My husbands pulse ox jumps around

@srasnick98 Hello and welcome to Connect. I have asthma, and I get readings like your husband and I feel fine. It is when it drops below 90 that doctors tend to worry. I know I feel tired if mine drops to around 93 and I just use my inhaler and it comes back up. My elderly mom was just in the hospital with acute respiratory failure and fluid on the lungs with pneumonia. Her oxygen readings were in the 85 range and they put her on oxygen of course. It's probably worth asking your doctor for a recommendation on where numbers should be. Allergies and phlegm accumulation affect these numbers and as long as I address that when it happens, my numbers are usually 96 or 97 %.

So he went for a check up and the doctor listened to his heart and lungs and at the doctor it was 96. She said he was the healthiest patient she had seen in a while. But on the at home pulse ox is when I seen what I did and it worried me dropping to 94 back to 95 the highest is 96 but it won’t stay at 96.

@srasnick98 It is normal for pulse ox readings to bounce around a little bit. Think about it. You are not constantly inhaling air; there is a rhythm of exhaling and inhaling and oxygen needs to be absorbed when air is inside the lungs. If there is greater need for oxygen, your body signals to increase the rate of breathing such as when exercising, or walking, etc. Your body needs and uses oxygen at different rates depending on what you are doing and your heart and lungs make adjustments accordingly. What the pulse ox is actually measuring is the color of your blood in your finger because oxygenated blood is red, and de-oxygenated blood in the veins is bluish in color. It does this by shining a light through your finger. If a person is lethargic and has a low reading for pulse ox that is different. Try playing with it by inhaling deeply and holding your breath and see if you can increase the numbers. Allergies and phlegm do affect these readings by interfering a bit with oxygen absorption and that is normal too. You can always put a new battery in if you are concerned about accuracy. I always know by how alert I am where my oxygen readings would be and I would only measure it if I was getting tired or having difficulty breathing.

Hello, and welcome to Mayo Connect. We are a community of patients and caregivers who support one another in our life and health journey. First, let me say that 95% is quite normal for many people, and if the doctor wasn't concerned based on his other vitals, health history, etc he is probably fine.

Please let me ask, how much experience do you have with monitoring O2 concentrations in people? When you put the pulse oximeter on his finger, how does it fit? When I place it on 3 of my fingers, I get readings in the low 90's, because they are crooked. My friend has very large hands, and the only one where the meter fits properly is his pinky.

Now, when I put the meter on and walk around, my oxygen sats vary from 98 to 91 or 92 - all normal. I can also see them change depending on whether I am breathing deeply, talking, etc.

Here's my BIG question - If you know, how is your husband at staying fully hydrated with water and other no-caffeine, no-alcohol beverages (preferably not sodas?) Men in particular tend not to drink enough water throughout the day, often because it is not convenient to stop and relieve themselves while working. This affects the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Urine should be light yellow to almost clear if a person is well-hydrated - and you should be going at least 3 times during the day. Otherwise you is probably dehydrated...
Normal water/water equivalent beverage intake is about 32-64 ounces, more if is doing any strenuous labor or sports. And even more if outdoors sweating in the heat.
Also, anyone drinking a lot of fluids need to be conscious of keeping their electrolytes in balance - a little gatorade or similar during the day can take care of that, or an electrolyte replacement capsule/tablet.

This information comes to you courtesy of my experienced RN daughters, who say the number one underlying cause of visits to the school nurse's office, calls for medical help in summer, and ER visits during hot weather is dehydration.

Sue

Living at high altitude those are numbers I dream for….

Thank you this helps I have just been really worried I guess and overthinking

This has also been really helpful as well. Makes me feel better to know that it can be normal to have lower 90’s and that be normal he rests at 95 usually and says he feels fine he is going back to the doctor just for my sanity but he does drink water but I would like for him to drink more. He is very active and never complains of being short of breath. I do not have experience with pulse ox machines I just got one due to being anxious about it and probably shouldn’t have even bought one cause it made me too hyper vigilant. I really appreciate you taking time to answer coming from a nurse I feel a little better. I worry a lot and have been stressing to no ends about it. I always thought the only healthy normal was 98-100 % and anything lower you had a lung disease. I feel stupid

Don't feel stupid! what you will learn if you read a little here is that everybody has a different "normal."
My O2 is usually 96-98, but my pulse is very high and would worry a lot of people. My friend's O2 is always below 95, but she feels no shortness of breath - it has always been like that. The same applies to body weight, blood sugars and other measurements. My blood sugar always registers "above normal range" but my A1C (the average over time) is always 5.3 or less which is excellent.
If the doctor is happy, and your husband is healthy you should relax. Unless he smokes or vapes - then there is cause for concern.
Sue

If his pulse oximeter shows 88 or lower, you would have cause to worry. He may recover if he lays flat in bed. It might be possible for him to bring his fluctuating ones up by breathing more deeply as he works. A long exhale and then breathing in might help.

So we tried different fingers (he is a mechanic and has a little bit of thick skin on his hands) so we tried down to the pinky and on his pinky we got a normal reading his pinky fit the machine properly and it read at 97-98