![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athousanderrorsvia https://ift.tt/3aPtEQU
Opinion | The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients:
lynati:
pretentioussongtitle:
hedgehog-goulash7:
alarajrogers:
This is a really interesting article, but since the NYT is often a little bitch about making you sign up or subscribe to see their articles, I’ll tell you the important takeaway. According to this doctor, what’s killing COVID-19 patients is that they don’t feel short of breath soon enough. COVID-19 impairs oxygenation but not exhalation of carbon dioxide, and exhalation of carbon dioxide, not actual oxygenation levels, is how our brain detects low oxygen.
By the time COVID patients feel short of breath, they are already on death’s door. The doctor in the article says that if people were just showing up for treatment sooner, the survival rate would be much higher, but because they don’t know how sick they are, they don’t go. People with oxygen saturations of 50% are showing up at hospitals talking on their cell phones. I’m personally not a doctor, but the guy writing the article is, and he basically says it’s amazing that those people are even still alive.
However, this strongly implies – and this is what he says in the article – that a simple pulse oximeter could save lives. If you can possibly afford one – they run $30-$40 – you should get one, and use it fairly often to check your oxygen levels. Anything between 94% - 100% is reasonable. Lower than 94% and you should probably go to the hospital.
I feel like, if this ties out – if COVID is killing people because their oxygen levels drop so low and their lungs become badly damaged before they seek help, but treatments do exist if they came in earlier than that, and they wouldn’t need ventilators – then pulse oximeters, a fairly cheap home medical device, could save a lot of lives.
Especially if you’re forced into unsafe situations by work, you should probably get one of these and check your oxygen levels frequently.
Reblogging to signal-boost! This article is extremely interesting and concerning. If you work in a job that might expose you to COVID-19, please read. Please stay as safe as you can.
Yes, I’ve read this elsewhere. As they study COVID-19 more, doctors are coming to the conclusion that it behaves less like standard pneumonia and more like hypoxia (altitude sickness).
Huh.
(Your picture was not posted)
Opinion | The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients:
lynati:
pretentioussongtitle:
hedgehog-goulash7:
alarajrogers:
This is a really interesting article, but since the NYT is often a little bitch about making you sign up or subscribe to see their articles, I’ll tell you the important takeaway. According to this doctor, what’s killing COVID-19 patients is that they don’t feel short of breath soon enough. COVID-19 impairs oxygenation but not exhalation of carbon dioxide, and exhalation of carbon dioxide, not actual oxygenation levels, is how our brain detects low oxygen.
By the time COVID patients feel short of breath, they are already on death’s door. The doctor in the article says that if people were just showing up for treatment sooner, the survival rate would be much higher, but because they don’t know how sick they are, they don’t go. People with oxygen saturations of 50% are showing up at hospitals talking on their cell phones. I’m personally not a doctor, but the guy writing the article is, and he basically says it’s amazing that those people are even still alive.
However, this strongly implies – and this is what he says in the article – that a simple pulse oximeter could save lives. If you can possibly afford one – they run $30-$40 – you should get one, and use it fairly often to check your oxygen levels. Anything between 94% - 100% is reasonable. Lower than 94% and you should probably go to the hospital.
I feel like, if this ties out – if COVID is killing people because their oxygen levels drop so low and their lungs become badly damaged before they seek help, but treatments do exist if they came in earlier than that, and they wouldn’t need ventilators – then pulse oximeters, a fairly cheap home medical device, could save a lot of lives.
Especially if you’re forced into unsafe situations by work, you should probably get one of these and check your oxygen levels frequently.
Reblogging to signal-boost! This article is extremely interesting and concerning. If you work in a job that might expose you to COVID-19, please read. Please stay as safe as you can.
Yes, I’ve read this elsewhere. As they study COVID-19 more, doctors are coming to the conclusion that it behaves less like standard pneumonia and more like hypoxia (altitude sickness).
Huh.
(Your picture was not posted)
