Hi, I reluctantly went to the GP yesterday who had an ambulance called as I had 88% oxygen levels. I recovered with a mask and this morning so they tried me on air but I dropped again this time to 84% They put me on a nose thing but that didn't help enough and then a mask. They've changed the mask to the one with a bag a couple of hours ago as I was still a little low and it is better again. I feel a little breathless but not out of breath.
I was hoping it would be better in a day and I could go home. I'm 35 and vaccinated so assuming i could recover fast. However the doctors and nurses won't give any indication of how long.
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AmySma1i
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hi, I'm sorry to hear this AmySma1i, it sounds scary. The medics are right I'm sure, there's no way of telling that you wouldn't go downhill fast if you went home right now. It's not too good to have low O2 and the O2 they're giving you is to protect your organs and to help you recover in the best possible way & prevent you getting worse or getting pneumonia. (We're patients coping with various lung issues here & not medics).
Thank you, I definitely understand why I'm in and thank you for the support. I was hoping for some experience of recovery, if it would be two days or two weeks, but I guess I'll not know the answer.
I managed to find out that I'll be on this for at least the rest of the night and then my try to reduce levels again but they did mention the potential of developing into pneumonia so hopefully the treatment is effective.
Thank you, I guess I'll have to hope it's not too long. I think so, they've given an IV and I think everything is through that. I've never been in hospital before so I don't really know all the wording
There really is no way to know for sure and likely the reason the doctors and nurses are not giving you a time.. The fact you are young and presumably otherwise healthy will help but it could be a week or two or you may improve tomorrow. I recently had a major surgery and was on oxygen afterwards. Whenever I would get up and walk my oxygen would drop. I was diagnosed with mild pneumonia so was on oxygen for a couple of weeks. I just had an arterial blood gas test last week, which is more accurate than a finger oximeter, and my oxygen levels are back in the normal range. With COVID you may improve quickly but don’t be surprised if it takes a week or two to recover. Everyone is different and I believe covid is more unpredictable than many viruses or infections.
Thank you I'm definitely feeling worse now, so it makes sense to take time with it. I've had more monitoring this morning and my heart rate is 110 and oxygen is 94% and I do have covid pneumonia. A doctor did give me a run down, that it might be a while to recover as I'm at the start of the symptoms. I may have to move to ICU if it gets any worse as 10L is only maintaining minimum acceptable. Glad I caught it early and would be terrified if I hadn't gone.
as cats crochet says, we're all different. I too hope they're giving you anti-virals as well as antibiotics and get well soon. Thinking of you 💐
ps I forgot to mention, there's a young member called Natswright or Natsright who chronicled her long covid over a year. There's an even younger member who also had it however, we don't hear too many members having to be hospitalised with covid. Many with pre-esisting lung diseases have not exactly sailed through it but haven't been too bad. Once again, good luck ××
Thank you so much, I can't catch a full breath at the moment but hoping they're antibiotics can effectively combat the pneumonia before it gets too bad and they've now put permanent monitoring on so I feel very well looked after.
I'll have a look for their stories. And glad to hear this community has made it through the pandemic okay x
good luck and hopefully the antibiotics take affect quickly. I pray your immune system also kicks in quickly but it may take a bit of time. I’m glad you went for help quickly as well. Wishing you well.
Oh wow, they identified it this morning and started a course which I'm glad they did because it hit fast, I've tried to rest today as much as possible but I'm surprised how much hard work it is to breathe with pneumonia. I do distance running and it feels like I'm on mile 10!
I regularly drop into the 80s and if I was hospitalised every time I would never be out! Fact is that 80 plus is not frankly that significant IF (and this is critical) you recover quickly (minutes at most) to 90 plus. I am surprised they called an ambulance at 88 frankly.
What they are measuring is the O2 level at your periphery - finger tips in this case. The point of that is to get an indication of how well your respiration is working; it does not mean the levels in your vital organs are anywhere near as low. You can think of your blood system as a vast railway network with rail (blood and O2) services diminishing towards the edges. But that is because the edges need less.
