OXYGEN: ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH?

This post is only educational, kindly refer to your physician if you believe you have low oxygen levels.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients or patients with respiratory illness often feel suffocated. You feel terrible because you lack oxygen. Besides breathlessness, there are other signs of oxygen deficiency. This guide will assist you to identify when to improve your oxygen levels.

Oxygen makes up 21% of the breathable atmosphere ,being found everywhere and rightly so as it is needed for our body to function correctly! So why are patients with respiratory illness like COPD not getting enough?  COPD patients can't process oxygen well enough because of airway abnormalities. This means your cells, tissues, and organs aren't getting enough oxygen.

COPD lung changes limit oxygen intake. These changes impair proper oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.   Too little oxygen is  medically called Hypoxemia" or "hypoxia" . Hypoxia reduces life quality, everyday function, and increases death risk; especially through cardiac arrest. The following are some effects and signs of  a lack of oxygen.

-Shortness of breath; that gets worse when exerting force

-Feeling breathless when sleeping

-Choking feeling

-Bluish lips, skin, or fingernails

-Headache

-Lightheadedness/dizziness

-Pulsating heart

-High blood pressure

-High blood glucose

The image on the left depicts a patient with cyanosis (blue lips), generally observed in people with low oxygen levels. You can see the difference to the right one. If you are having multiple of these symptoms don't hesitate to seek out medical assistance to at least try your peripheral oxygen saturation through a finger pulse oximeter . You can purchase one for yourself at your local pharmacy , they are rather inexpensive; kindly check with your physician to what oxygen saturations should you be aiming for.