An oximeter is that little gizmo they put on at the doc's office to check your O2 saturation levels. You can buy them and monitor your own sat levels with an oximeter. It's important to have one because you don't want your O2 sats to dip below 88. When they do, you risk right heart and brain damage, neither of which you want. If your O2 sats to below 88 either at rest or with exertion, you qualify for supplementary O2 and should be using it to avoid heart and brain damage.

You can buy cheap oximeters at Walmart or Walgreen. I prefer the Nonin Go2 Achieve which you can buy on Amazon or other on-line stores. They are a little more expensive, but they're medically calibrated, made by a US company and very reliable.

An oximeter is a gadget put on your finger and it shows your so2 (top number) and your heart rate (underneath) Sometimes I feel my O2 must be low, so I check. I find my O2 may be below 95, which is O.K. as long as it doesn't go below 88, but my heart rate may be much higher than normal as in the 80s to over 100. I need the oxygen to bring my heart rate down. That is based on my personal opinion (findings.)

It would scare me not to have one. It's a great indicator for some type of issue

Your heart rate is high because of the damage to your heart from COPD.

It's a little piece of equipment that goes on your finger I have one it reads your oxygen level and mine reads the heart rate and yes I have the old to build up I was just back in the hospital and they had me on the BiPAP so I don't know if they're going to do that or not because that seems to be the main problem but it is important that you have one they have them in many different styles and many different price ranges just make sure you get yourself a good one have a good day God bless