That happens to me. my 02 drops to 87-86 and my heart rates goes over hundred...especially when I run the vacuum cleaner or mop the floor....let's face it we are wuss's.........

why did they suggest the meter??? Most of us already know that physical activities leave you breathing hard because we can feel it. So the thing about the meter is, as I understand it is best used when you are inactive to see if your oxygen levels are too low at rest. A pulse rate of 120 and low 90's O2 while working isn't bad per se.. Careful you don't overreact to a meter by using it too often. follow your PCP's advice.

Nod.. the best way I can explain this is... when your sats drop and you begin to feel more SOB, the "fight or flight" mechanism in our body engages, causing our heart rate to go up , then we feel even worse and more SOB and the cycle gets worse.
One of the first things I learned was start to immed. do pursed lip breathing and STOP what ever else your doing.. Your body is telling you to stop and just breathe. If you can, sit for a bit and just breath PLB... Roll your neck, think good things or distract your thoughts..
Lifting tends to be one of the worse... I remember them teaching me that we need to esp. use PLB during this and bending..First, breathe in slowly. Then lift and place objects as you breathe out.

Sats dropping in the lower 90's can be frightening at first when you start with a pulse ox but in reality.. when I worked in the hospital I quickly learned that if you monitor anyone from babies to adults all their numbers will go wonky during a normal day.. that was the hardest thing to teach new staff too.. react to the person not the machines numbers...
the goal is to see how your feeling and even more importantly to use PLB, if your sats aren't coming up at least a few points once you take a break and then see how long it takes you to recover.. If you get PLB right and recovery is within a few minutes then the pulse ox is doing its job and teaching you how to help your body adapt to this... Guarantee if you just use the oxymeter and only focus on the low number at that moment alone your going to see a much higher increase in your HR and SOB... we all do it at first.
There are a couple of VERY good and respected articles

http://oxyview.com/Articles.aspx

just scroll down to "

Why does my oxygen saturation drop
when I get up and move around?"

"Digital Pulse Oximetry"

Glad you got the pulse ox and like Bob said, always do what your Dr says but remember.. this is just a tool to help you begin to see what might be affecting you and at times to even find out what isn't... hope this helps.

I think everyone with breathing problems should have an oxymeter. I think it's important to keep an eye on the 02 levels. It offers you good feedback. You can't always judge 02 sat levels simply on the way you feel. I prefer empirical information. Would we ask diabetic patients to "guess" at their blood sugar levels? My doc never recommended an oxymeter and I consider that a failing on his part. I'm thinking about buying another one that measures and logs overnight 02 levels.

Nod, you didn't mention if you were on oxygen when you took those measurements. If not, then those numbers are encouraging, although I know how lousy they can make you feel.

Today when I got out of bed and only walked to the computer my 02 sat. dropped from 97 to 84 while on 2 1/2 ltrs. of oxygen. Of course at that point I feel like hell. First thing I do is turn the 02 up to 4 ltrs until my 02 sats recover. Then I turn it back to 3.
I've seen it drop as low as 62 on that first walk to the computer. If I kept moving it would continue to drop. I tried toughing my way through it once and ended up on the floor. Sometimes you have to stop.

Sometimes you just have to stop moving, purse lip breathe, relax, and remain still until you recover the 02 sat level.. I don't know of anything else that works.

Such good advice, Nod have you ever asked your doctor for pulmonary Rehab ? It teaches you the pursed lip method so well, it saved me. I think it works because we breath from our chests instead of our stomachs, Pulmonary rehab teaches you to breath the proper way to exhale longer than inhale and to do it slowly with our lips pursed, like when you blow out a candle.

all good advice Nod....just remember everyone of us is different and so you to must be aware of your individual needs and work towards improvement. It's never too late to try improving an exercise routine which while it may or may not increase your abilities will definitely help prevent the symptoms from taking over your life. Tia Chi is an excellent resource for teaching passive exercise and breathing techniques. Another suggestion is to make daily notes in a small pad you can keep handy as a reference as to what worked and what didn't.

I go weekly to post pulmonary rehab exercises.My my O2 is mostly low 90s to mid 90s .For other people if drops under 90 s they had to stop and wait.Last week one lady had 02 drop to 80 but she just continued talking and waiting to get well.After I met her in the shop(I live in a small town)she was fine .I am thinking to get my self pulse o2 reader.

Good idea Jade, it is good to do exercise but moderately to improve our quality of life. Low impact with proper breathing methods. The pulmonary Rehab people really know how to guide us.

Nod, I was always taught to PLB when lifting anyway, back in Rehab. Take a breath in and PLb when you start the lift. I now have everything almost, up to a point where I don't lift. I also have a grabber to help get the stuff when I can. When walking I had to take a step back at times when I reached a plateau and start again with the length of my walk. Work your way up again. One more thing. Did you check what your stats were before you got uP from bed? I I found there were times when my stats would drop just sitting up. I waited until I got the seats up before getting out of bed. I learned to note everything to so I could tell the Dr.
Hope this helps a little.

pulmonary rehab will teach you a lot. that is sort of the norm for me anymore.

Thanks to all of you for the good advice. It has cleared up some confusion. Pulmonary rehabilitation is out since there is none closer then an hour away.

You can go on line for things you can do at home. Just remember you must go slow and sure. Each one of us gets exercise every day just by doing the dishes, making the bed, putting things away and just walking around the house. never give up moving around, just don't over do. Make small goals each week to how much you do. even if you reach that goal in 2 days, stay at it for the week (3-4 times a week). Your oximeter is your best friend. The more you get to know about where you are by how you feel, the more you can help yourslef get relief. Please keep us up to date on how you are doing.

this might help in increasing oxygen intake.

http://www.beginnerstaichi.com/tai-chi-breathing.html

thank you bob, that was very helpful.