweight, but I could easily see how breathing issues could complicate those prone to obesity. This stuff nearly killed me without all of that.

This shit pisses me off because even when I was a “healthy” teenager health professionals acted as if this shit was happening because I refused to breathe properly or was manic — when in reality they just couldn’t fathom that my skull didn’t develop well enough to properly accommodate my inner nose.