[FRIAM] COVID SaO2 at 7k feet

[uǝlƃ ☤>$]

What am I struggling with? Thanks for the stories about SpO2. They nicely demonstrate that variation is normal. To be clear, when I talk about SpO2, I'm not talking about symptoms at all. I'm simply talking about the number that comes from the little machine. I've never had any symptoms that correlate with a low SpO2 measurement. And I think your (and Nick's) stories indicate that there's little, if any, correlation between the two (symptoms and low SpO2).

However, what was interesting to me during this very normal cold was my elevated heart rate. Even though I quit running seriously about 5 years ago, my resting heart rate is ~63. I've never really monitored it through other infections. But because I happen to have that number along with SpO2, now, I noticed that at the nadir/height of the infection, my resting heart rate was ~100 or ~90 bpm. It's about 80 now, on day 10 since symptoms started. It just never crossed my mind that infections like the rhino would raise your heart rate. But I guess it's common.

On 9/27/21 2:56 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
> Maybe helpful (or not)...  Sorry to hear you are struggling with it.
> 
> A decade ago I had a no good very bad winter of breathing which finally
> pushed me in to see a Doctor.   Their readings were in the low 70s and
> would have hospitalized me if I hadn't flat refused (I felt no worse
> than I had for months) so they sent me home with a loaner tank of O2 and
> instructions to buy a pulse oxymeter at REI. 
> 
> Long story short, thousands of dollars (no insurance) of tests later,
> they eliminated all the worst-case and obvious possible causes.  One of
> the office staff noticed my O2 didn''t come up when they put me on O2
> and walked/talked me through some simple breathing exercises (mostly
> just emptying my lungs completely) and viola, my low 80s came up to low
> 90s pretty quickly and they stated that 95 was a good target for a
> "healthy adult (in my 50s?) at this altitude".    I stopped accepting
> more and more (expensive) tests and started using my pulse Oxymeter and
> mindful breathing and within months I was moving from 90-95% SPO2 with
> only the minimal effort.  Most of my other symptoms (fatigue, insomnia,
> chilling, blue lips/fingernails, cough) left, though that was late spring.
> 
> Years later, a spot check has me still under 95 but again a little deep
> breathing brings me up to 95/96.   Mary, who is like Renee (maybe
> unkillable) and in better shape clocks in at 95-97 regularly on the same
> device.   She was at 99+ while near sea level in Wisconsin for several
> years.
> 
> My nephew, 26 and at 2000 ft in Tucson caught COVID early and was
> hitting mid-80s (at home, no hospital).  He has long-COVID symptoms 
> (mostly fatigue) still which include having a hard time getting his O2
> up over 92 or so... he claims the docs want to see 98 or better in
> him.   He spent a week here with me a month ago and showed no sign of
> additonal stress or fatigue...  he wasn't monitoring SPO2 during that
> time.  My house is actually at 5400 rather than 7000 though,  but we did
> travel to 10,000 a few times... no symptoms of low O2.
> 
> During that low O2 episode, I drove back to Iowa (<1000ft elevation) and
> could not tell that the lower altitude changed much (I had my meter and
> a bottle of O2 with me, but got the best relief/numbers from mindful
> breathing, not enriched O2).
> 
> Speaking of SPO2 on planes, I was once told by an airline pilot I think
> I trust that they have full control and significant leeway over
> "effective altitude" in their passenger cabins and tend to err on the
> lower concentration side to "sedate" the passengers...  I have always
> found that airline flight tends to make me a little sleepy, I always
> though it was the boredom and the white noise/motion.   How low can they
> go in cases of hijacking?
> 
> 
> On 9/27/21 12:28 PM, uǝlƃ ☤>$ wrote:
>> Of course, "blinking an eye" should be suppressed by a professional. E.g. I was anemic during and for a long while after my cancer treatment. But, in context, anemia is irrelevant. Nobody blinked an eye. But for Renee's recent visit, she was also anemic. And much blinking obtained.
>>
>> For an old person, relatively low SpO2 isn't cause for concern, particularly because it's a poor approximation for SaO2 under many conditions. But what I'm after is the typical intuition of a clinician at high altitude. I'll also ask my sister, who sets up clinics in Denver.
>>
>> Anyway, thanks, if you drive, please take SpO2 regularly on the drive, perhaps for a few days prior and after. If you fly, please take some data while at alt on the plane. I believe typical pressure on big planes is held around that of 8k feet.
>>
>> On 9/27/21 11:19 AM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
>>> I can't answer your question directly; however, I  regularly run blood O2 levels in the mid 90's, but sometimes as low as 89, and nobody blinks an eye.  This has always puzzled me because some things I have read treat anything below 93 as a near-death experience.   I move UP to santa fe at least once a year and after a week of acclimation, don't notice much difference.  
>>>
>>> I will be making that transition in a 3 weeks.  I will take good notes.  
>>>
>>> Nick Thompson
>>> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of u?l? ?>$
>>> Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 1:55 PM
>>> To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com>
>>> Subject: [FRIAM] COVID SaO2 at 7k feet
>>>
>>> So, I've been self-quarantined for 10 days, now, monitoring my SpO2 regularly. I've always run low (~98% or 99%, only reaching 100% with breathing exercises). But while fighting my infection [⛧], I've gone down to 90 or even 89. Renee' says the COVID patients that come to the hospital are running mid- to low-80s.
>>>
>>> But what's interesting is that back in SFe, a healthy patient, one who would show 100% at sea level, would show 95% or even lower at that altitude. The question is, then, what are the COVID patients in SFe showing? She's lost all her contacts at St Vincent's ... moved away, returned xmas cards, etc. So she doesn't have anyone to ask. If any of you have friends at the hospitals there that might know such a number, I'd appreciate any feedback.
>>>
>>> [⛧] Not likely covid. I still taste/smell just fine. No fever. Etc. ... it's run the course of a normal cold, including my susceptibility to sinus infection.
>>>


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"Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie."
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