Oxi-Meter & Covid-19!

[N804RV]

By the way, I mean no disrespect to Alan, or his products. Its just hard not to respond. I've seen and heard so much from friends and acquaintances about supposed miracle cures for and conspiracy theories about the pandemic, I guess I've let some of my responses get a little snarky.

I'm really glad I left the job when I did. I do not envy my former coworkers at all right now!

--Stay safe!

[Gash]

Thanks for the chart Ken

[bobnoffs]

i've talked to medical people from the e.r.. sounds like an spo2 detector is a warning sign that the disease has become severe enough that previously symptomatic has now become a factor to your lung function and patient will become critically ill within 48 hrs. it makes sense because this virus kills people by not allowing lungs to grab enough o2 from the air. a normal spo2 is 95-99%. if these sats drop below 90% it is an indication that the virus has already taken hold of your lung function and patient will deteriorate very quickly after this.

[74-07]

Still available? Your site says out of stock.

[PerfTech]

Originally Posted by 74-07

Still available? Your site says out of stock.

? Wow, you are correct, they all (34) sold yesterday and last night totally
depleting our stock. I will get more on the way. Thanks, Allan..

[RandyAB]

The chart says to Initiate 02 at 94%? Hmm....must have been sponsored by RT’s and O2 suppliers.

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by Gash

Just a quick O2 saturation question. How low is "too low"? I've seen as low as 88% when around 11,000 MSL with no supplemental oxygen. I felt fine, but wondered what the standard is. At what percentage should a person become worried?

To give yourself a good idea about how happy your body is at a sat of 88% try holding your breath long enough to get your sat down to that level. Assuming you are starting with normal lung function I will bet that you aren?t able to do it.

[odens_14]

Originally Posted by RandyAB

To give yourself a good idea about how happy your body is at a sat of 88% try holding your breath long enough to get your sat down to that level. Assuming you are starting with normal lung function I will bet that you aren?t able to do it.

to be fair that's a false premise, the urge to breath comes from the buildup of CO2 way more than the depletion of oxygen. the world record for breath holding is over 22 minutes.

So while I agree the body isn't happy at 88% and we probably should be looking for supplemental 02 while flying if we're approaching 90%, it has nothing to do with holding breath.

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by odens_14

to be fair that's a false premise, the urge to breath comes from the buildup of CO2 way more than the depletion of oxygen. the world record for breath holding is over 22 minutes.

So while I agree the body isn't happy at 88% and we probably should be looking for supplemental 02 while flying if we're approaching 90%, it has nothing to do with holding breath.

That?s true. It was a misthought exercise. I think a more important point is below 90% your starting to get into the steep part of the 02-Hb dissociation curve where further decreases in 02 sat are indicative of rapid drops in arterial 02 levels. People that are satisfied there because they ?feel? ok are on a slippery slope. Personally I would supplement at 90% minimum and in fact I would probably stick prongs on a 92%.

[mturnerb]

Originally Posted by RandyAB

That’s true. It was a misthought exercise. I think a more important point is below 90% your starting to get into the steep part of the 02-Hb dissociation curve where further decreases in 02 sat are indicative of rapid drops in arterial 02 levels. People that are satisfied there because they “feel” ok are on a slippery slope. Personally I would supplement at 90% minimum and in fact I would probably stick prongs on a 92%.

Nailed it. Most people are unaware that oxygen saturation as measured by the oximeter SaO2 (amount of oxygen bound to hemoglobin) is not the same thing as oxygen concentration PO2 (partial pressure of oxygen in blood). The oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve (you can google it) describes this relationship. As oxygen saturation drops below 90, the ability of blood to efficiently deliver oxygen to tissue rapidly falls off. 90% is a reasonable target but I agree just a little higher is better. Even though you may feel great and function well at 88-89% it's still - as Randy said - very close to the edge where things can go bad quickly if it drops just a little more.

Thanks for that post.