# Do You Check You Oxygen Saturation Level?



## fmdog44 (Oct 4, 2020)

Since oxygen saturation is an issue with COVID I checked mine today and it is 95 (normal).


----------



## 911 (Oct 4, 2020)

Yes. It runs between 96-98. I received my Oximeter from (where else?) Amazon. 
Being a runner, it’s a good idea to check your blood O2 level before and after a run.


----------



## tbeltrans (Oct 4, 2020)

I wrote the firmware for one of those things on one of my engineering contracts a couple of years ago.  Does that count? 

Tony


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 4, 2020)

Yes, but only when my asthma flares.  It's very mild and I've never checked O2 sats until this year.  Bought a pulse oximeter soon after learning of the outbreak in China.


----------



## Ellen Marie (Oct 4, 2020)

Mine used to go very low with sleep apnea, but with a machine, it is normal.


----------



## Sunny (Oct 4, 2020)

No.


----------



## Jules (Oct 4, 2020)

Another who purchased one on Amazon at the start of Covid-19. I also ordered a thermometer, which is a piece of junk.  They refused a return unless I made a video of it being used.  No way.  Both these sellers had bad reviews, which I didn’t realize until later.

I’m an Amazon novice and will do better research next time.


----------



## Lewkat (Oct 4, 2020)

Yes, daily.  Runs 96 to 99.  Even through my COVID-19 session in April, it never dropped below 95.


----------



## Autumn (Oct 4, 2020)

Yes.  I have CHF and sometimes retain fluid, so I need to monitor my breathing.  I do it routinely once a week when I also check my BP.


----------



## bowmore (Oct 4, 2020)

We have one.


----------



## peramangkelder (Oct 4, 2020)

What brand/s would you recommend please?


----------



## Keesha (Oct 4, 2020)

Interesting. I’ve nevef had it checked.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Oct 4, 2020)

No


----------



## Sunny (Oct 4, 2020)

For those who do check, what are you supposed to do if it gets a little low?


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 4, 2020)

Jules said:


> Another who purchased one on Amazon at the start of Covid-19. I also ordered a thermometer, which is a piece of junk.  They refused a return unless I made a video of it being used.  No way.  Both these sellers had bad reviews, which I didn’t realize until later.
> 
> I’m an Amazon novice and will do better research next time.



When reading reviews on Amazon, select "verified purchase" and "most recent" reviews.  Reviews automatically default to "most helpful" and they're sometimes outdated.


----------



## Lewkat (Oct 4, 2020)

peramangkelder said:


> What brand/s would you recommend please?


I purchased both of mine from Oxygen-Generator.  You can google them.


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 4, 2020)

Sunny said:


> For those who do check, what are you supposed to do if it gets a little low?



Most of the time when O2 sats go low, people feel short of breath.   With Covid, that's not always the case ...another way in which this virus is so atypical. O2 sats can drop without symptoms with Covid, but lung damage is occurring due to the lack of oxygen.  That wasn't understood at the first of the outbreak when we were told to wait until we were short of breath to seek medical treatment.  That's why people were arriving at the hospital and quickly going into respiratory distress.  Their lungs were already compromised before they felt short of breath.

If you get Covid, or think you may be coming down with it, then decreasing O2 sats are an indication that you need oxygen therapy.  My doctor orders pulse oximeters and oxygen therapy through home health for seniors.


----------



## Lewkat (Oct 4, 2020)

If you have a pre-existing condition such as COPD, Emphysema, CHF, and your O/2 levels get below 90 consistently, contact your doctor.  That also applies to anyone who simply checks, and then begins feeling ill, has a fever and other symptoms, again contact your doctor.


----------



## CinnamonSugar (Oct 4, 2020)

Other things can affect your reading... low blood pressure or cold hands, for instance.


----------



## Capt Lightning (Oct 5, 2020)

I don't think we Brits ever think about it.  It's the sort of thing you see on TV medical dramas - not the sort of thing you normally do at home.


----------



## C'est Moi (Oct 5, 2020)

Capt Lightning said:


> I don't think we Brits ever think about it.  It's the sort of thing you see on TV medical dramas - not the sort of thing you normally do at home.


Most Americans don't, either.  Unless someone has a health condition where monitoring 02 is necessary, it was never a "thing" until Covid-19 put everyone into a panic.


