Low Blood Oxygen

[kmichaelson]

Hello all, I have a pulse monitor that also reads my blood oxygen levels, and I've noticed lately that my blood oxygen is reading as lower than it should be. Often it's reading that it's in the 80s and normally it's supposed to be between 97-99. I don't know if this device is accurate or not. It's one of those that just clips onto the tip of your finger.

Does anyone else get these low readings? I do have shortness of breath when I do even limited physical activity, so I wonder if this could be an accurate reading or not.

[janiedelite]

I would check to make sure that the finger your using to check O2 sats is not cold as vasoconstriction can cause falsely low readings. One place I've gotten accurate readings on my hospitalized patients who had poor peripheral circulation is their earlobes.

[rubytuesday]

I've had the problem at doc's office/ER but it's resolved by warming up my ice cold fingers.

[kmichaelson]

Ah, thanks to both of you for the quick responses! That totally makes sense because my fingers are total blocks of ice! Thank you.

[anaphylaxing]

dizzyblonde, if those numbers are real/persist, you definitely should go get checked! You might need home oxygen.

[Tzipora]

You might even try using another finger. For whatever reason when my home health nurse is here my right index finger often gives off scary low reads (like the ones you mentioned) but then if she tries another finger, I'm okay-ish. For some reason I have no problem with the finger readers in the hospital but the ones the home health nurse has, probably much like the one you have, seem to be more glitchy. I get short of breath at around 95. I'm pretty sure I'dbe in the hospital if it got much lower. So chances are you're probably low but perhaps not as low as the readings you're getting.

[kmichaelson]

Thanks again, everyone, for the advice! I appreciate the input. I have noticed that when my hands are warmer, I get a more normal reading, so I bet it's a combination of cold hands/constricted blood flow in my hands and the device just not being top of the line. It's kind of a relief to know that for once the device is malfunctioning instead of me!