Covid Oximeter

[Colin Barron]

A friend who's daughter is a doctor recommended one of these meters:

Patients with covid-19 who don’t need immediate hospital attention but are at high risk of developing serious symptoms are to be given pulse oximeters to use at home to reduce the risk of serious deterioration, The BMJ has learnt.

NHS England is believed to have purchased around 200 000 pulse oximeters for the scheme, which clinical commissioning groups across England will be able to access.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4151

 

[Nero]

Can you get one with a Serco logo?

 

[doctorf]

A friend who's daughter is a doctor recommended one of these meters:

Patients with covid-19 who don’t need immediate hospital attention but are at high risk of developing serious symptoms are to be given pulse oximeters to use at home to reduce the risk of serious deterioration, The BMJ has learnt.

NHS England is believed to have purchased around 200 000 pulse oximeters for the scheme, which clinical commissioning groups across England will be able to access.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4151

A very cheap, useful bit of kit.
Invaluable if you want to know how well your blood is being oxygenated.

 

[Tony L]

You can buy the exact same model from Amazon if you don’t want to go out!

I bought a fairly similar one early last year and it is a useful thing to have.

 

[mandryka]

How is it useful to me? I mean, won't I know well enough if I've got a problem with being oxygenated just by the fact that I'm breathless? I don't need tech!

And these cheap ones? Are they accurate enough to be useful to anyone, even a medic?

A very cheap, useful bit of kit.
Invaluable if you want to know how well your blood is being oxygenated.

 

[doctorf]

How is it useful to me? I mean, won't I know well enough if I've got a problem with being oxygenated just by the fact that I'm breathless? I don't need tech!

And these cheap ones? Are they accurate enough to be useful to anyone, even a medic?

You would be surprised how useful they are.
You may have seen the chap on tv a couple of days ago who lived with his brother in Cumbria.
They both had Covid and thinking they weren’t that unwell, they both went to bed. Only one of them woke up.
An oximeter would probably have told them that they were more ill than they thought and they would have sought early medical care.
I would recommend that all homes should have a thermometer and an oximeter.
Many lives would be saved; no question.

 

[Colin Barron]

How is it useful to me? I mean, won't I know well enough if I've got a problem with being oxygenated just by the fact that I'm breathless? I don't need tech!

And these cheap ones? Are they accurate enough to be useful to anyone, even a medic?

I was told there was a link between falling oxygen levels and Covid, also these cheap meters do work. At £25 from Amazon i purchased one earlier today.

 

[mandryka]

You would be surprised how useful they are.
You may have seen the chap on tv a couple of days ago who lived with his brother in Cumbria.
They both had Covid and thinking they weren’t that unwell, they both went to bed. Only one of them woke up.
An oximeter would probably have told them that they were more ill than they thought and they would have sought early medical care.
I would recommend that all homes should have a thermometer and an oximeter.
Many lives would be saved; no question.

I have a friend who's a former GP, he retired early after an organ transplant.

When the COVID crisis started to be talked about, sometime in March 2019, we had lunch together, he was worried about what it would mean for him because of the immunosuppression. And at some point, entre la poire et le fromage, he said to me that he thinks he'll buy an oxymeter.

I immediately went home and followed doctor's orders, I ordered one on ebay.

We meet up every so often on zoom and he takes the piss relentlessly out of me. "Oh those cheap ones will tell you you're dead!" "Pointless waste of money! Never listen to me, I'm a doctor!" That sort of thing.

So I am glad to read your post. I shall show it to him soon and report back if he says anything amusing.

 

[doctorf]

I was told there was a link between falling oxygen levels and Covid, also these cheap meters do work. At £25 from Amazon i purchased one earlier today.

Most lung problems can affect blood oxygenation and with Covid, the lungs can be very badly affected, often from around day 10 onwards. The best way to monitor any deterioration in lung function at home is by using an oximeter.

 

[Joe P]

Dammit, Jim.

Doctorf is a doctor.

Joe

 

[doctorf]

I have a friend who's a former GP, he retired early after an organ transplant.

When the COVID crisis started to be talked about, sometime in March 2019, we had lunch together, he was worried about what it would mean for him because of the immunosuppression. And at some point, entre la poire et le fromage, he said to me that he thinks he'll buy an oxymeter.

