4 ms·
This is happening now in hospitals with Covid-19. I know, because I'm married to a nurse. Nurses call them "happy hypoxics" because they have no idea their SP
by danesparza 6y ago
This is happening now in hospitals with Covid-19. I know, because I'm married to a nurse. Nurses call them "happy hypoxics" because they have no idea their SPO2 levels are dangerously low -- but a pulse oximeter clearly indicates they need additional oxygen.
- treeman79 6y agoI had a pulmonary embolism‘s was white as a ghost struggling to breathe and that dang meter said everything was fine. Even the bloodwork at the hospital said everything was fine. Lost some lung over that and took a year to recover.
- graeme 6y agoDifferent use case: here you can have someone with covid with no perceptible symptoms but low blood o2 tells doctors it is an emergency. Whereas presumably you had some symptoms that were ignored?
- lostlogin 6y agoA negative D-dimer in someone with a PE sounds rare - the test has a negative predictive value of 95.7%. I’m guessing that OP managed to complain enough or be sick enough (but with normal O2 sats?) to get a CT. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736467908000309 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07364...
- treeman79 6y agoD timer was normal. I was told it was muscle strain. They ran an X-ray to be safe. Just after they rushed me to get a CT. I was admitted. Fun times. Turns out I have factor 5 Leiden, I clot like crazy
- nradov 6y agoYou might have been going into shock. A pulmonary embolism can block blood flow to part of a lung and kill that tissue but it won't necessarily cause SpO2 to drop much. Patients who are otherwise healthy have extra lung capacity to spare.
- treeman79 6y agoSounds reasonable. It was only one lung that had a clot. Heart was racing for months Afterwards Walk 30 feet. 170bpm for ten minutes.