Blood oxygen levels of 90 - is the NHS being crap here?

Have you got your own sats monitor? If so recheck

Did you have a chest x Ray ? What reason did they give for the low sats? Did they do a blood gas ?
Sometimes the monitor reads low either due to monitor error or poor perfusion but they should have persisted until they got a normal reading or confirmed with a blood gas. Sats of 90 % is not normal abd would not usually be discharged with that level but you haven't given a lot of info as to what happened and why you went in etc what they said

Autocorrect?

It messes things up horribly.

I am sorry you’re feeling so poorly. What are your symptoms right now? If you’re not sure, go back and get checked out. If you’re struggling to breathe, please seek medical attention.

My daughter had childhood asthma and I remember 90 as the magic number we were always waiting for to get us discharged from hospital.
I know it’s below 100 but don’t worry too much, I think above 90 you are probably still ill but not at risk when you are at home. It’s not a new nhs cutbacks thing. You genuinely are safe to be at home.

There is no point posting here. All you’ll get is authoritative statements from people with zero idea how a pulse oximeter works, no grasp of what level of hypoxia is concerning and no ability to access essential information such as chest auscultation or assessment of work of breathing. Not knowing any of this doesn’t decrease anyone’s confidence in their posts, however.

Is there a particular disease you’re worried about? Ask about it. Present to your doctor and ask them why they’re not concerned about your sats or why they don’t think you have xyz. An explanation will help you and your doctor to move the conversation towards what the problem may be.

I absolutely agree that health professionals can make mistakes. I was told i had a cold which had gone to my chest when I was in a lot of pain with a collapsed lung. Luckily I went to a different dr 24 hours later who realised quickly what it was. One month and 5 repeated lung collapses later I ended up having a pleurectomy as my lung wouldn’t stay inflated.

if your oxygen saturation is 90 at rest you will feel awful, it’s really low ime and I think you will feel very breathless. At 93 or below at rest I was given oxygen.

Hyperventilation does not cause low oxygen saturations.

Hi OP

So sorry that you are feeling unwell and you must be worried especially being treated differently from the previous time.

I became (out of the blue) seriously unwell mid last year. I've never smoked and I'm not an asthmatic and only had a mild sore throat. Within 24 hours I was gasping for air but didn't think much of it. As the evening progressed i got more and more breathless and as a precaution I got my husband to drive me to a&e (got stuck in horrendous traffic).

It progressively got more difficult to breathe whilst driving the 30 minutes to A&E but still insisted that my husband dropped me so he could park and I walked into a&e myself. Got to check in desk and all air was gone and collapsed. When they scooped my up my oxygen count was 61 and I spent 2 days in resus and a further 3 days on the ward. I got discharged with a count of 92 and was told only to come back in future with a count of 90 or lower.

Hope this helps but if in doubt just go back. Wish you all the best.

There are so many things that can obscure sats readings. I’m gathering that yours was taken in a&e as you say they told you it was 90? If you were presenting reasonably well and holding full conversations with staff they may well have written it down to other reasons, being cold, fake/long nails, panicking. The machines often throw out really random scary numbers but just looking at the patient you know it’s not right as they would be showing a lot more difficulty.

hope you manage to get sorted out through the GP. Persistence is definitely key just annoy them until they see you to shut you up I’ve found it can be the best way!!

Honestly, you can hardly complain about the NHS being rubbish when you've called out paramedics and they recommended you go to hospital and you refuse to go because you're 'too tired'! If you've had tests at the hospital and they've decided you're not in a life threatening condition and can contact your GP on Monday, I would try and rest til then.

OP did that though didnt she. She sought urgent medical advice, was seen in hospital and now discharged.

A quarter to a third of people with cirrhosis have hepatopulmonary syndrome, so will have low sats and the only 'cure' is a liver transplant - maybe this is something that should be investigated for you (be that GP or your hospital specialists) - and for some people with some conditions then 90% is the target and they won't start oxygen therapy unless it goes below that

I wonder if you being admitted previously (and potentially the observations from the 999 call the other day) has led to you being classified as someone whose target is 90% (not saying that you should or shouldn't have been)

To the posters saying 90% isn’t concerning - unless you have long standing COPD etc (even then not all COPD patients) then the following is a good guideline.
https://www.ridgmountpractice.nhs.uk/pulse-oximeters

Did they mention that hyperventilation can cause low blood oxygen? You mention that you are missing your sister's hen night, and I wonder if you were stressed about that?

It sounds as if they ruled out the worrying potential causes tbh.

@Predictablenamechange1 I wasn't troll hunting, you said on a post that you had cancer, I see now you've edited it.

Absolutely, which is why objective observations are made. If @Predictablenamechange1 told the staff that she is sleeping all day and night and feels very unwell, I would hope that would have been paid attention to.

@Lougle by definition those in hdu are very ill. In a and e some are , some aren't. Assuming that those who present as well and chatty are less seriously ill and are lower priority, despite clinical evidence, is very risky.

this probably doesn’t help much but get yourself a pulse oximeter from Amazon and ensure it is calibrated. Also ensure no gel /acrylic nails on. Rest for 5 minutes and take your reading wait another 5 and do it again.

when I had covid the first time I was told anything below 92 and go to hospital but when I had it for the second time my readings were lower around 89 and I was told not to go, im also asthmatic. My daughters were lower still last December when she had pneumonia and we ended up in A&e but they were happy that she could come home and we keep an eye on it (it improved).

having a monitor at home can be hugely helpful but if they have checked your chest and there is no infection and it is viral then you have to ride it out.

OP I want to say well done for your abstinence. Breaking such a difficult addiction is not easy. I think they discharged you because you are not life threateningly unwell. That doesn't mean you are well. For some people, with some health conditions, SATS as low as that are quite standard. It is very frustrating that you can't get a GP appointment when you feel you need one. I moved GP practice - for different reasons, mine gave appalling advice when I was acutely unwell with a lot of red flags. But the new GP is much easier to get an appointment with. Might there be somewhere near you which is better?

Sorry you’re feeling so unwell.
Just a thought, is it worth emailing your liver consultant ? They might want to check you in case your symptoms are related. ( close friend has a long term health condition and has done this when she’s had other symptoms and felt unwell ) And may see you sooner than a GP.

I know someone with autism who went to a & e in agony, but masked his pain. He was dismissed and a week later had an emergency op.
I think if you can try not to mask, I wouldn’t. I know it must be hard for you. Do they know that you have autism and do this?
I wish you well.

The thing is if you where hospitalised in January for the same thing and the test came back clear and your fine they won't hospitalise you again for the exact same thing because its just your normal. I have a high heart rate that I was hospitalised for initially I still have that high heart rate but I can't just live in hospital so I now see a cardiologist as an outpatient and have any treatment and tests sorted via him.

It’s pretty difficult for anyone to know what to say if you have a range of physical and mental health conditions.

But A&E do get it wrong… I was sent home by mistake from A&E and if I hadn’t gone back in and complained and asked to be assessed again that same evening I could have died. Not trying to be dramatic but just trust your instinct.