Asthma - Oximeter at home - good idea or source of worry?

[LargeLatte]

And do the ones I can buy from Amazon actually work? Can you recommend one?

DS1 has asthma and I find it hard to judge how he is doing if he is going through a bad patch. Wondered if having an oximeter at home would be a good idea.

I bought the pink one from amazon and sent it back ?evanmore brand. The readings were up and down even on me. to be fair DD was consistently lower than any of us but the readings were too all over the place to be used. Theres a more adult looking one on there that has loads of reviews from gps which i might try once my refund is processed. I bought the pink one to start with thinking she might accept using it better.

Have you considered getting a paediatric peak flow meter? You can get one either on prescription (cheapest option) or over the counter from your pharmacy. Some pharmacies wrongly think that they are prescription only though, so you may need to explain to them that this is not the case or go elsewhere.

Once you have one, you start to regularly (twice a day I believe, but there will be full instructions with the meter) for a period of time when he is healthy so you have a benchmark. When you have doubt, you let him take his peak flow and compare with the benchmark. You can ask your GP what the cut off point is by which you should make an appointment for a check and/or steroids.