Blood Oxygen Meter (Finger Type)

[Psamathe]

Unrelated to cycling but are those blood oxygen finger testers (e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_12/258-8358306-3080949?url=search-alias%3Ddrugstore&field-keywords=blood+oxygen+finger+meter&sprefix=blood+oxygen%2Caps%2C441&crid=36UQZ64FJSJBO) any good or are they so inaccurate as to being a waste of time?

Reason: Caring so sick parent at the moment and home again now after stay in hospital with chest infection, possible heart issue and with low blood oxygen (@92-93). Oxygen recovered a bit as chest infection got better but this morning woken with demands to go to A&E (with breathlessness) though it didn't justify an A&E visit and getting to GP was far sooner anyway. GP changed medication and checked oxygen level which was down to 91. My challenge is knowing when the breathlessness becomes serious enough for an Ambulance and when it is anxiety/panic and I was wondering if a finger checker would give me a good guide or if they could be worse than useless (e.g. false assurance=do nothing or false panic=needless use of A&E).

GPs instruction was that if lips turn blue'ish, call an ambulance - so maybe that is a better guide than a £15 tester (that looks like the GPs but internally is probably very less capable).

Ian

[eileithyia]

A pulse oximetry meter that you can buy is probably as fairly accurate as one used by the medics. Obviously like anything in a lay person's hands, should be treated cautiously.. but as you correctly say, anything around 91% requires some sort of input and change of treatment. Things to consider are the monitored person's position... being slumped down can impact on the breathing and amount of oxygen being ingested... so take a few readings and adjust monitor postion on the digit and adjust the person's position between readings and obtain an average.

[Bonefishblues]

I'd say pretty accurate, and may be useful. Test on self, then on relative will show if that's the case (says the man who has spent much of the last week wearing one )

[Psamathe]

Many thanks.

As pointed out above, "In a lay person's hands ..." and I am a lay person! But my worry is at what point to call the emergency services as I'd hate to call them all the way out needlessly and even more to not call them out when needed, all made harder by the sufferer being a bit scared when the breathless periods start.

Had a chat with the GP the other day and he explained to me how to identify when emergency services are necessary and which emergency services to call (i.e. don't take "patient" to A&E yourself when x happens).

My original thought was to get some means to see if the sufferer was in danger or not and a nice number from a machine with an explicit threshold makes that decision easier. However, after a few days suffering parent is less scared when breathlessness occurs and those are not as bad and less frequent.

Again, many thanks for the responses.

Ian

[ChrisButch]

I've used one of these for some years because of recurring lung infections. They can be a bit temperamental in use - particularly if circulation in the hand isn't too good. You often find that it doesn't pick up a reading, so you have to keep trying with different fingers (usually best on a middle-sized finger). It helps if the hands are warm - warm them up in hot water before use.

[Audax67]

My doc's usually gives me 98%; the one I have at home regularly gives me 92-93% on the index finger and starts creaking at me, while on the ring finger it gives 95-96% and shuts up. I did 80k yesterday with a few good hills thrown in so AFAIK I'm not moribund, so as a diagnostic tool I'd say my particular gizmo is about as useful as pedals on a banjo. YMMV. So of course may your specific O2.

[mjr]

about as useful as pedals on a banjo

[Alan O]

I got one of those a few years ago when my mum started to suffer deterioration in her COPD and needed oxygen at home, and it really saved the day a few times - sudden drops in O2 levels when Mum looked otherwise fine but was just very tired, and called 999 as they'd told me to.

It cost about £20, and I checked it against the ones carried by medics whenever I got the chance just be be sure it was still reasonably accurate. If you can't compare like that, I'd suggest just trying it on a few people in perfect health - and if it consistently reads around 98-99%, it's probably fine.