I immediately went home and followed doctor's orders, I ordered one on ebay.

We meet up every so often on zoom and he takes the piss relentlessly out of me. "Oh those cheap ones will tell you you're dead!" "Pointless waste of money! Never listen to me, I'm a doctor!" That sort of thing.

So I am glad to read your post. I shall show it to him soon and report back if he says anything amusing.

I believe the cheap ones are pretty reliable, and even if not desperately so, they should indicate change of levels, which could still be very useful. I should also mention that some of the latest smartphones have oximeters built in.

 

[paulfromcamden]

I bought one last April after reading this NYT story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-testing-pneumonia.html

Covid pneumonia initially causes a form of oxygen deprivation we call “silent hypoxia”... when Covid pneumonia first strikes, patients don’t feel short of breath, even as their oxygen levels fall. And by the time they do, they have alarmingly low oxygen levels and moderate-to-severe pneumonia (as seen on chest X-rays). Normal oxygen saturation for most persons at sea level is 94 to 100 percent; Covid pneumonia patients I saw had oxygen saturations as low as 50 percent ... By the time patients have noticeable trouble breathing and present to the hospital with dangerously low oxygen levels, many will ultimately require a ventilator. Silent hypoxia progressing rapidly to respiratory failure explains cases of Covid-19 patients dying suddenly after not feeling short of breath.

They're £15 - just get one.

 

[doctorf]

Dammit, Jim.

Doctorf is a doctor.

Joe

Bones knew more medicine than I ever did.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

A very cheap, useful bit of kit.
Invaluable if you want to know how well your blood is being oxygenated.

Yep, I bought a few of them for my primary school science lessons a few years ago, can’t remember what I paid, but it wasn’t a lot.

 

[mandryka]

They're amazing pieces of tech, and there's a sense in which there's a sort of pleasure having one, useful or not. Minute things which I think work optically, there must be a little laser in there and a little computer. Quite fabulous really.

 

[Derek Wright]

ii bought a £29 Oxymeter from Amazon, i was being checked up at the GP 's for my pulmonary issue and we checked my oxymeter againsy tje two oxymeters in the consulting room, all three devces agreed with their readout values. Whether they would be consistant at the lower extremes of readings I do not know - if you are below say 80% then you should be doing more than looking at your oxymeter (I woould have thought)

I was also tempted to get a smart watch with the Blood Oxygen percent read out - not impressed - difficult to get the watch positioned correctely to get it give a reading and when it does it doees not appear to match my bog standard ex Amazon Oxymeter.

 

[hifinutt]

Brilliant thread , thanks for posting this . A useful bit of kit

 

[doctorf]

ii bought a £29 Oxymeter from Amazon, i was being checked up at the GP 's for my pulmonary issue and we checked my oxymeter againsy tje two oxymeters in the consulting room, all three devces agreed with their readout values. Whether they would be consistant at the lower extremes of readings I do not know - if you are below say 80% then you should be doing more than looking at your oxymeter (I woould have thought)

I was also tempted to get a smart watch with the Blood Oxygen percent read out - not impressed - difficult to get the watch positioned correctely to get it give a reading and when it does it doees not appear to match my bog standard ex Amazon Oxymeter.

Just to say that in someone who doesn’t have an underlying chronic lung issue, anything under 94% is worth seeking advice from a medic. .

 

[Monitor Gold 10]

You can buy the exact same model from Amazon if you don’t want to go out!

I bought a fairly similar one early last year and it is a useful thing to have.

Done. I've fire damaged lungs, so this is incredibly useful! I'll share this link too...

Many thanks everyone!

 

[Brian]

A friend who's daughter is a doctor recommended one of these meters:

Patients with covid-19 who don’t need immediate hospital attention but are at high risk of developing serious symptoms are to be given pulse oximeters to use at home to reduce the risk of serious deterioration, The BMJ has learnt.

NHS England is believed to have purchased around 200 000 pulse oximeters for the scheme, which clinical commissioning groups across England will be able to access.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4151

Followed the link from Tony and just bought it from Amazon. Excellent thread Colin. I was also prompted by this thread to buy a non-contact thermometer for £20, also Amazon. Could also be useful.

Cheers