About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators. Healthy lungs keep the blood oxygenated at a level between 95 and 100%—if it dips below 92%, it’s a cause for concern and a doctor might decide to intervene with supplemental oxygen. Hypoxemia occurs when levels of oxygen in the blood are lower than normal. If blood oxygen levels are too low, your body may not work properly. Blood carries oxygen to the cells throughout your body to keep them healthy. Hypoxemia can cause mild problems such as headaches and shortness of breath. A blood oxygen level test, also known as a blood gas analysis, measures the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. When you breathe, your lungs take in (inhale) oxygen and breathe out (exhale) carbon dioxide. If there is an imbalance in the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in your blood, it can mean your lungs aren't working well.
The human body can survive without food for approximately three weeks and without water for about three days. How long can you survive without oxygen? Only about three minutes. These statistics demonstrate just how essential oxygen is to human life and just how serious the effects of oxygen depletion in the body can be.
Many people in the United States live with chronically low oxygen levels in the blood. This condition is known as hypoxemia. There are a number of factors that can contribute to hypoxemia, and the condition may be acute as well as chronic. The complications of hypoxemia are potentially serious, but it can also be treated.
Two Similar Names, Two Different Conditions
Some people may get confused about the difference between hypoxemia and hypoxia. Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they are separate but related conditions. The word “hypoxia” literally means “lack of oxygen.” The term “hypoxemia” is more specific, meaning a lack of oxygen in the blood.
Some doctors and medical publications generally apply the term “hypoxia” to refer to low blood oxygen levels. However, it is more accurate to use the term “hypoxemia” to refer specifically to lack of oxygen in the blood and “hypoxia” to refer to lack of oxygen in body organs and other tissues.
Body tissues receive oxygen from the blood, so when the circulatory system is unable to pump enough oxygenated blood around the body or if the oxygen level in the blood is insufficient, these tissues do not receive enough oxygen and hypoxia occurs. Therefore, hypoxia is secondary to (that is, caused by) hypoxemia, and prompt medical treatment for hypoxemia may prevent hypoxia from developing.
Testing for Low Blood Oxygen
There are several methods used to test for low blood oxygen. If your doctor suspects that you have either hypoxemia or hypoxia, he or she may order pulmonary function tests. Many tests are included under this broad term, but they typically involve blowing air into a tube that is attached to a computer or other measuring device to discover how your lungs are functioning.
However, if the concern is that you may have low levels of oxygen in your blood, your doctor may choose to test your blood directly. There are typically two methods of doing this: a pulse oximetry test and a test of arterial blood gases. These tests may also be performed in addition to pulmonary function tests.
Your doctor will often perform a pulse oximetry test first. Pulse oximetry has many advantages over an arterial blood gas test. Pulse ox, as it is often known, is easy to administer and noninvasive. However, the trade-off is that it has a wider margin of error than an ABG. If your doctor suspects that your pulse ox results are not accurate, he or she may order ABG testing, which requires a sample of blood from the artery in your wrist, to confirm the pulse oximetry findings.
Pulse oximetry is measured in percentages: 95 to 100 percent is considered normal for a healthy individual, and anything below 90 percent is abnormally low. ABG is measured in millimeters of mercury. A range of 80 to 100 mmHg is considered normal for arterial blood gases in a healthy individual.
Causes and Symptoms of Low Blood Oxygen
There are essentially three basic factors that may cause your blood oxygen level to be low. A condition of the circulatory system may prevent your blood from reaching your body tissues. Cardiovascular conditions that may contribute to hypoxemia include congenital heart defects, or problems with the tissue of your heart that are present at birth. A congenital heart defect may be diagnosed in childhood or go undetected until you are an adult. Another potential contributing cause is anemia, or lack of iron in the blood. Oxygen molecules in the blood are transported by iron, so a lack of this element means the blood cannot pick up and carry the oxygen that the body needs.
Even if the circulatory system is functioning properly, hypoxemia may result if the lungs themselves cannot take in enough oxygen. Lung conditions that may result in low blood oxygen include the following:
- Sleep apnea
- Blood clot in the lung (pulmonary embolism)
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Collapsed lung (pneumothorax)
- Emphysema
- Pneumonia
- Interstitial lung disease
Conditions that affect lung function may be acute, meaning they are severe and happen suddenly, or chronic, meaning they occur over time.
Hypoxemia can also result from a lack of oxygen in the atmosphere. This often occurs at high altitudes and can also result when the air is polluted by smoke or other contaminants. This type of hypoxemia may be acute and is often transient, meaning it goes away when the quality of the air improves.
