Hypoxia and Medicine

My oxygen level was 83 when I got pneumonia after H1N1. I can't make sense of this number. How low can it go?

When the doctor told me that I had 83% oxygen saturation level, I thought that sounded pretty good. He was alarmed and thought I should go to the hospital. He explained to me why 83 wasn't good and he arranged for oxygen to be delivered to my home. I followed all doctors' orders in regard to oxygen treatment and now I fully understand the difference between 83 and normal oxygen levels. What I don't understand is the extent to which I was ill, in other words, what is the range of bad oxygen levels when patients get pneumonia? I don't know whether patients can have oxygen levels in the 50's, 60's, 70's and an 83 is a decent number or whether the most ill patients only go down to 80. In other words, how sick was I? I do know that 88 is the lowest acceptable level and that 95 is a normal level.

Public Comments

1. An oxygen saturation of 83% is low enough to indicate serious disease. It is certainly at a level where you need supplementary oxygen (by a mask etc). The saturation of oxygen depends on how much oxygen is getting into your blood. Often, like in your case, giving oxygen can improve the saturation, but if there is severe lung damage (for instance in long term smokers who get pneumonia) it may not be possible to restore the oxygen saturation.
2. O2 Saturation levels are very important, because they tell the amount of oxygen that is in your blood. You need oxygen in order for your body to function w/o it can lead to death. A normal range is at least 93% or greater, 100% is the maximum amount. Some doctors will settle for 91 or 92% or a different number depending on the patients condition. When you have in infection in your lungs, the bacteria blocks and decreases the lungs ability to obtain oxygen. When this happens patients will more likely need oxygen therapy, breathing treatments, medications, etc, to help their body get through this difficult time. Oxygen saturations in the 50s,60s,70s, are not compatible with life, these are the people that you see starting to turn blue, and/or more likely needing CPR, because they are not breathing. Basically oxygen is vital to all our needs its vital for your heart, your brain, and all your organs, and anything below the normal range should be taken seriously.
3. In a normal, healthy person, oxygen saturations should be 90% or higher. If your oxygen saturations were 83%, you were moderately ill. Sustained oxygen levels below 80% will cause organ damage in most people. However, this takes some time considering the rest of the body is functioning well (i.e, no heart, kidney, or liver failure, etc). Patients with chronic lung conditions can have saturations in the mid to upper 80's all the time and do just fine. Patients with congenital heart conditions can live with sats in the 60's-80's for years, depending on their specific defect. Short term, I have treated patients whose sats have gone all the way to zero, and after resuscitation and treatment, they were discharged from the hospital fully recovered. Hope that helps!