If you have seen these devices called pulse oximeters for sale at Walmart or at your pharmacy, you may have wondered to yourself exactly what they do. The fact is that they are a simple little device that measures the oxygen content of your blood. For most people, this is a meaningless number, and the device is useless. For other people, these oximeters for home use can literally be a lifesaver!
To understand why some people might need to use a device like this, think about a young, strong, person. If this person goes for a run, their body suddenly starts needing more oxygen because their muscles are being used. Their body knows this instinctively, and it causes two things to start happening: their heart beats faster and their respiration rate increases. The heart beating faster causes the blood to travel more quickly around their body, delivering the oxygen at a faster pace. The increase in the rate of respiration moves more oxygen into their body, and allows them to expel more carbon dioxide. Your body does this automatically when you are at rest, and it also increases the respiration and heart rate automatically. However, for some people, their body does not have this flexibility.
For people who have a very weak heart, or who depend on a pace maker to keep their heart beating, their heart may not have the ability to beat any faster. Or, for a person who has lost most of their lungs to lung cancer, they may not be able to take in oxygen any faster than they do when their body is at rest. For these people, any increase in the body’s need for oxygen may cause a severe crisis. That is why their physicians may have asked them to begin using a pulse oximeter to monitor their oxygen level.
As for what they would need to do if they find an unusual reading, only their personal physician can explain that. Each person’s situation is, of course, unique, and only their own doctor is aware of the entire situation. He or she may ask the patient to lay down and rest, or they may be asked to add some supplemental oxygen via an oxygen tank for a certain period of time (or until the oximeter reading is back within acceptable levels), or they may be asked to report to the hospital immediately! For this reason, if your doctor asks you to being using an oximeter, please be careful to listen closely to the instructions and write them down if necessary so that you don’t become confused in an emergency situation. If you have family or a caregiver, you can let them know the instructions also, as well as the location of the written instructions, so that, in the event that you become incapacitated, they will know what to do.
