Why does oxygen drop below 90 in exertion in the elderly?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have been diagnosed with asthma and take Symbicort twice a day. My oxygen levels run 92 on resting and go down to 87 to 89 when I climb the stairs. I am a 70-year-old male and worry about it. I had lung clots six years ago, and I do not take blood thinners.

I had a chest computed tomography scan last month, and it was negative, and my heart evaluation was normal. I was put on 0.52 gallons of oxygen as the thing is needed (PRN). If your saturated oxygen is 87 and you use oxygen, should the oxygen go up fairly quickly? Should I be concerned?

Please help.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Thanks for the query.

I can understand your concern. According to your statement, you have been suffering from asthma. Your oxygen levels usually are 92 in the resting stage, but they become 87 to 89 on exertion. As your oxygen saturation is around 92%, oxygen therapy or inhalation is indicated for you. Because some sort of activities may drop your oxygen saturation level, make you breathless, and cause problems with your heart, brain, and other parts of your body.

Patients with oxygen saturation between 88 to 92 due to asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are usually recommended to be put on 0.53 gal oxygen as the thing is needed (PRN). 0.53 gallons of oxygen per minute is quite common in adult people like you who are suffering from shortness of breath.

The rate of oxygen can be increased to 0.79, 1.05,1.32 gallons per minute according to the patient's severity of respiratory suffering. Even 1.58 gal to 2.63 gal of oxygen per minute is considered normal and safe. So, do not be worried at all. 0.53 gal oxygen per minute will not harm you.

Take care.

In case of any other query, ask me.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Thanks for joining again. It may require 16 hours per day for a few days, like 5 to 7 days, to bring the oxygen saturation rate over 90% in a patient with acute severe asthma or life-threatening asthma status and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The duration of giving supplemental oxygen to a patient usually depends on his severity and his response to the oxygen therapy.

Continue oxygen inhalation up to your oxygen level over 90% according to ABG (arterial blood gases) analysis. You can increase the oxygen level by three liters per minute if needed. But it will be better to be examined by a doctor first and increase the oxygen level by three liters per minute according to his advice.

High flow oxygen may indicate 15.79 gal per minute. Prolonged high-flow oxygen can cause pulmonary toxicity. But 0.53 to 0.79 gal oxygen per minute usually does not cause any harm to your respiratory tract and continues until oxygen is reached over 90% as well as respiratory problems subsided.

I hope it helps.

Take care.

In case of any other query ask me.