Pulse oximeter

[bdcochran]

Ok. The required blurb. Don't do anything without speaking to a knowledgeable medical doctor and paying your co-payment.

A pulse oximeter is a device that you put on a finger, push a button. It tells your pulse rate and oxygen saturation. So what? When you get seriously ill, your oxygen saturation may drop before you sense that you are ill. If it drops enough, you need to have an oxygen feed. So, it is a warning device. I just put mine on my finger and pushed the button. 8 seconds. Reading was 97%. A good reading. I record it. Just like I record my blood pressure and pulse rate every day.

About 20 years ago, I was driving my adoptive grandmother somewhere and she had me stop at a drug store to have her blood pressure checked for free. I had never seen a free blood pressure check. I asked her (she lived past 100 years) what people did before they checked. She said that they keeled over and died. So, I also have a relatively inexpensive blood pressure machine. Now I don't send the results into the doctor's office every day, although the machine could. I just write it down. So today, it was 119 over 65. Best ever for me.

For the price of a few boxes of ammo, getting these machines constitute a real bargain.

[JDH]

The current edition of the Apple Watch does pulse, blood O2, and single lead EKG. At some point I expect to see it do blood pressure.

[Erich]

My father (a retired virus scientist) urged me to get one of these when he heard my mother-in-law was at home with COVID. He said to drop by frequently and keep an eye on her O2 levels, that the pulse oximeter would let us know if she needed to get to medical treatment. He said that all of his colleagues kept them at home for this reason. Anyhow, I bought one on Amazon (delivered the next day for under $18) and liked it so well that I bought a separate one for us to keep at our own home (with the other staying with my wife's mother, who - thanks to God - is better now).

[bdcochran]

Yes. I stretched my arm and touched my pulse oximeter. I record the reading every morning and explain for the crew.
Your body has an oxygen saturation level. With an illness onset like the Wuhan flu, the oxygen saturation will drop significantly before you feel sick. If you monitor your oxygen saturation level, you can get effective treatment much sooner. The device is simple and non invasive. You insert a finger, turn it on, get a reading. Your finger is not stuck. Take your finger out. It turns off automatically. Less than 8 seconds. My unit also does a pulse rate. Takes AAA batteries.

[Bmyers]

I take many things for grant it and don't realize how many people don't have some of the basic field diagnostic tools that I used for years such as pulse ox, blood pressure cup, thermometer. Then some have them, but never learned what to do with the information.

As you explained, some simple steps can help you detect issues and work on preventing them becoming worse.

[David]

And the nice thing is that a lot of this medical equipment can be gathered inexpensively. And often much of the first aid, CPR, stop-the-bleed type training is free or inexpensive. Just takes some time commitment.

[Bmyers]

Very true

[bdcochran]

Update
1. My HMO now has a $50 a quarter "benefit" that I think is required by Medi-care law. No carry forward from quarter to quarter. I have to use this through a Kaiser affiliate. I can buy vitamins, an oxy, a blood pressure machine, an exercise watch, first aid items, ointments.

In the Covid section of Glocktalk I presented extensive information on the benefits of both the oxy device and a blood pressure machine. The oxy device may give you a warning about an illness days before you experience symptoms, like with the Wuhan flu. Time of the essence in that diagnosis because the free federal, non hospital stay approved prescriptions are most effective if started within 3 -5 days of symptoms first appearing.

[Mac66]

I now have a visiting nurse for my knee who checks my O2 levels every day with one of those things. Never realized the importance of them until just now. Guess I'll have to pick one up.

[G29Guy]

Ok. So what is a pulse ox measuring? And how does that apply?

What falsely affects an SPO2 reading?

If anyone can find a pulse ox that DOESNT give a HR please post it and let me know…because from my knowledge base they all give HR…well because that’s how they work…

Having one and not knowing what it does and doesn’t do is the same as having a .308 and not knowing how to shoot at distance…