My guess was that the 29% was what the oximeter read, and I think it was a 1st generation oximeter. They are very inaccurate at low saturations. There's not much hope of staying conscious below SaO2 = 40%. On my ohmeda 3700 I once got to 11% without a samba, but on my next generation 3900P oximeter, 45% is almost always a samba.
It is true that low O2 causes contractions. This is related to your 'hypoxic ventilatory response.' In order to resist contractions until very late, you need:
- High CO2 tolerance
- Low hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) (i.e. low O2 doesn't give you much urge to breathe)
IHT patterns are the best way to reduce your HVR.
Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
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