$200 pulse oximeter for monitoring your oxygen saturation

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
Tim Mara wrote:
The Nonin
units like Tim sells are not approved for medical use, which is why it
doesn't require a prescription.

But it is apparently the same unit that they DO sell for medical use, the
only difference being the label and the intended use. I have seen the aviation
and medical versions of the Nonin instrument side-by-side and they look and
operate exactly the same.

We purchased our Nonin Flitestat (AKA Onyx) primarily for non-aviation use,
and find it to be an amazing device. I have only tried it in the cockpit once,
but was disappointed in the difficulty/impossibility of reading the LED display
in bright sunlight. Are you old enough to remember LED wris****ches? Same
deal. The same unit with an LCD display would be much better for soaring use.

Vaughn

Vaughn wrote:

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...

Tim Mara wrote: The Nonin units like Tim sells are not approved for
medical use, which is why it doesn't require a prescription.


But it is apparently the same unit that they DO sell for medical use,
the only difference being the label and the intended use. I have
seen the aviation and medical versions of the Nonin instrument
side-by-side and they look and operate exactly the same.

I'm sure you are right. I mentioned it because the SPO model I referred
to doesn't appear to have an aviation or sports clone like the Nonins,
and I didn't want people to avoid it just for that reason.


We purchased our Nonin Flitestat (AKA Onyx) primarily for
non-aviation use, and find it to be an amazing device. I have only
tried it in the cockpit once, but was disappointed in the
difficulty/impossibility of reading the LED display in bright
sunlight. Are you old enough to remember LED wris****ches? Same
deal. The same unit with an LCD display would be much better for
soaring use.

The SPO 5500's LCD readout and much longer battery life (1000 hours
versus 18 hours) are also reasons to prefer it. It's not just the low
price that attracted me.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Question - will the reading of the pulse oximeter discriminate against
carbon monoxide?

In other words, does the use of a pulse oximeter reduce the need of a carbon
monoxide detector? If carbon monoxide replaces oxygen, then the % of oxygen
would decrease and the oximeter would drop substantially when carbon
monoxide is present? Right?

Colin N12HS


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COLIN LAMB wrote:

Question - will the reading of the pulse oximeter discriminate against
carbon monoxide?

Why this question? Gliders tend to fly carbon monoxyde free, so I don't
see the problem. Unless you smoke, of course, but smoking while
breathing pure oxygen is not really recommended.

Stefan

http://www.craggyaero.com/Oxygen.htm

Looks smaller at flight level 240 it was minus 24 C and I had gloves on it
was bloody cold I do not think I would take the gloves or glove off to see
my saturation.

The best thing when wave flying is to breath oxygen for a hour before the
flight or going above 8000 ft thus saturating your body with oxygen.

It worked for me http://www.mals.net/bunyan04/pages/Picture%20001.htm

The best thing when wave flying is to breath oxygen for a hour before the
flight or going above 8000 ft thus saturating your body with oxygen.

Great flight Mal! I'd love to have a wave flight like that sometime.

However, your body only has a tenuous ability to "store" oxygen, and that is
when it is bound to hemoglobin in your red blood cells. Given that your
cardiac output is about 5 liters/min and your blood volume is about 10
liters you can, theoretically, "saturate" your oxygen stores in about 2
minutes. Furthermore, if you are breathing normally, don't have pulmonary
disease, and are not launching from a significant altitude, your blood is
already leaving your lungs very nearly oxygen saturated. What I am saying is
that it is not nescessary to go on oxygen an hour before a wave flight
because you can't store oxygen or "saturate your body" - do you think being
on 100% oxygen for an hour would allow you to hold your breath significantly
longer?.

As we all know, blood oxygenation levels can change very quickly with the
limiting factors for a healthy pilot being partial pressure of oxygen in the
lung (altitude) and type of breathing (normal full breath vs shallow
breathing vs hyperventilating). This is why a pulse-ox meter can be so
valuable, you may have a false sense of security if you are breathing 100%
O2 but your respiratory rate and depth is slow and shallow resulting in a
surprising hypoxia.

