Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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Short of breath with low pulse ox?

bsmith4421
bsmith4421
Lately I've been short of breath and a pulse ox reading between 94-98. Not all mine stays around 98. This adds fuel to anxiety and I was wondering if anxiety and breathing fun can cause low pulse ox an also if humidity can contribute to it being low as the humidity has been bad lately.
bsmith4421
bsmith4421
And I've had readings at 90, 92 and 93
deleted_user
deleted_user
Yep, all of the above can contribute. For me, even watching the pulse ox reading can raise my heart rate and lower my pulse ox. The nurse always holds the machine so I can't see it because she's seen me freak out and drop my numbers enough times. It's really silly, especially now that I don't have any breathing trouble. If you're checking at home, I would take a few deep breaths, sit down and relax for a while and see if your pulse ox doesn't come back up.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Is that bad? I was in the ER last night, and mine was 93, but the nurse said that's just on the borderline and not to worry. When I was at the hospital last week for surgery, it was down to 75, and they had me on oxygen then.
IndyH
IndyH
95-99 is a normal level.
Has yours been on 94 for a prolonged period of time, or just when the pulse ox is first attached to your finger? Also depends which type you are using, the ones you can buy which are relatively cheap (like the one i have, around 45 - $70) have a level of error - mine is up to 3%.
rmb
rmb
The times my pulse ox has been lower than 95 are the times I'm fixated on my breathing and on the pulse ox reading. It's like that hyper focus on it makes me anxious, thus sort of not breathing in a normal way. I'm sure humidity can affect your reading as well. Frankly, I think there's no benefit in checking our pulse ox regularly because you can have a PE and a normal pulse ox so what's the point.
bsmith4421
bsmith4421
All of these answers make sense because yes I'm fixated on my breathing. I walked inside last night and checked and it started at 79 but went to 98 within a few minutes.
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