A
pulse oximeter is a simple, non-invasive tool that provides some quick
intel on what's going on with a patient by showing the pulse rate and
measuring the amount of oxygen in the blood. It
simply clips onto a finger, toe, or ear. After a few seconds, it
yields a reading. The amount of oxygen in the blood in a healthy person
is in the 95-100% range. A level of less than 94% suggests the need
for supplemental oxygen. Anything less than 90% indicates respiratory
disease and is cause for grave concern.
Pulse
oximeters for personal use can be purchased in drugstores or on
Amazon. I'd recommend looking there first to get reviews. The first
article in the addresses below is for a review of several pulse
oximeters currently on the market. Those designed for home use are
relatively inexpensive, running around $20.
Now,
the real question is, do you really want one? If someone in your
family suffers from heart failure, chronic bronchitis, sleep apnea, or
COPD, well, they've probably already got one. The guy planning to be
the group medic would want one for measuring oxygen levels in cases of
allergic reactions or patients with mild asthma. People with moderate
to severe asthma should definitely have their own. But in the case of
pneumonia, or potential pneumonia, every family should really consider
having their own. Without a laboratory, determining the oxygen levels
in a patient is going to be very difficult. Being able to tell a doctor
what the level is will help him decide what actions to take.
There are some factors that interfere with accurate reading:
- bright light (shield device from bright light when taking a reading)
- shivering
- low blood pressure
- vasoconstriction (if the patient is cold the blood may be restricted to fingers and toes)
- carbon monoxide poisoning (may give a false high reading in smoke inhalation patients)
- nail polish (the light can't get through)
For further reading:
https://www.respiratorytherapyzone.com/best-pulse-oximeters/ (reviews)
https://www.who.int/patientsafety/safesurgery/pulse_oximetry/who_ps_pulse_oxymetry_training_manual_en.pdf
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318489.php#Who-can-benefit-from-pulse-oximetry
https://www.medicinenet.com/oximetry/article.htm#what_is_oximetry
https://geekymedics.com/pulse-oximetry/
12.10.19
You can get them for $20 on sale, well worth the investment. They make kid ones that have characters on them, I have one that looks like a duck and it came with a matching duck shaped digital thermometer. When the kids were young I would put the o2 meter on them when dealing with a sliver or a scrapped knee. Always helped calm them down looking at the duck eating their finger.
ReplyDeleteI had a neighbour having issues after the hospital sent him home from surgery. Shortness of breath, his wife called the hospital and they said that was normal post surgery. I tossed an O2 monitor on his finger and took one look at it and bundled him to the local hospital. Turned out he was having a reaction to the meds they had given him.
Exile1981
Your neighbor was blessed to have a neighbor like you.
DeleteI went to Amazon to see what they had for pediatric pulse-ox. Not only ducks, but frogs, bears (regular, polar, and panda), and penguins, too. (At least, I think that was a penguin.) So now I have to decide which animal is going to work best. ;)
As for animal choice pick something cute little kids will enjoy. We get bears so linking bear to cute in a small kids mind is a bad idea. Pic something knowing your grandkids or if you dont have any yet then go with what yours would have liked.
DeleteExile1981
I can understand how having a pulse oximeter might provide useful information in normal times. It might provide a "head start" before calling a doctor or deciding to take a family member to the ER.
ReplyDeleteAfter a major societal calamity, however, when modern medical treatment is only a distant memory, is there any real benefit for having one? For example, after seeing that a patient's oxygen level is dropping below 94%, unless there are oxygen bottles stored as part of medical preps (and how likely is that going to happen), how is having a pulse oximeter going to affect the outcome?
Perhaps I am not seeing the forest for the trees but, while the dropping oxygen level provides information, isn't that information useless for about 99% of "Self-Reliants" unless they have oxygen bottles that they might have kept after, say, a family member with COPD departed this life? Even then, wouldn't using this bottled oxygen only be prolonging the death spiral unless there was serious, effective medical intervention?
Those are all really good questions. As we've already seen with the covid nonsense, and as we see with natural disasters, sometimes our family members get sick and we don't know whether it's serious. It helps make the "head start" decision mentioned in your first paragraph.
DeleteAnd while many of us here prepare for total and complete collapse on all levels (because it's what preppers do), we actually may not arrive at that total collapse suddenly. We may just continue with the slow death spiral we've been in or some time. Venezuela's collapse has been like that.
Right now, we (personally) are in a place where we just lack confidence in our local medical options and do not wish to go to the ER unless death is the alternative. A pulse-ox is one tool that can help us determine if we're looking death in the eye. This winter there were many days I couldn't leave my house because the snow drifts on my driveway were several feet high. Or if I did get out, I was most certainly not getting back. In the slow decline period, we may have to make these kinds of decisions, where we only risk going out for a true emergency. The pulse-ox will help determine if the emergency is real.
Post-total collapse, I can think of one situation where a pulse-ox can help make a decision. One of the illnesses a pulse-ox reading can help with is pneumonia. If a pulse-ox reading was really low, the doctor might consider administering some of the limited supply of IV antibiotics (assuming the illness is believed to be bacterial rather than viral) instead of the oral tablets.
Also, a pulse-ox can help reassure patients who are sick and their family members that oxygen levels are acceptable (if they are).
Many medically-fragile people will not survive the total collapse of our modern medicine system. However, many can survive. Having as much information as possible will help us make good decisions with the options at our disposal.
So, a pulse ox shows respiratory distress in an illness when the person doesn’t feel it yet, like some viral illnesses, copd, or injuries (like broken ribs).
ReplyDeleteThis is not medical advice.
If off grid, breathing can SOMETIMES be helped by repositioning the person for better lung expansion, expectorant medications, deliberate deep breaths every 10-15 minutes while awake, better air quality (not be inside with a fire) rescue inhalers, etc.
Yes. Thank you for mentioning this.
Delete