Just stuff to think about. My real pet peave is athletes rushing to the
sideline to get their O2 fix, the trainers or sports docs providing that
must have flunked physiology.

Tim

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 04:38:35 GMT, Tim Traynor wrote:

The best thing when wave flying is to breath oxygen for a hour before the
flight or going above 8000 ft thus saturating your body with oxygen.

Great flight Mal! I'd love to have a wave flight like that sometime.

However, your body only has a tenuous ability to "store" oxygen, and that is
when it is bound to hemoglobin in your red blood cells. Given that your
cardiac output is about 5 liters/min and your blood volume is about 10
liters you can, theoretically, "saturate" your oxygen stores in about 2
minutes. Furthermore, if you are breathing normally, don't have pulmonary
disease, and are not launching from a significant altitude, your blood is
already leaving your lungs very nearly oxygen saturated. What I am saying is
that it is not nescessary to go on oxygen an hour before a wave flight
because you can't store oxygen or "saturate your body" - do you think being
on 100% oxygen for an hour would allow you to hold your breath significantly
longer?.

As we all know, blood oxygenation levels can change very quickly with the
limiting factors for a healthy pilot being partial pressure of oxygen in the
lung (altitude) and type of breathing (normal full breath vs shallow
breathing vs hyperventilating). This is why a pulse-ox meter can be so
valuable, you may have a false sense of security if you are breathing 100%
O2 but your respiratory rate and depth is slow and shallow resulting in a
surprising hypoxia.

Just stuff to think about. My real pet peave is athletes rushing to the
sideline to get their O2 fix, the trainers or sports docs providing that
must have flunked physiology.

Tim

Tim,
We were taught during an altitude chamber run with the RAAF (Ozzie
Airforce), that breathing 100% Ox for a while before going to a lower
pressure environment reduces the amount of dissolved nitrogen in your
blood, so makes it less likely you will suffer "the bends" at high
altitude.
No mention was made of "being able to store the oxygen for future
use", and I agree with you on this aspect of the discussion.
Maybe some people have heard about the 100% Ox breathing for a half
hour from people who have done a chamber run, but have not understood
the reason for the pre-exposure.
Cheers, John G.

Mal wrote:

http://www.craggyaero.com/Oxygen.htm

Looks smaller at flight level 240 it was minus 24 C and I had gloves on it
was bloody cold I do not think I would take the gloves or glove off to see
my saturation.

The best thing when wave flying is to breath oxygen for a hour before the
flight or going above 8000 ft thus saturating your body with oxygen.

It worked for me http://www.mals.net/bunyan04/pages/Picture%20001.htm

My understanding is pre-breathing is mainly to reduce the nitrogen
levels in your blood, not increase the oxygen. It does help a lot of
pilots to turn on the oxygen early on the way up, to compensate for
reduced lung function due to age, smoking, and other factors. Some
pilots don't get full saturation just standing on the ground!

An oximeter will let you determine this, and perhaps alert you to
inadequate oxygen in flight, whether due to those factors already
mentioned, or equipment problems like a leak, kinked hose, bad
regulator, low pressure in the bottle, and so on.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Hello Stefan:

Since I do not live on top of a cliff, I need to launch my sailplane. One
of the methods I use is self-launch, in which case I have an engine in front
of me. It is only when the engine is on that I have any concern about
carbon monoxide. And, I might even have the heater on.

Not wishing to be unsportsmanlike, though, I have a policy of turning the
engine off during periods of sink. And, I make sure that I never smile when
the engine is on.

Colin N12HS


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COLIN LAMB wrote:

Since I do not live on top of a cliff, I need to launch my sailplane. One
of the methods I use is self-launch, in which case I have an engine in front
of me.

Nothing beats one of those small, cheap CO indicators which you can
stick on the panel, then.

Stefan