Pulse Ox Levels

They tell us that pulse O2 levels should not be allowed to drop below 90% (I think).

What is the science behind that? Have there been studies?

Thanks.

No. It's an old wives' tale. Shed your mind of the idea.

The pulse ox measures how much of the hemoglobin in your blood is saturated with oxygen. Below 90% and your blood does not carry enough oxygen to feed your cells over time. The lower it goes, the less oxygen your cells are getting, and cells need oxygen to live.

Judge Nap wrote:No. It's an old wives' tale. Shed your mind of the idea.

Thanks. I have to ask: what do you base that on?

alpha752 wrote:The pulse ox measures how much of the hemoglobin in your blood is saturated with oxygen. Below 90% and your blood does not carry enough oxygen to feed your cells over time. The lower it goes, the less oxygen your cells are getting, and cells need oxygen to live.

I feel like I'm on Jeopardy! "The question is, 'What is pulse ox?'"
Oops! Wrong question. Thanks, anyway.

This will give you a start on this...

https://www.google.com/search?q=blood+o ... channel=sb

HoseCrusher wrote:This will give you a start on this...

https://www.google.com/search?q=blood+o ... channel=sb

Thanks.

pikov22 wrote:They tell us that pulse O2 levels should not be allowed to drop below 90% (I think).

What is the science behind that? Have there been studies?

Thanks.

I have finished my exhaustive study of web articles on reputable sites (Mayo Clinic, NIH, etc.). I could find no article (except those on OSA sites) that suggests that low PO2 can lead to a stroke or heart attack!

A stroke can occur when the brain is deprived of oxygen. That means when the brain receives NO oxygen and that is usually the result of blood not arriving at the brain.

If someone can show me scientific studies that conclude that a PO2 of 80% or 70% or 60% leads to stroke (or heart attack), I will recant my statement, but as of now, I agree with Judge Knap who said it's an old wifes' tale!!!

I suppose it would depend upon how you define "leading" to heart attack or stroke...

Low oxygen levels result in hypoxemia. A healthy body adapts to this by increasing the heart rate and a series of adaptive chemical changes at the cellular level. If your body is unable to adapt hypoxemia results in hypoxia which results in cell death over time. If enough cells in your heart die off, you may indeed suffer a heart attack.

This is not a sudden process. The body is remarkably able to adapt and you have a lot of cells to kill off before the process becomes critical.

So if you go through the night with oxygen levels of 80% there is a very good chance you will wake up in the morning. Until you don't...

Sleep apnea closes off your airway and it is kind of like holding your breath. Your oxygen levels drop. This results in a jolt of adrenalin that kicks your heart into high gear. Since oxygen levels in the blood are dropping the heart compensates by increasing the blood flow. The problem with this is that frequent exposure to adrenalin is toxic to the body and it basically corrodes the cardiovascular system. I am sure you have seen something rust. It doesn't suddenly have a "heart attack" or "stroke," but it gradually looses strength until it finally crumbles because it is unable to carry the loads imposed upon it.

Taking a deep breath and holding it while swimming underwater to the other end of the pool releases some adrenalin. Your body can handle this. Sleep apnea can cause several of these releases in a short period of time. Look at the sleep study reports that people post. They report 10, 20, 50, or more events per hour. Do you think you could swim 10 laps an hour, under water holding your breath, and keep doing this for 5 or 6 hours? Ever wonder why you sometimes wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed?

This isn't a perfect analogy, but I think you get the picture.

Your cells need oxygen. When the oxygen levels in your blood drop you put the body into stress as it tries to deal with this. Over a long period of time this additional stress may lead to "ruptures" from "corrosion" that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. There can be a path to this, but it is a meandering and not sudden "falling off the cliff" result.

If this is the wisdom from "old wives," I sit eagerly awaiting other tidbits they may be able to provide...

HoseCrusher wrote:<snip>
Low oxygen levels result in hypoxemia. A healthy body adapts to this by increasing the heart rate and a series of adaptive chemical changes at the cellular level. If your body is unable to adapt hypoxemia results in hypoxia which results in cell death over time. If enough cells in your heart die off, you may indeed suffer a heart attack. This is not a sudden process. The body is remarkably able to adapt and you have a lot of cells to kill off before the process becomes critical.
<snip>

Science?

I haven't found anything that indicates that hypoxemia is a progressive (i.e., "over time") condition. I'd be happy to become enlightened.

Use of the CPAP will help keep your O2 levels above 90%...if you don't think that is important, you can stop using the CPAP.

LSAT wrote:Use of the CPAP will help keep your O2 levels above 90%...if you don't think that is important, you can stop using the CPAP.

Completely irrelevant! Read my original question, kindly.

how about this one:http://www.heartfailuresolutions.com/19 ... -dangerous

what about a "stress test" - is this not where you exercise to induce stress by working harder and to lower the oxygen levels in the blood to see how the heart reacts to it?
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health ... cs/stress/

pbriggs wrote:how about this one:http://www.heartfailuresolutions.com/19 ... -dangerous

I question the source. Not scientific.