Regular, daily exercise using the pursed lip breathing (PLB) technique will help reduce the CO2 levels because while you exercise you usually breathe deeper and exhale longer. The key to PLB is to be sure your exhale is at least twice as long as your inhale. With COPD, inhaling is rarely a problem; it's exhaling we're not as good at. That's part of what the "obstructive" is all about. The only way to tell whether your CO2 is elevated is an arterial blood gas draw; an ABG. Use and practice that PLB technique until you do it automatically and don't even think about it. When you're sob, it's a good way to recover. If you use it from the beginning when you exercise, you'll find it will help reduce the amount of time you're really sob.

Thank you for the detailed answers. The reason I asked is because i had a problem last night and my oxygen dropped to the mid 50s. I had sat watching tv with my concentrator running but not connected to my hose. I was not short of breath but did have other conditions leading me to investigate. once i got hose reconnected my O2 levels rose to acceptable level. 90 +. I told my aid this morning via text. she told me to take deep breaths and exhale deeply. we have to get the carbon dioxide out of your lungs. Did so but wondered if it was really needed. thanks again.

I don't think so , a test must be performed for measuring that.

Thank you Jean.

No, that's not the case. Both CO2 and O2 saturation can be quite high or low at the same time. They do have a relationship with each other, but it's a lot more complicated than that!