Symptoms of hypoxemia can range in severity. The following are troubling symptoms that do not require emergency care but should be evaluated by a doctor as soon as possible:
- Symptoms of sleep apnea (waking up short of breath or choking)
- Shortness of breath at rest or after slight exertion
- Shortness of breath that is worse with exercise
The following symptoms require emergency care:
- A blue tinge to the skin or fingernails (cyanosis)
- Severe, acute shortness of breath that prevents functioning
- At high altitudes, shortness of breath accompanied by rapid heartbeat, cough, and retention of fluid
Treatment for Low Blood Oxygen
The treatment you may receive for low blood oxygen depends in part on what is causing it and whether it is acute or chronic. The first treatment usually administered for hypoxemia is administration of oxygen to increase the levels and prevent hypoxia from setting in. If the hypoxemia is acute, you may receive oxygen via a mask that fits over your mouth and nose, whereas if you require oxygen on a long-term basis, your doctor may prescribe oxygen tanks for you to carry around with you, and you’ll likely receive oxygen via a nasal cannula, a tube that inserts directly into your nose. Depending on what is causing the hypoxemia, it may be possible to treat with medications as well. Another major step you can take to prevent hypoxemia is to quit smoking and avoid breathing in second-hand smoke.
Low blood oxygen levels can have multiple causes as well as treatments. See your doctor to discuss options and work out the best individual plan to address your condition.
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/longest-survival-records-water-food-sleep-breathing-2016-5
https://www.healthline.com/health/normal-blood-oxygen-level
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/pulmonary/pulmonary_function_tests_92,p07759
https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/hypoxemia/basics/when-to-see-doctor/sym-20050930
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321044.php
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17727-hypoxemia
https://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/hypoxia-hypoxemia#1
Low oxygen levels will rob you of your eye sight, short term memory, and your energy. Eventually low oxygen levels will weaken your heart muscle.
Heart Failure IS -> Progressive weakening of your heart muscle! (Read that sentence again. It is that important.)
The world is facing an epidemic of heart failure! This ONE health crisis will rob more productive work years from Americans than any other.
Why should you be concerned about oxygen?
Oxygen isn’t typically something you worry about. If you are looking into “low oxygen levels”, you likely heard the term from your doctor. As the caregiver of a loved one, you
might become familiar with the importance of oxygen as a life saving requirement, but fail to realize how effective it can be in minimizing discomfort and maintaining quality-of-
life.
Everyone worries about high blood pressure, carrying extra weight and other issues routine blood work can reveal. It’s all part of the natural aging process and your growing
concern for your health. After all, you don’t ignore your bad health until it kills you if you know better, right?
Being over-weight increases your risk for many diseases, especially heart disease. So, you diet and attempt to get “regular exercise”. Maybe you join a gym, or consider
gastric bypass surgery. You do what it takes because health is important.
High blood pressure is called the silent killer, because it can be deadly without symptoms. Most people know that it’s important to get their blood pressure checked
regularly, just to be safe.
You’ve been told you should worry about your cholesterol levels. Everybody seems to know that reducing your bad cholesterol is important, so your doctor will likely offer
you a prescription to lower your cholesterol if it is elevated. Even if your cholesterol isn’t elevated, your doctor may prescribe Statin medication as a “precaution” when you
have other risk factors for heart disease. (That so called preventative medication might not be such a good idea.
There are plenty of risk factors to worry about. Why add oxygen to the list?
If your doctor is expressing concern about your blood oxygen levels, you should be concerned, too.
You may be inclined to argue with your doctor if he/she would like to see you using oxygen 24 hours a day. It’s fair to say that round-the-clock oxygen therapy is inconvenient and irritating.
It’s also difficult to understand why it is necessary.
What is there to be concerned about?
Consequences of Low Blood Oxygen Level:
• damage eye sight
• deteriorate short term memory
• weaken muscle (your heart is a muscle)
• increase pain
• reduced clarity/focus
• loss of your natural charming disposition
• potentially create life threatening cranial nerve stimulation
Since low-flow home-oxygen is completely safe and doesn’t cause side-effects you are better off to use it than to resist using it and suffer the consequences of low blood oxygen. It isn’t an easy to swallow pill, but it might just be more important than every pill in your pill box.
Oxygen is one prescription you don’t want to second guess.
If your doctor wants you on oxygen, you are crazy to argue.
