Any nurses or doctors here? Oxygen SATS level

[Hther]

I have been feeling unwell for months. I have had very bad dizzy spells and shortness of breath after slight exertion.

The dizziness came first but also accompanied headaches. If I had a very bad night sleep I get a migraine and feel dizzy with that. On two occasions I was almost paralyzed down one side and dizzy evry time i moved my head and felt very wobbly. This didn'r respond to sleep and painkillers like my headaches normally do. Anyway a friend said there was a virus going round at the time (she ahd had it herself) and that this virus caused such symptoms, She said the dizziness lasted for weeks afterwards.

I decided this is what I ahd but it has been several months now and i still get dizziness. It is differnt from when I possibly ahd this virus. Its if i've been tidying up toys off the floor or putting washing away ie when I have been bending over.

I also find that going upstairs leaves me really breathless and i have to rest for ages to get my breath back. I have no cough, wheezing or feeling of tightness in my chest, so no sign of coming down with chest infection. I have palpitations al the time, although I have had these for as long as i can remember (not aso much though).

I then collpased in to yesterday and was taken to a and e via ambulance. They said i had temp of 37.5 (normal for me is no higher than 36). I was left on ecg for ages and my heart trace was fine but i kept setting the alarm off because of my SATS level. Sometimes it was as the signal was lost but it often said my SATS were 94, 91, 86, 75. No-one heard it and they were never in teh cubicle with me when it went like this. After a while i ahd to come off to go to the toilet and i was moved elsewhere and not put back on the monitor. They had a printout of the ecg but it didn't show my SATS.

So i don't know if they did look at the SATS and weren't worried or whether they just don't know what my SATS were like. I thought below 95 was cause for concern? AS i kept going back up to 97, 98 10o etc id that ok? It did stay low for about 10 seconds at one point but is that ok?

Anyway

sats monitor could have moved
were you wearing nail polish?

usually below 92 begin to look for causes and think of o2

no nail polish!

are they going to do a 24hr ecg ?

tbh prob the machine
they can be v tempermental

Cold hands can trigger alarms on SAT monitors too.
Have you had any blood tests - I am wondering if you might be anaemic.

they tested my blood to see if i had a possible clot on my lung which was negative, i dont think they tested for anaemia, my haemoglobin was slightly down when pregnant last time but little one is 2 now so.

no follow up so no further ecg

I would suggest you see you GP for a check -over after this episode. Maybe ask if they might check your blood for anaemia and thyroid function.
If they are normal, I would expect your GP would want to do some other tests (24hr ecg, exercise ecg etc based on your story) to try and explain your symptoms.

So many things can trigger low sats on a monitor:

Cold finger
Nail Polish
Dirt
Placement (poor contact)
Peripheral shutdown (ie. you are generally well oxygenated but your outer extremities are slightly deprived of oxygen. Cause can range from diabetes to a virus etc).

That is why medical professionals never rely solely on the number they see. Generally speaking, if you had sats of 75% you would look quite poorly, pale, possibly blue tinged lips etc.

If (speaking as a registered but not practicing nurse) I saw 75% on a Sats machine, but you were sat up in bed, pink and warm, I would pretty much dismiss that as an accurate reading, check your hands were warm, that you didn't have nailpolish or bad contact, and if necessary move the probe. I wouldn't put oxygen on you unless you were symptomatic or the reading stayed at that level for a little while.

If however, you were breathless, blue tinged lips, etc., then obviously, I would give you oxygen and look for improvements in the Sats reading.

There are a few things that could cause your symptoms. You could be anaemic. You could have orthostatic hypotension (ie. blood pressure drops when you stand up and causes dizziness). You really need to visit your GP with your symptoms listed, and get proper consultation.

A SATS machine can lose trace for a second which will cause it to alarm and it can take up to 10 seconds for it to rerecord acuractly your reading. Below 92 permanantly without a rise is cause for concern and investigation.

Sometimes simply moving your arm too quickly is enough for the trace to be lost along with the other suggestions from pp.

Hope your feeling better soon.