Pulse oximeter - timely detection of pneumonia
Unfortunately, the role of puloximeters in home use has increased in value recently.
If we had randomly asked people so far what kind of medical instrument they have at home, the majority would probably have said the blood pressure monitor. It makes perfect sense anyway, as this is the perfect solution for discovering common and blood pressure problems.
In contrast, few people may have needed a pulse oximeter to measure blood oxygen levels, as lung diseases were significantly less common and, if they were, we mostly left the measurements to the doctor. This was definitely useful to the extent that, as with blood pressure monitors, medical pulse oximeters gave much more accurate results.
Unfortunately, all media these days are all about the coronavirus and the disease that can be linked to it, Covid-19. The disease causes a small proportion of those infected to develop severe pneumonia that extends to both sides of the lung and, in more severe cases, destroys lung tissue to such an extent that due to extensive scarring, the patient may have breathing problems for the rest of his life.
As it turns out, the condition of initially asymptomatic infections can change, become dangerous, or the onset of dry cough as the initial symptom may be due to an onset of pneumonia. A blood oxygen meter, i.e. a pulse oximeter, may be suitable for determining this.
It is important to emphasize that the pulse oximeter does not cure, it is not suitable for any treatment, its task is to detect the disturbance in the vital processes of the body.
These altered processes may be characterized by blood oxygen levels, which may indicate, for example, pneumonia. In the early stages of inflammation, a warning sign may be a decrease in the oxygen content of the blood due to a decrease in lung capacity, resulting in less oxygen reaching the cells.
Three types of pulse oximeters are distinguished. The simpler are the finger-clips and display pieces that are best recommended for home use. These devices, at least the cheaper ones, do not always store data and are not suitable for an alarm function either. More expensive versions can already record data from 5 to 10 measurements, and if left on our fingers, they can also alert you to a possible malaise or fainting.
One more expensive category is the handheld pulse oximeter, which consists of a small, roughly phone-sized device and a finger-clampable unit. These are already semi-professional pieces (usually), so they can be used in smaller practices. In cases where a more severe disease exists, monitoring for several days is required, or it is essential to obtain more accurate data, it is worth obtaining one, even if it is more expensive than the first version.
The third group is the group of desktop pulse oximeters. These are professional pieces, the goods are also very high, for home use are essentially unnecessarily many functions.
The principle of operation of pulse oximeters is relatively simple. It needs a built-in light source that emits red and infrared light, and a sensor that measures the amount of light that passes through our fingers. From the quality of light absorption, the oxygen saturation of the cells and the blood flowing in our fingers is calculated.
The pulse oximeter is thus suitable for measuring and monitoring the level of oxygen in the blood and cells. Even relatively inaccurate, less expensive, finger-only devices may be suitable for this, because although the measured value is not accurate, changes remain traceable based on daily results. In many cases, blood oxygen levels are the first warning symptom, such as pneumonia.
Fortunately, there are plenty of such devices on offer in Chinese stores as well. The offer includes cheap pieces of 3000-4000 forints, but also very expensive table equipment, the price of which can reach 200-300 thousand forints. However, it is unnecessary to look for these astronomically priced machines for home use, even those costing 8-10 thousand forints have plenty of capacity, especially if we know that they are also much cheaper to buy from China than in domestic stores.
Once again, it is important to emphasize that the pulse oximeter is not suitable for treatment. If we use one and we notice symptoms of pneumonia or Covid-19, something about the measured blood oxygen level drops we may suspect a decrease in lung capacity and that we have pneumonia.
Many types of pulse oximeters are available in Chinese stores, you can find them at the following links:
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