Hypoxia and Medicine

how much brain damage did i suffer?

this morning i thought i may have stopped breathing because my fingernails took a grey blue appearance and i needed to "test" myself to see if oxygen was responsible, as brain damage rightly makes me paranoid. so i made my breathing very shallow, still getting a small breath or two every 6-10 seconds, but making sure to exhale completely for several minutes, and then was to check on my fingernails for cyanosis. when the first experiment yielded no conclusion, i repeated probably 3 more times, in shorter intervals. when i was marginally satisfied that my skin color had little to do with my air intake, i put my finger in an oximiter (measure blood air saturation to give my mind peace). i started to breathe as i had during the questioned period (and how i breathed thereafter) for a few minutes and saw my oxygen level go from 99% to 98%, on a constant staircase downward. i continued this for a few minutes, managing to spike my o2 levels to 94% or possibly lower for a few infinite seconds, to realize my brain may have been sufficiently deprived of oxygen for some time. i panicked and to make sure my oximiter wasn't buggy, retested myself 3 or 4 more times, bringing my blood sat levels to 95 and 94 percent, still now believing each of these tests on the validity of the oximiter caused more brain cells o die, even if i was only that low for no more than 5 seconds. in total i spent a fair amount of time not breathing today, and by textbook definition a fair amount of time hypoxic, with apnea. do you think i lost brain cells or caused brain damage from my neurotic worsening of the scenario which initiated today's events? thank you

Public Comments

1. I think you are a hypochondriac. Go to a doctor if you think something is wrong.
2. From the fact that you have ample medical knowledge on the above subject and the equipment to test your theories, it is plain to see that you must have bought them and learn about its uses for some reasons. Perhaps for yourself or someone in your home? Even though all I know is that brain damage can be caused by suffocation, what I do know is if you want a peace of mind, the right thing to do is go to a doctor. Asking for an answer here is not going to help you at all. The probability of someone giving you a professional answer is very low, and if you are really in trouble, you can't help yourself without equipments. So please hurry to a doctor. Take care.