Oxygen Smart

Blue Lips and Lack of Oxygen

Posted by admin - 08/05/09 at 09:05 pm

My previous post dealt with signs of oxygen deprivation one of which is lips and finger nails turning blue or purplish.

Well I had lunch today at my mother’s.  My dad (step father actually) arrived late and in a foul mood as traffic had been really bad.  As I sat across from  of him I noticed his lips were dark blue.  When I mentioned this to him he just replied (still in a bad mood) “What do you expect?”

So I suggested he check his oxygen saturation with his pulse oximeter.  And yes, it was way too low. (Below 70).

With an abrupt mood change he increased the flow rate and began to take more regular and deeper breaths.

The saturation level began to recover little by little and at the same time he started to explain that when he is eating and talking, his oxygen intake is reduced.  Basically because he breathes through his mouth and not his nose.

In short, you have to make sure you breathe correctly when engaging in conversation and when eating.  It is very easy to fall back into mouth air intake when doing either.  You can’t breathe and swallow at the same time, but you can while chewing - as long as you are conscious of it and retrain yourself to get rid of bad habits.

As for my Dad - my mother is now being more observant and understanding as she recently had a bad fright when he fainted during lunch.  Both are now being more careful.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Life & Oxygen, Oxygen Safety. The entry is tagged under lack of oxygen, pulse oximeters, signs of oxygen deprivation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.