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A comment on Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19. Parent comment

Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by cowmoo728 on Monday April 13, 2020 @11:43PM (#22862567)
If I had a blood oxygen of 89% I would have gone to the emergency room immediately. That's 80 year old smoker with emphysema levels. If you were previously healthy that is far more serious than the "light" covid-19 that many people get, assuming the reading was accurate.
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Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by debaserab2 on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:45AM (#22862831)
That's what my friend said, too, but it didn't linger there for long and I felt comfortable enough with my breathing that I didn't feel it warranted going to the hospital.

As my symptoms got better it gradually improved and the last time I did a reading it was at 99%, which I think is where I normally am (it's not something I measured before this though).

I only suggest that it was the "light" version because it seems like the advanced cases develop into pneumonia and I definitely didn't have pneumonia. The breathing problems felt no worse than a bad cold to me.

I have asthma and bad allergies, so it could just be that I'm somewhat used to sub-par breathing in general. I also know of some breathing exercises that always seem to help.

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Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by rjsw on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @08:35AM (#22865075)
Anybody living in CO has already self-selected for being able to adapt to lower oxygen levels, maybe you were at less risk of getting really bad than the average for the US.
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Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by ip26 on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @01:31AM (#22863005)
Don't forget he's in CO, SPO2 is lower at altitude. Nobody has 100% in Denver- unless they have carbon monoxide poisoning (or so I'm told).
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Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by nradov on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @01:44AM (#22863064)
Average blood oxygen levels only drop about 5% in Denver.
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Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by ip26 on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @02:25PM (#22869576)
Right, so if a healthy person is typically 95% then 89% is less dramatic. Perhaps comparable to having 94% at sea level.
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Re:Fear and beauty: two weeks living with Covid-19 by redis_mlc on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @01:02AM (#22862903)
> If you were previously healthy that is far more serious than the "light" covid-19 that many people get, assuming the reading was accurate.

According to interviews with doctors, corona patients experience lower than normal oxygen levels without that being a problem, until it gets very low.

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