Does your doctor monitor your blood oxygen levels routinely?
Not all doctors have oximeters (oxygen measuring devices) in their office. If they don’t have one, they have no way to routinely monitor your oxygen level during your physicals, check-ups and illness related appointments.
This isn’t at all unusual. Even if doctors have oximeters, they may not use them unless you have some sort of breathing complaint. It isn’t widely understood, even with doctors, that low oxygen is most often NOT accompanied by shortness-of-breath.
It isn’t at all uncommon for doctors and nurses to minimize the importance of oxygen therapy and to dismiss low oxygen readings if they only last a short period of time.
This approach is much like waiting for things to get worse.
Whether your doctor monitors your blood oxygen level or not, YOU SHOULD.
There is no doubt about it. Taking an active role in your health care can cause you more stress than putting blind trust in your doctor, but if your doctor doesn’t offer you thesolution you need, who will?
Doctors are making educated guesses and doing the best they can. Luckily they also have the benefit of a well educated team with many years of combined experience. Good health care requires team work. It can be tempting to allow your doctor to lead the team but NO ONE is more motivated and invested in finding solutions to your suffering than YOU are.
It’s important for you to be aware that your participation is the key to positive results.
Certainly, if your health care team doesn’t successfully uncover the cause of your suffering and eliminate it or otherwise address it, you are the only one who will suffer the consequence. Ultimately, you pay the price for oversights and mistakes.
Unfortunately, low blood oxygen causes devastating consequences.
If your doctor is advocating for oxygen therapy, you are fortunate. Most doctors overlook the harm low oxygen levels are causing and shrug off the importance of monitoring and meeting oxygen needs.
Good quality-of-life is your goal. The damage caused by low oxygen levels prevents you from functioning the way you normally would. How much joy would you lose if your
eyesight slowly deteriorated?
As you age, you tend to think you are just getting old and out of shape. The progressive muscle weakening caused by low oxygen levels effects your heart muscle. When your
heart muscle is weakened by low oxygen levels your whole world changes, but it doesn’t typically happen all of a sudden.
When you suffer a heart attack part of your heart muscle dies. With congestive heart failure things [more often than not] happen very slowly. The progressive weakening of your heart muscle is gradual. For years your doctor will tell you “your heart is fine”.
Once you know you are living with congestive heart failure, you should understand that oxygen is the key to protecting your weakened heart muscle and to strengthening it.
Oxygen Level In Human Blood
Low oxygen is a BIG deal.
If your low oxygen levels are caused by lung disease, it’s important to remember that keeping your blood oxygen level above 92% is important to protect your heart.
If your low oxygen levels are caused by heart disease, it’s important to remember that failing to address low oxygen levels will further weaken your heart muscle.
So how low is too low?
7 Facts to Remember About Blood Oxygen Saturation Levels
1. When oxygen saturation levels fall below 92%, the pressure of the oxygen in your blood is too low to penetrate the walls of the red blood cells. It is a matter of gas laws.
2. Your insurance company may not pay for oxygen unless your levels fall to 88% oxygen saturation. This has nothing to do with what is best for you, it is just the point at which your insurance is willing to pay.
3. Every time your oxygen level falls below 92% saturation the cells of your body are oxygen starved.
4. When you fail to meet your oxygen needs, every organ in your body suffers the consequences.
5. Low oxygen levels may be present only at certain times.
- when retaining excessive fluid
- when airways are reacting to irritants
- with respiratory illness
- sleep apnea
- about 3:00am when you wake gasping for air
- with activity when your heart muscle has become weak, though isn’t technically “congestive heart failure”….. yet
6. Recurring low oxygen levels are harmful and should be treated with supplemental oxygen.
7. The problem is that your doctor may not witness your oxygen levels at 88%, and if he doesn’t see that reading on an oxygen meter (oximeter), then most insurance companies will not pay for it, and therefore doctors don’t order it.
Low oxygen levels are definitely something to worry about!
Oxygen Level In Human Body Normal
If you feel you may be experiencing low oxygen levels be sure to ask your doctor to check your pulse oximetry reading.
Symptoms of low oxygen are:
- shortness of breath/ difficulty breathing/ dyspnea
- extreme fatigue
- chest tightness
- mental confusion
- tingling fingers
- water retention (especially feet/ ankles)
- chronic cough
If you are experiencing blood oxygen saturation levels below 92% now, waiting for your doctor to witness it below 88% and order oxygen is equal to sitting around waiting to get worse.
Are you concerned?
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