You ask a pretty broad question. Are you speaking in terms of a lung disease of the person for whom you're caring, or the sporadic difficulties in breathing that both that person as well as someone w/o lung disease can have?
For the former, smoking and exposure to asbestos, among other issues, can cause lung disease.
For someone with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease), oxygen can be lowered if the person is ill with certain conditions, isn't using oxygen or isn't using it regularly, is exposed to dust, dirt, or other respiratory irritants, goes out in cold weather w/o nasal protection.
Pneumonia and conditions like pleural effusions can cause difficulty breathing because they impact the efficiency of the lungs. CHF can do the same thing.
Dry indoor air can aggravate a pulmonary condition, as can dirty air, dust in the home, dust mites, mold, cat dander, among other conditions.
With the person for whom you're caring, his/her pulmonary doctor could explain to you more specifically what caused the lung problems, and what aggravates them.
Allergies are another short term respiratory issue.
Is he or she on oxygen? Is he/she using a nebulizer? An incentive spirometer?
Tina62, oxygen levels will drop and heart rate will rise as the heart tries to make up for poor oxygen exchange in the lungs. Keep an eye on both. Also listen to the lungs with a stethoscope. If you hear crackly sounds that were not present earlier, the patient may be accumulating fluid in the lungs.
Lower how far? Do you happen to know what her saturation reading was? It's usually given as a % figure.
Was this a one-off or is her reading consistently low?
Who measured it, and for what reason?
If you could give us a little more detail about what happened, I'm sure other readers will have helpful comments to share.
For the former, smoking and exposure to asbestos, among other issues, can cause lung disease.
For someone with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease), oxygen can be lowered if the person is ill with certain conditions, isn't using oxygen or isn't using it regularly, is exposed to dust, dirt, or other respiratory irritants, goes out in cold weather w/o nasal protection.
Pneumonia and conditions like pleural effusions can cause difficulty breathing because they impact the efficiency of the lungs. CHF can do the same thing.
Dry indoor air can aggravate a pulmonary condition, as can dirty air, dust in the home, dust mites, mold, cat dander, among other conditions.
With the person for whom you're caring, his/her pulmonary doctor could explain to you more specifically what caused the lung problems, and what aggravates them.
Allergies are another short term respiratory issue.
Is he or she on oxygen? Is he/she using a nebulizer? An incentive spirometer?
Also listen to the lungs with a stethoscope. If you hear crackly sounds that were not present earlier, the patient may be accumulating fluid in the lungs.