$200 pulse oximeter for monitoring your oxygen saturation

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.

"John Giddy" wrote in message
...
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.

John and Eric are right about pre-breathing preventing decompression
sickness (precipitation of N2 in fluids and joints due to decreased
solubility at altitude) but it does not prevent hypoxia, this is an
important distinction and one I left out of my discussion. I have heard
pilots mention using pre-breathing as a method to prevent hypoxia and I have
worried that such a pilot may not be as diligent in hypoxia monitoring if
they feel pre-breathing will protect them. This is what I infered with Mal's
statement.

Tim

Tim Traynor wrote:

John and Eric are right about pre-breathing preventing decompression
sickness (precipitation of N2 in fluids and joints due to decreased
solubility at altitude) but it does not prevent hypoxia,

Even worse: Pure oxygen is poisonous at atmospheric pressure and should
not be breathed over an extended time. You'll find more about this in
advanced scuba diving books.

Stefan

John and Eric are right about pre-breathing preventing decompression
sickness (precipitation of N2 in fluids and joints due to decreased
solubility at altitude) but it does not prevent hypoxia,

Even worse: Pure oxygen is poisonous at atmospheric pressure and should
not be breathed over an extended time. You'll find more about this in
advanced scuba diving books.

Stefan

Yes, when I was in school there was a lab in my department that showed a
hyperoxic environment (100% O2 for 24 hrs) can induce severe airway
epithelial damage and used such a model to study how the epithelium responds
to injury.

Tim

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