elevation/atitude & 02 levels

[jarca]

Doing a search to find out how best to read oximeters to see if one might be retaining 02, I found this interesting.
I live at about 5,500 ft & when I was driving once my 02 suddenly dropped when I crossed a mountain. I had never thought about elevation/altitude & my 02 settings before that! 
Anyway, i found this interesting & also a reminder that when we are on supplemental 02 we need to monitor it with our changing activities;
"The amount of oxygen in the air, which decreases at higher altitude, would have a significant effect on a person's SpO2. A person may have a reading of 98% at sea level; it may decrease to 95% at 5,000 ft. and further to 90% at 10,000 ft. At altitude above 10,000 ft., a person may fail to adjust to the low level of oxygen and his SpO2 may drop below 80% resulting in hypoxic conditions."
www.amperordirect.com/pc/help-pulse-oximeter/z-interpreting-results.html

(my pulm told me once to increase my LPM 1% for ? ft of altitude, but now i forget how many feet he said ) 

[gerald]

The change in altitude has a significant affect on O2 levels. I found it does become more difficult to keep a reasonable O2 level above 2000 ft.

Also the Oxygen Concentrator has to work harder to deliver the same amount of O2. I found on a plane the POC 9 hour battery life was reduced to about 5 hours of life. That makes a big difference if you are planning a 9 hour flight.

I believe that it takes the body about a week to become aclimitized to a higher altitude so would be intereting to see the affect after the body has aclimitized.

[David]

Well that is interesting.

I guess living in Florida has an advantage. Where I live is at an Elevation of 33 ft

[gerald]

This year I travelled from the Fraser Valley (200-500 ft) to Edmonton, AB (2200 ft) to Olds, Ab (3300 ft) to Jasper (3500 ft) to Valemont, BC (1700 ft). It is amazing how much the Blood oxygen levels fluctuate!!

[gnott]

Acclimatization is just as flexible, and often takes far longer than one might expect.

The US Air Force Academy, 6000 feet, (as the USAF tends to be interested in altitude studies) reports that cadets from sea-level tend to show performance decreases up to a year after entering the academy. Yet, when they first show up their performance isn't that much lower until several weeks when it will nose dive to a low before building back up.

However, we are talking about very healthy young people here, so their 'performance decreases' are likely nowhere near what "Ours" might be. (Smile) The moral for us is if you do have to travel at high altitude be aware that a 'real' drop would likely not happen until a few days or a week later.