Does anyone else do this? SpO2 (new member -ASV)

[mike_winslow]

This is a sample taken from aa screenshot. typical for me..


Just diagnosed, any awaiting my machine, So, I bought a CMS50D+ to monitor myself untreated.

My AHI is well above 70. This happens seated or lying down.

I look t this in wonderment - thinking that looks bad, and Ive been doing this apparently for years... This probably explains the lack of energy which ended up retiring me 11 years ago.. Only 60 now..

[ChicagoGranny]

Are you asleep when the deepest desats occur? If so, that's to be expected.

awaiting my machine

Avoid backsleeping in the interim. Sleep on your sides or stomach. This may give you some relief. Obstructive sleep apnea is usually worse on the back where gravity is pulling the tongue and soft palate directly into the airway.

[mike_winslow]

This starts the minute that I fall asleep, and it can be sitting up or lying down. It seems to be much less pronounced while I'm in REM - only dropping into the mid 70's.

I had a Home sleep test a few weeks ago, then a n in lab test.. The tech put me on ASV after only a couple hours.. After this, I had a nice sleep and was refreshed in the morning.. albeit - when i aroused a couple hours later, I had to conscously not fight the machine while awake - reported as leakage..

i get the machine aug 4th, which seems like an eternity now.. most likely a resmed10 ASV.. Being done through VA

[mike_winslow]

lol.. machine isnt broken, but I cant really produce those swings while awake.. even holding an exhale..
The HST concurred with 74 for AHI.
The tech put me on ASV after the first sleep cycle during the lab sleep over.

Yes - it's that bad. pretty sure it's mixed apnea. I havent spoken directly with the Dr yet on this, but he's board certified for sleep disorders.. again, it's the VA, so time with the real Dr is limited.. They have the capacity to lab test 28/week in my facility, but there were only two of us that night.

[ChicagoGranny]

most likely a resmed10 ASV

Read here to see what that machine is prescribed to treat - http://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/pr ... 0-asv.html

If there is an obstructive component to your condition, avoiding backsleeping will help that portion. It will not help central sleep apnea.

I would not get too involved with member xyzzzz's comments. He is a loose cannon here who so far hasn't been able to manage his own therapy, much less help someone else.

One thing you might want to do, go to your original post and click Edit. Then change the subject to Newbie Prescribed ASV. That will help get the attention of some of our ASV experts.

Good luck.

[ChicagoGranny]

most likely a resmed10 ASV

Read here to see what that machine is prescribed to treat - http://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/pr ... 0-asv.html

If there is an obstructive component to your condition, avoiding backsleeping will help that portion. It will not help central sleep apnea.

I would not get too involved with member xyzzzz's comments. He is a loose cannon here who so far hasn't been able to manage his own therapy, much less help someone else.

One thing you might want to do, go to your original post and click Edit. Then change the subject to Newbie Prescribed ASV. That will help get the attention of some of our ASV experts.

Good luck.

[mike_winslow]

apneas while sleeping make more sense for the swings
but they still seem to be too fast but that may be the scale of the picture

That was my impression too, but three separate records now, and definitely when i'm asleep, the breathing commands from my brain stop.

I hope it's not too much of a distraction, but I've learned to put myself to sleep from controlled shallow breathing.. but even if I breathe that way awake. If I monitor while doing this (awake), I can get down to 90%.. I'm mildly tachycardic awake, but a catheterzation 10 years ago was very healthy. PR usually runs 95-110 awake.. I can work out to maxHR for my age and not die, but quickly get to 80%.. Zero evidence of heart problems.. Even my last BP during exam was 117/81 and no meds - that surprised me.. Weight is an issue, and I'd probably have been diagnosed as T2 diabetes if I hadnt been dieting for two months prior to the exam.. I used to have two BP med that I took regularly for years, and was 40 lbs lighter then - without going into too much detail..

I wasnt looking for diagnosis - just wondering if anyone else saw their Blood O2 doing this - so deep and quick..

[mike_winslow]

Here's a screenshot of the oxi report from last night - you can see where i knocked off the sensor.. yeah.. slept in late

[HoseCrusher]

Mike, You are experiencing artifacts.

There is no way oxygen levels can move to those extremes that rapidly.

According to your report about half of the time you are experiencing artifacts.

You need to find a more comfortable way to mount the oximeter on your finger. Try different fingers or perhaps some tape to keep things from sliding around. It may be that the particular style of oximeter you are using doesn't work with your fingers. Other styles involve a wrist mount for the electronics and a thimble like sensor that slips over the finger. These are much more comfortable, but also tend to be more expensive.

0% to 5% artifacts is reasonable. 48% is too high.

[mike_winslow]

Mike, You are experiencing artifacts.

Um, No. I shared this with the sleep lab. If it has been different from their professional measurements - both the lab and HST - That would have been their response.. Instead, it did effect what I wanted, and that was to get a hard date on getting my machine, since they are aware that I know this isnt a trifling symptom. I'm also concerned that after ASV was turned on the O2 saturation smoothed out.

But you've never seen this before. Neither have I.. I was hoping to find someone who shares this experience, not an amateur assessment. Sorry if that sounds harsh.


Think of the blood of the fluid that it is, inside of a closed system. as a unit of blood passes by the lungs, it's oxygenated when there is air in the lungs, and unchanged when there is no air in the lungs - as when I'm not breathing. so.. think this through.. there are mixed groups of oxygenated and not oxygenated blood in my arteries at any given point while sleeping.. The sensor is only measuring what is in the capillaries of a finger at any point.. after a while of taking a breath only once a minute or my arteries have a mixture of desaturated and saturated red blood cells.