----------



## fmdog44 (Oct 5, 2020)

peramangkelder said:


> What brand/s would you recommend please?


I bought mine at Walgreens and it has a brand name of Walgreens. Works fine for years.


----------



## Bethea (Oct 5, 2020)

Ellen Marie said:


> Mine used to go very low with sleep apnea, but with a machine, it is normal.


I wonder if I have that. Do you have to have oxygen at night with that machine?


----------



## Bethea (Oct 5, 2020)

Sunny said:


> For those who do check, what are you supposed to do if it gets a little low?


I think it depends on how low. I know I heard 90 is considered low.


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 6, 2020)

C'est Moi said:


> Most Americans don't, either.  Unless someone has a health condition where monitoring 02 is necessary, it was never a "thing" until Covid-19 put everyone into a panic.



Athletes monitor O2 sats when training.    The pulse oximeter I bought early on in Covid was for athletes.  Came with training tracking features.


----------



## Pinky (Oct 6, 2020)

Mine measures around 96/97. Don't know the brand .. bought it from Amazon.


----------



## StarSong (Oct 6, 2020)

I don't own one.  I've only had my oxygen saturation levels measured while in the hospital, including out patient procedures like colonoscopy and cataract surgery.


----------



## C'est Moi (Oct 6, 2020)

AnnieA said:


> Athletes monitor O2 sats when training.    The pulse oximeter I bought early on in Covid was for athletes.  Came with training tracking features.


I'd venture to speculate that most Americans are not athletes.  My Apple watch will measure 02 levels but I couldn't care less about that.


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 6, 2020)

C'est Moi said:


> I'd venture to speculate that most Americans are not athletes.  My Apple watch will measure 02 levels but I couldn't care less about that.



Nope. We're most certainly not.  But my pulse oximeter only cost around 30 bucks.  Most athletes probably have the Apple watch.   It's good that yours does that though if you were to come down with Covid.  Getting early supplemental O2 at home as soon as sats start dropping could keep you out of the hospital.


----------



## -Oy- (Oct 7, 2020)

I've only had mine done in hospital with a finger one when I had Covid-19 back in April. It was 81 on admission but 95 when they sent me home 10 days later. 

I should buy one really.


----------



## terry123 (Oct 7, 2020)

I am having physical therapy and they check it twice a week.  Always in the 90's so I am good.


----------



## -Oy- (Oct 7, 2020)

-Oy- said:


> I've only had mine done in hospital with a finger one when I had Covid-19 back in April. It was 81 on admission but 95 when they sent me home 10 days later.
> 
> I should buy one really.



Just been for my weekly physio session at the hospital and asked about this. Apparently at my worst my oxygen saturation, day 3 I think, was about 60.


----------



## Ellen Marie (Oct 7, 2020)

Bethea said:


> I wonder if I have that. Do you have to have oxygen at night with that machine?


No, with the machine, my O2 levels are normal, without, the O2 goes dangerously low


----------



## drifter (Oct 8, 2020)

Mine depends if I'm sitting (idle) for five minutes or longer, it's 90-92. If I have been up on my feet doing something like washing dishes, it will drop down to the low eighties. If I walk very far, say from the kitchen to the bedroom, it normally drops to the low seventies, if I'm carrying something like emptying the trash, it goes to the lower 60s and almost paralyzes me. just now came in from putting on the coffee, i measured
79.  I'll have to sit a while until I get back up to 88-90 and my breathing levels out.


----------



## Sunny (Oct 9, 2020)

If you are not in the hospital, and have not tested positive, what are you supposed to do if your oxygen level drops below the "normal" level? In other words, why keep testing it?


----------



## StarSong (Oct 9, 2020)

Sunny said:


> If you are not in the hospital, and have not tested positive, what are you supposed to do if your oxygen level drops below the "normal" level? In other words, why keep testing it?


I was wondering that, too.  Maybe they're supposed to rest until it comes back up - or maybe call their docs if it drops below a certain level.


----------



## DaveA (Oct 9, 2020)

I usually run between 95 and 98.  I think once I dropped to 93.  

Don't pay much attention to it actually. We picked up the meter for my wife during her on-going illness this year.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Oct 9, 2020)

Bethea said:


> I wonder if I have that. Do you have to have oxygen at night with that machine?


