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On the Netflix show "Pandemic" I remember the doctor in India receiving a patient from the countryside who had been sick for quite awhile with the swine flu. She had very low O2 saturation. Can't remember what it was, maybe 70%?
"This is not a new phenomenon," said Dr. Marc Moss, the division head of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. There are other conditions in which patients are extremely low on oxygen but don't feel any sense of suffocation or lack of air, Moss told Live Science. For example, some congenital heart defects cause circulation to bypass the lungs, meaning the blood is poorly oxygenated.
However, the increased understanding that people with COVID-19 may show up with these atypical coronavirus symptoms is changing the way doctors treat them.
Normal blood-oxygen levels are around 97%, Moss said, and it becomes worrisome when the numbers drop below 90%. At levels below 90%, the brain may not get sufficient oxygen, and patients might start experiencing confusion, lethargy or other mental disruptions. As levels drop into the low 80s or below, the danger of damage to vital organs rises.
However, patients may not feel in as dire straits as they are. A lot of coronavirus patients show up at the hospital with oxygen saturations in the low 80s but look fairly comfortable and alert, said Dr. Astha Chichra, a critical care physician at Yale School of Medicine. They might be slightly short of breath, but not in proportion to the lack of oxygen they're receiving..."
We ordered it 2 days ago so at this point I can't tell you how long it will be until it's delivered but it's a reputable company and I didn't want to order one from China, wait a month then get one that's a piece of crap.
We ordered it 2 days ago so at this point I can't tell you how long it will be until it's delivered but it's a reputable company and I didn't want to order one from China, wait a month then get one that's a piece of crap.
Although it may be shipped from the US, when you get it, look on the back and see where it was made.
With so much enthusiasm on this thread, I hate to burst everyone's bubble, BUT- there are several medical/physiological inaccuracies stated in that article, something I'd expect from an ER doc whose experience includes mostly acute cases with little exposure to the pre-emergent period or follow-up period thereafter.
Re: walking pneumonia-- we have 2L of lungs-- a small patch of pus filled alveoli hardly diminishes our ability to maintain proper levels of O2 & co2 in our blood, hence, we walk around without breathing difficulties.
O2 levels-- Medicare won't pay for, nor does it help anything, to take supplemental O until the sat level gets down to 88%. Many COPD pts, for instance, in Functional Class I & II, have normal O2 sat levels at normal activity, but desaturate when doing a little more effort. They qualify for portable O2.
The correlation of SOB to O2 sat has more to do with the rate at which O2 falls than with the level it falls to. Cf- people born up in the Andes don't feel SOB. Tourists notice it right away. Our drive to breathe is determined by our co2 levels.
Pneumonia progresses along a timeline from mild to more sever. O2 sat may be normal early on and then deteriorate. "Normal" pneumonia progresses over the course of a couple days. CoViD pneumonia apparently develops fulminately. It's like approaching a cliff-- you're fine until that one step too many and down you go suddenly. Taking O2 sat levels early in the course probably won't get anybody help any earlier than not taking them.
BTW- lost in the article because he stated it obscurely-- the feeling of shortness of breathe has to do with rising co2 levels, not falling o2 levels. Co2 diffuses rapidly from blood to air, so you need a big volume of consolidated lung before the levels in your blood go up.
The author is right that once put on a ventilator for CoViD, the pt is doomed (survival rates variously reported so far from 50 -10%). He talks as if earlier treatment will avoid that problem-- the problem is, there's no direct treatment for the virus and no way to slow its course. The deterioration of the lungs depends solely on the pt's own defense mechanisms.
If you have a newer-model (post-2016) Samsung smart phone you don't have to buy a pulse oximeter device. It's built into your phone, in "Samsung Health" app. You just cover the flash next to your phone's camera on the back with the pad of your finger, and sit still. I check my pulse/heart rate and oxygen level every week.
This morning it was 70 heart rate, and 98% oxygen. Basically - 100% normal.
If you have a newer-model (post-2016) Samsung smart phone you don't have to buy a pulse oximeter device. It's built into your phone, in "Samsung Health" app. You just cover the flash next to your phone's camera on the back with the pad of your finger, and sit still. I check my pulse/heart rate and oxygen level every week.
This morning it was 70 heart rate, and 98% oxygen. Basically - 100% normal.
Thanks so much! I just did it, all it said is 64bpm heart rate. I'm not seeing anything about oxygen level. I have a Samsung Galaxy note 9
Too bad everyone is sold out of low priced oximeters, and you have to wait a month to get them....from China.
You are likely not doing yourself any good by getting a low priced one, as they are in many instances inaccurate.
Thus you might feel the need to go to the ER based on this interesting article unnecessarily.
Get one that is of medical grade quality, preferably with a FDA or higher certification.
As to most made in China, considering how we have allowed all sorts of things to be farmed to China, this might be a good time to find one made in America instead.
There needs to be an concerted effort for Americans to buy American, otherwise we will find similar situations like you are describing, needing to wait months for something that you might need right away.
Thanks so much! I just did it, all it said is 64bpm heart rate. I'm not seeing anything about oxygen level. I have a Samsung Galaxy note 9
Okay on the "home" page, on the top is your total number of steps so far today.
Under where you put your weight and what not - is Heart rate..and under that is "Stress." You want to measure Stress.
When you do that, you'll get 2 numbers: BPM and O2 saturation rate. The SR will be in percentage form. If you're under 95%, try a second time, after relaxing and taking in a few deep breaths. If you're suffering from allergies or getting over a cold, it might be lower than 95% but a "normal" range would be 95% and up.
If yours is at, or near 80%, then there is something about your health that's causing an abnormal rate and it would be worth checking out as soon as you can get an appointment. If it's under 80% then something is definitely wrong, and you are probably experiencing SOME kinds of symptoms - maybe without even realizing it (such as getting wheezy if you try climbing steps or feeling dizzy if you bend over and try to touch your toes/tie your shoes). That's when you call the doctor and ask if he needs you to come in right away.
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