Oxygen level at 91

[GGchar]

My daughters asthma is playing up. She’s been waking in night needing 20 + puffs then she’s fine. Went to doctors obviously got told off for not calling 999. But if I called an ambulance every time she needed 10 puffs we may as well live there. She’s been given steroids (5 days) she’s didn’t wake up last night but she said she’s still feels tight. I took her oxygen level and it was 91. But she’s up dressed and wants to go to school. She said she’d be fine. It’s so hard to know what to do. But if she’s able to get dressed and walk to school then I’m sure she’s fine RIGHT 🥴🤔?

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

If her sats were 91 she shouldn’t be in school but needs to go to hospital. There’s no point checking sats if you don’t know what to look for and haven’t been educated when to get help. A bit like PF there are boundaries and once your at a certain level hospital is needed. In any asthmatic sats below 92% require immediate attention from a professional because its a sign the bodies loosing the ability to compensate.

With the 10 puffs thing.... 10 vent should correct the issue and last 4+hrs. If it doesn’t last that time or resolve you do need to take her to hospital as she may need more help. Ignoring/overuse of ventolin can end up causing long term issues/damage. As a general rule if 10 puffs helps you GP within 24hrs (or OOH of weekend) if it doesn’t you go to hospital.

Has she got an asthma plan? If not it’s worth asking for one to give you better guidelines as to what to do when

Hope that helps

[GGchar in reply to EmmaF91]

Thank you. Yes I do know that 91 is bad but when she isn’t wheezing and is begging not to go to the hospital so we can sit there all day. She was definitely well enough to go to school. I know my daughter. She lasted all day at school but needed her inhaler throughout the day. I’m keeping close eye on her.

[elanaoali in reply to GGchar]

Hi GGchar as a parent myself of three girls( two teenagers and one twenty year old) I know you like me what to do what is right for your daughter.

If you need any more support then I suggest you ring asthma uk helpline tomorrow.

asthma.org.uk/advice/resour...

[strongmouse in reply to EmmaF91]

I agree with Emma that it is important for you and your daughter to have an asthma plan in place. Although I can understand your daughter's desire to go to school and to manage as usual, it is also important to understand the health risks of asthma which isn't being well controlled.

Do you know if there is anything causing her to need so much ventolin? Has she got a cold or is there any respiratory trigger?

From what you have said taking so much ventolin is becoming normal for her and as you are asking for help I would suggest that she needs to see a respiratory consultant. Some of us here have allergies which can trigger asthma, the damp weather we have been having doesn't help, nor do the moulds produced by damp. Getting rid of any possible triggers might help, as Saasii says bedding can produce dust mites which effect some people.

There are various medications and it is important for her to be on the ones which work for her.

Not easy I am sure for her or you. Hope that you both find the right help. Asthma UK helpline are very good at listening and talking through alternative treatments.

Tel: [phone] (Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm)

[Saassii]

What is in the home or her bed and bedding that is triggering these acute attacks especially at night? Are there any signs of mold or water damage in your home? Carpets ever wet? Old wallpaper?

Get her a new pillow, put dust cover on, wash all regularly. Accelerated drying techniques in bathrooms. Hepa vacuum window tracks and clean thoroughly, she needs a critically clean environment...

[Matman]

I support the advice of EmmaF91. Asthma can kill. SATs below 92 are dangerous.

[GGchar]

Thank you for all your advice. My daughter doesn’t take her Asthma as seriously as she should but I do and am always making sure she’s taking her preventative inhaler. Unfortunately she did end up in hospital so think we have learnt our lesson 😢. She ended up having nebs every hour, magnesium and Aminophylline. So was very shaky 😩 two nights then after she could go 4 hourly on inhalers was allowed home. Unfortunately she’s still not 100 % so going to take her to doctors tomorrow. The GOOD NEWS is she’s now under a consultant FINALLY!!! And she’s already changed her preventative to a stronger one. Fingers crossed it starts working soon 🤞

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to GGchar]

Sorry to hear this. This is the reason why you shouldn’t ignore the warning signs because children often can’t recognise issues until it’s almost too late. This is because they have an astonishing ability to compensate... until they can’t. This is why they have different asthma guidelines to adults. And also why they have more cases of fatal asthma... they are able to do more in a bad state, then they drop (I remember a story about someone’s son running round the play room in a&e, then being blue and needing resuscitation in the playroom because he was looking and acting ‘normal’ just sounded wheezy so the parent wasn’t trying to force him to sit... the kid felt fine. Until he wasn’t)

Hopefully now she’s under a consultant you’ll have more trust in what they say. As I said before sats under 92 is a warning that they’re loosing their compensation ability so they need help. No matter how they are feeling. A day in a&e with nebs (+/- IVs) is always better than a few days admitted with a lot more medication cause they’re a lot more poorly. It’s frustrating. I really do get that. And it’s disruptive to life. But until she’s got control it’s what you’re going to have to do (my asthma spiralled at uni. I really do understand the disruption, I was in a&e every week and admitted every 2 at my worse... uni did not happen and i had to repeat years, but I also was never intubated, even if I did have at least 1 VERY close call) but if hospital is needed it is needed and allowing/ignoring to try and avoid hospital will just lead to the attack being a lot worse and more aggressive drugs being required to stabilise... and kids tend to find this level of asthma worse than adults because we do tend to compensate for longer. The system is a pain, but as an asthmatic/parent of an asthmatic it’s the game you have to play to get the right treatment and stay alive without any long term consequences (long term/frequent low sats can cause memory problems and concentration issues, and uncontrolled asthma just treated with an overdose of ventolin at home can lead to scarring, that’s ignoring things like intubation and fatal attacks being more likely to be needed.)

I’m not sure how old your daughter is, but really some kids don’t start to recognise breathing issues until they’re in their teens properly... unless they experience them a lot and are taught to recognise them ‘ie I can’t run as fast. I feel sick/have headache/a tiny bit dizzy/feel cold. Let’s check PF and take pump’ but until they CAN reliably do that it’s up to the adults around them to spot the issue and get it fixed (not just allowing the issue to be masked by ventolin overdosing). If you know there’s an issue it needs treating, because not everyone will understand asthma, and in a classroom environment a lot of the subtle signs will be easy to miss...

I hope she’s doing a bit better now, and that she doesn’t get this poorly again. Be warned if they’re still working out which meds she needs to be stable she will most likely will be back in hosp a lot. Esp if she gets a cold or anything like that.

[Yatzy in reply to EmmaF91]

Very wise advice from EmmaF91. We all need reminding of the warning signs and necessary action, and to fight the urge to ignore these important warning signs because we don’t want to see them.

[GGchar]

Thank you EmmaF91 it really is so hard like you said they do just ignore the signs and push until it’s really bad. My daughter is 13 and she won’t let her asthma stop her doing anything. Unfortunately we are back in and on oxygen as she now has a chest infection 😩

[Shellc]

It varies with everyone I’m asthmatic and my sats are regular between 88 to 92 , I only worry if lower and very out of breath and wheezy , I think everyone has there sweet spot so to speak