I am on nighttime oxygen but I do not monitor my O2 levels.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Oct 9, 2020)

drifter said:


> Mine depends if I'm sitting (idle) for five minutes or longer, it's 90-92. If I have been up on my feet doing something like washing dishes, it will drop down to the low eighties. If I walk very far, say from the kitchen to the bedroom, it normally drops to the low seventies, if I'm carrying something like emptying the trash, it goes to the lower 60s and almost paralyzes me. just now came in from putting on the coffee, i measured
> 79.  I'll have to sit a while until I get back up to 88-90 and my breathing levels out.


Why aren’t you on O2?


----------



## Oris Borloff (Oct 9, 2020)

I don't even think about it at home and don't have anyway to do it.  At the doctor's it usually runs 100%. 

During my penultimate visit last April I noticed it was about 98%( wearing a mask) and then I started breathing extra deeply I got it up to 100% by the time the nurse did the reading. 

I had my 6 month tune-up yesterday and again same thing wearing the mask, this time I vented the mask from underneath and brought it up to 100%.  I asked the nurse and she said it was common to get readings up 3-4% lower while wearing a mask.


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 9, 2020)

Sunny said:


> If you are not in the hospital, and have not tested positive, what are you supposed to do if your oxygen level drops below the "normal" level? In other words, why keep testing it?




My doctor has been ordering home oxygen for positive/presumed positive patients as soon as oxygen saturation levels start to drop to keep them from developing extensive lung damage.  Often keeps them from needing hospitalization if started early.

I think one of the reasons we're seeing less deaths per infection rates now than early on is that doctors learned about the very odd feature of Covid-19 which is 'silent hypoxia' that damages lungs_* before*_ the onset of shortness of breath. Low oxygen saturation levels indicate hypoxia. The message at the beginning of the pandemic was to wait until experiencing shortness of breath before seeking treatment. That's when we were hearing of people dying in ambulances, crashing and needing emergency ventilator support as soon as they got to the hospital because their lungs were damaged from low oxygen levels before they ever became short of breath--very out of the ordinary.

Tests can show false negatives, especially early on.  If you're running a fever or are otherwise symptomatic (the biggest thing I keep hearing is loss of smell), checking O2 sats at home is a good idea. * If levels start dropping, call your provider.  Pulse oximeters are inexpensive.  It's worth having one to not only to help your provider determine need for treatment if you're infected, but also for peace of mind these days.  *

(*Bolded* the above not because I'm an expert, but because this is a long post!  )

....

Good article from late April in lay language:  'Silent hypoxia' may be killing COVID-19 patients. But there's hope.

Professional publication from August:

Why COVID-19 Silent Hypoxemia Is Baffling to Physicians

Hypoxemia--the term in the title is a little more involved than hypoxia in that it also has to do with oxygen pressure, but hypoxia (low oxygen saturation measure by a pulse oximeter) is a good early indicator that things are going wrong.   A main take away from the scientific publication below is this sentence: _A disproportionate number of patients with COVID-19 are elderly and have diabetes. Both factors blunt the response of the respiratory control system to hypoxia._

This is such a weird characteristic of Covid-19 that the authors of this scientific article actually use news reports as part of the introductory material.  That's so NOT the norm for a medical article but shows the novelty of this part of the Covid disease process.

Excerpt:

_The Wall Street Journal_ considers it a medical mystery as to why “large numbers of Covid-19 patients arrive at hospitals with blood-oxygen levels so low they should be unconscious or on the verge of organ failure. Instead they are awake, talking—not struggling to breathe” (1). _Science_ judges the lack of patient discomfort at extraordinarily low blood-oxygen concentrations as defying basic biology (2). Writing in _The New York Times_, Dr. Levitan, with 30 years of emergency medicine experience, notes “A vast majority of Covid pneumonia patients I met had remarkably low oxygen saturations at triage—seemingly incompatible with life—but they were using their cellphones . . . they had relatively minimal apparent distress, despite dangerously low oxygen levels” (3). Despite this extensive coverage in the news media, the topic has not been addressed in medical journals.​


----------



## Aunt Bea (Oct 9, 2020)

I've never checked and never had a reason to be concerned.

