'Silent hypoxia' happens when people are unaware they are being deprived of oxygen and are therefore showing up to the hospital in much worse health than they realize
In hospitals around the world, doctors are shaking their heads in disbelief as they watch Covid-19 patients who should be comatose or"seizing" from hypoxia -- a lack of oxygen in the body's tissues -- check social media, chat with nurses and barely complain of discomfort while breathing.
Coronavirus symptoms: 10 key indicators and what to doSome have dubbed them"happy hypoxics," a terrible misnomer for what could be a long, slow recovery -- or worse.The proper medical term is"silent hypoxia." It happens when people are unaware they are being deprived of oxygen and are therefore showing up to the hospital in much worse health than they realize.
"As long as someone has a home oximeter and you know the person well enough, you can help them monitor this at home to get a jump start on whether or not they need to go to the hospital," he said."I believe pulse oximetry is incredibly valuable if we were to use it in the window of time that the disease begins to gather strength, which is usually five to 10 days out from when someone is first infected," Levitan said.
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