Oxygen is used by all of your organs in varying quantities but the ones that vary most are your muscles. Some of these can be major drains on your reserves which, in the case of anyone with COPD, will be lower than the normal person. The biggest single users are your thigh muscles. And raising your arms uses a lot of muscles.
So, if you have low sats and are breathless STOP doing anything. Sit down to get the work off your leg muscles. Sit with your arms by your sides and relax. But concentrate - on breathing. Slow and steady. In through the nose - one...two...three and out through the mouth one...two...three...four...five. And repeat. I will bet your sats will climb back into the 90s within a few minutes at most, So cancel the ambulance.
But if they arrive what they will do is all this plus pump raw oxygen in via a nasal canular or face mask. And believe it or not they could actually make you worse. We breath at about 12 litres per minutes but only 20% or so of that is O2. They will be using near enough 100% O2 and may offer it as high as 5 litres a minute (or even more). And this can be far too much for your COPD riven body to handle.
I am on O2 for 15 hours a day prescribed but at only 1litre per minute! I am allowed to raise that to a maximum of 2 BRIEFLY if I am feeling in need; it has happened only once.
So my advice is to find out all you can about the business of breathing, about your needs and with the advice of good COPD nursing staff and other specialists devise a management programme that helps you enjoy a decent life.
Amy is only 35, so I’m not sure if much of what you say is good advice to her. O2 saturations of 88 in such a young person most definitely constitutes cause for concern. Also, it sounds like she has covid, not copd
Thank you that's useful to know. I'm hoping my symptoms are just covid related but the initial 88 was at the highest point of rest which I think triggered it. It's been a rougher day today as I'm feeling a out of breath sitting down and am on 10L apparently and currently at 92% with heart rate staying around 120. Hopefully my body fighting it but I've not had an illness like this before.
Sorry to hear that you have Covid and are not too well with it. Are you able to try and relax thorough what can be a scary time ?
The medical and nursing staff are very used now to managing Covid and I am sure you will be getting the best treatment. Pneumonias of any derivation can take their time to heal and if you can rest up then your body will be able to begin to heal and work through the infection. there are plenty of relaxation resources on the internet.
You can always call the BLF helpline and speak to the nurses there if you need further reassurance. Wishing you a speedy recovery .
Thank you Pauline, I'm as relaxed as possible, I had a care package with some books dropped off and have had work told so I hopefully don't have to worry about that. There's nothing I can really do about it than wait and hope it clears soon . The only issues I have are trying to ignore the monitors and the noise of the mask, along with pain when breathing, but they're all necessary so am trying to zone them out
Amy You have done everything that you should have done. Your Gp would not have called an ambulance if he thought you did not need it. I was told the last time that I was admitted that I was to call for an ambulance a lot sooner than I did, some of us can deteriorate at a very quick scary rate. My heart rate is always between 110 and 125 that is ok for me Its always been high my sisters sits at around 90 and that is ok for her. Get all the rest that you can. ,
Hope you're better now, and you weren't admitted for long last time!I've started the covid fever last night and the antibiotics haven't taken affect yet so my lungs are a little worse than they were yesterday. And they're giving fluids now to avoid me removing oxygen for food. I've had to go up to the 15L and am at 93% so I'm not sure where I go next if I get any worse, but it's very tiring now. If one thing I'm impressed with how strong this community is because any lack of lung function is really hard to deal with.
Hi Amy, it sounds like you’re getting good care. I was hospitalised in November with covid related pneumonia and I also have copd. I was in for 3 days and was allowed home when my oxygen levels were at 93% without extra oxygen. The hospital put me on antibiotics, antivirals, steroids and a nebuliser so they may do the same for you. I hope you feel better soon, it’s a horrible illness. Get as much rest as you can and drink plenty of water as it helps to thin the mucus making it easier to cough up. Take care.