Many years ago I was told that the moon or lunula in your thumbnail was a good indication of oxygen levels.  The more prominent the moon the better the oxygen level.  I'm not sure if there is any truth to that or if it's just an old wives' tale.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Oct 9, 2020)

Aunt Bea said:


> I've never checked and never had a reason to be concerned.
> 
> Many years ago I was told that the moon or lunula in your thumbnail was a good indication of oxygen levels.  The more prominent the moon the better the oxygen level.  I'm not sure if there is any truth to that or if it's just an old wives' tale.
> 
> View attachment 127177


I think it’s an old wives tale as I only have this, barely, on my thumbs.  Is it supposed to be on fingers as well? Now I am worried.  But wait!  I just looked down, my chest is moving, so I know I’m breathing.  Whew.


----------



## drifter (Oct 9, 2020)

Aneeda72 said:


> Why aren’t you on O2?


long time COPD patient.


----------



## Jules (Oct 9, 2020)

@drifter.  Glad you explained your long term numbers and that this isn’t something new.


----------



## StarSong (Oct 10, 2020)

AnnieA said:


> My doctor has been ordering home oxygen for positive/presumed positive patients as soon as oxygen saturation levels start to drop to keep them from developing extensive lung damage.  Often keeps them from needing hospitalization if started early.
> 
> I think one of the reasons we're seeing less deaths per infection rates now than early on is that doctors learned about the very odd feature of Covid-19 which is 'silent hypoxia' that damages lungs_* before*_ the onset of shortness of breath. Low oxygen saturation levels indicate hypoxia. The message at the beginning of the pandemic was to wait until experiencing shortness of breath before seeking treatment. That's when we were hearing of people dying in ambulances, crashing and needing emergency ventilator support as soon as they got to the hospital because their lungs were damaged from low oxygen levels before they ever became short of breath--very out of the ordinary.
> 
> ...


Thank you, thank you, thank you, Annie for this clear, concise information.  So illuminating. 

I'll order a pulse oximeter today. Seems like a gauge to keep track of one's health, similar to a scale, thermometer and a BP machine. The older we get the closer eye we need to keep on our health.


----------



## StarSong (Oct 10, 2020)

@AnnieA  - it seems to be an oximeter jungle out there!  Would you please recommend a brand you find reliable and accurate?


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 10, 2020)

StarSong said:


> @AnnieA  - it seems to be an oximeter jungle out there!  Would you please recommend a brand you find reliable and accurate?



This is the one I have.   It's simple,  has good reviews.  

The important thing is knowing your baseline O2 sats on your device while you're healthy.  Then if you test positive or suspect you have Covid-19,  you have that initial baseline from which to track your levels.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQ8WTC4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fab_5ODGFbECF7F5T


----------



## Nathan (Oct 10, 2020)

It never occurred to me to check oxygen, but I don't currently have any respiratory problems, and am physically active, with no ill effects.

I have in the past experienced low oxy levels, and know the physical feeling when it is too low.   Maybe someday I'll end up with COPD, I kind of expect that since I did smoke for 45+ years.


----------



## AnnieA (Oct 10, 2020)

Nathan said:


> It never occurred to me to check oxygen, but I don't currently have any respiratory problems, and am physically active, with no ill effects.
> ...



Normally, people without pertinent chronic conditions who aren't competitive athletes don't check them.  

Post 41 details why it's a good idea for positive/presumed positive Covid-19 patients to have a means to check O2 sats at home.


----------



## dobielvr (Oct 10, 2020)

usually 97 or 98....when checked at the doctor's office.


----------



## StarSong (Oct 10, 2020)

AnnieA said:


> This is the one I have.   It's simple,  has good reviews.
> 
> The important thing is knowing your baseline O2 sats on your device while you're healthy.  Then if you test positive or suspect you have Covid-19,  you have that initial baseline from which to track your levels.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQ8WTC4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fab_5ODGFbECF7F5T


Thanks, Sunny!


----------



## Sunny (Oct 11, 2020)

You're welcome, StarSong, but I think you should be thanking AnnieA.


----------



## StarSong (Oct 11, 2020)

Thanks, Sunny!  My mistake.  Thank you AnnieA, I ordered it yesterday!


----------



## ActiveLife2020 (Oct 15, 2020)

Yes we check O2 Sat level daily at home.


----------