Just want to say thank you so much for the support on this chat. Unfortunately I've still gotten worse today and they're transferring me to ICU so not sure how often I'll be able to use my phone. They're not wanting to use non invasive ventilation but have a nasal cannula over non rebreather to get me to 92% on 17L . Hopefully this is the peak and I can share some more positive news soon.
This is such an amazing loving community and thank you for well wishes and support if you've had similar experiences
Glad you’re getting transferred to ITU because you’ll be very closely monitored day & night so it’s the place to be. What a pain in the neck this virus is! It must all have come as a huge shock to you 😕 Save your energy for texting family and for getting better. Just let us know when you’re properly on the mend, which it goes without saying I hope will be very soon. Sending love & strength 🥰❤️🥰
Thank you it's so tiring and boring it's hard not to surf the Internet. No change today but not feeling much worse thankfully. Definitely just feeling very fatigued and tired. They still expect me in ICU for at least the next 2 days as a zcan has shown inflammation has spread in the lungs so the antibiotics have been ineffective so far
Hi Amy, my husband and I got covid two weeks ago, he has a poor immune system, and the end of the first week had low sats and was very fatigued and fell twice. He was taken to hospital and diagnose after X-rays with covid pneumonia. For three days he was on oxygen and iv antibiotics. High fever and very shaky, also very confused. On the fourth day he changed overnight and was lucid again, doesn’t need oxygen and has oral antibiotics. Still in hospital,but hopefully over the worst of it now. But not young and has several comorbidities. I’m guessing a week and he’s so much better. Hope you’re soon feeling well.x.
Glad to hear recovery can happen so fast. I've been given a long chat and basically I've had resistance to the antibiotics so they've not proved effective for me. They're starting a course of some similar ones but just want to maintain my vitals to give my body a chance to fight this as well. I've stayed on 17L and hovered around 92% which I know is not well still but it's not worse, and they've given pain relief to try and support breathing as it hasn't been helped by the antibiotic course
That happened to me too (with a different pneumonia). The lab said the bacteria should be sensitive to an IV antibiotic, but in fact it proved resistant! We had a very knowledgeable member who explained it to me, but sadly he seems to have left. Anyway, there are always other antibiotics they can try, so don’t worry. I’m glad they’re giving you help with your breathing, so you’ll be able to get more rest. Also it’s great you’re still at 92%. With covid, I imagine the “no worse” status is encouraging at this stage. Just a few more days & hopefully you’ll turn the corner 🤞❤️
Hello. Posting this update as the husband of Amy, who mentioned a support group. Yesterday evening after we had visited due to her leaving the icu following a continual improvement she suddenly detiorated significantly. They quickly diagnosed a rare side effect to the heavy breathing which was a tension pneumothorax. As she was still affected by covid they made the immediate decision to intubate.
The doctors are hopeful as this isn't a continual affect from covid symptoms that she'll be able to recover, but she is still in a bad way , and they are monitoring hour by hour as they drain her chest. It hurts to post this but thank you for the support you've given her and hopefully she can share good news herself in the near future.
Oh no!! Just when she’d improved & got out of ICU! That’s such terribly bad luck for poor Amy, and for you and the rest of the family. I’m so sorry she’s having these complications, what a worry for you all. Tell her to keep on fighting and I’m rooting for her to leave ICU again soon, and for good this time. Meanwhile, you take care too, and thank you so much for your thoughtfulness in letting us know xxx
Hi all, what an amazing group of people you are, I am on the mend, I've been woken up for 3 weeks and starting to feel much better. I think I've got very very lucky. I'm still needing oxygen as they are still unsure of the permanent damage to my lungs, but I've been moving about again for the past 2 weeks. Just doing what I've been told and then trying a little bit more haha. Thanks so much for the support, it meant so much!!!
I'm surprised 17L oxygen that's a huge amount. I was critically Ill but on 4L..Also surprised admitted to hospital with oxygen 88 . That's not dangerous.
Hope you have recovered now. Too much oxygen can be lethal .
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