I guess that this is one way to score a 70 AHI.. I'm not making this stuff up.. And I couldnt find any similar example on the web. Hence I posted here.

When I'm awake, Sp02 is 94-95 and doesnt change much from there.

[mike_winslow]

but i am still skeptical about that graph moving so fast so often

Try this with your O2 sensor while awake..

breathe out, then hold for a minute, take a breath, repeat 5 times.. it's important to hold breathe out (no air in lungs)

If you cant do a minute, try thirty seconds..

graph results -> voila! there is my graph..... you should see regular very notable oscillation of o2 Saturation..

At night, I'm not holding my breath. I'm just not breathing.. Maybe I get allot of practice not breathing for a minute at a time, whether I want to do that or not.

lol.. I just tried this while taking full breaths once every thirty seconds, and my SPO2 actually went up to 97.. it usually sits at 94-95.. My normal resting breaths are probably around half or less of full lung capacity..

And I said nothing about how AHI was measured by a lab. My O2 events from two nights ago were nearly the same number per hour as the AHI from the Home Sleep Test.

[ajack]

That's a nasty spo2 chart, the machine should sort it out for you. download sleepyhead and post some charts when you get it

ignore alphabet boy

[palerider]

Mike, You are experiencing artifacts.

There is no way oxygen levels can move to those extremes that rapidly..

those aren't artifiacts. artifacts are instant drops and recovers, on a chart of that timeframe, they'd look like spikes.

[mike_winslow]

That's a nasty spo2 chart, the machine should sort it out for you. download sleepyhead and post some charts when you get it

.

I already have, but it's not going to answer whether other people have noted this.. Dont forget - I'm not being treated here.. Just waiting for the machine..

Your response did make me realize that I may be pushing a rope here, since the vast majority didnt pay attention to machine readings until they were treated.. and once treated, probably wouldnt want to try a night with just a finger meter to see their untreated O2 saturation.. lol..

My guess is the signal that normally tells me to breathe without thinking about it -> that disappeared a long time ago.. I will be digging into those stats once I get the machine, since I already know that during arousal, I fight the machine, and the machine reports that as leaks.. During arousal - the machine gets a little pushy, but I also found that I could submit to it - necessry to get back to sleep.. But , I dont have much experience at all with that yet.. haha.. just after he switched to ASV I had to call him in, since I thought something was wrong - the machine suddenly pushing.. He said "I switched to ASV, and there's no time to explain what that is now.. Your leaking.(tightened mask) . try to sleep on your side, not your back".. I had no clue what ASV meant, but knew what CSA was, and assumed the machine was trying to force my respiration rate.. slept like a baby for two hours, then noticed the machine was pushing... Anyway - that's not why I started the thread..

Having had a good night actually restful sleep at the sleep lab - I started reading even more, and invested $40 in a CMS50D+.. Which I've run for two nights, during an afternoon nap, and compared to readings to an Oximeter at the nearby VA clinic. short history.. except that I can look back in my life and wonder why my mojo and high energy seemed to really have waned somewhere after the year 2000..Somewhere in there, non-stop energy turned into sleeping in and needing to nap all the time..

I do know that not long after getting married (1980), my wife told me that I stopped breathing while sleeping.. She could tell because the snoring stopped.. But I still had mountains of energy then.. Most likely weight is the key here.. I lost 40 lbs since April, and need to lose another 60 or more.

[ajack]

That's a nasty spo2 chart, the machine should sort it out for you. download sleepyhead and post some charts when you get it

.

I already have, but it's not going to answer whether other people have noted this.. Dont forget - I'm not being treated here.. Just waiting for the machine..

Your response did make me realize that I may be pushing a rope here, since the vast majority didnt pay attention to machine readings until they were treated.. and once treated, probably wouldnt want to try a night with just a finger meter to see their untreated O2 saturation.. lol..

My guess is the signal that normally tells me to breathe without thinking about it -> that disappeared a long time ago.. I will be digging into those stats once I get the machine, since I already know that during arousal, I fight the machine, and the machine reports that as leaks.. During arousal - the machine gets a little pushy, but I also found that I could submit to it - necessry to get back to sleep.. But , I dont have much experience at all with that yet.. haha.. just after he switched to ASV I had to call him in, since I thought something was wrong - the machine suddenly pushing.. He said "I switched to ASV, and there's no time to explain what that is now.. Your leaking.(tightened mask) . try to sleep on your side, not your back".. I had no clue what ASV meant, but knew what CSA was, and assumed the machine was trying to force my respiration rate.. slept like a baby for two hours, then noticed the machine was pushing... Anyway - that's not why I started the thread..

Having had a good night actually restful sleep at the sleep lab - I started reading even more, and invested $40 in a CMS50D+.. Which I've run for two nights, during an afternoon nap, and compared to readings to an Oximeter at the nearby VA clinic. short history.. except that I can look back in my life and wonder why my mojo and high energy seemed to really have waned somewhere after the year 2000..Somewhere in there, non-stop energy turned into sleeping in and needing to nap all the time..

I do know that not long after getting married (1980), my wife told me that I stopped breathing while sleeping.. She could tell because the snoring stopped.. But I still had mountains of energy then.. Most likely weight is the key here.. I lost 40 lbs since April, and need to lose another 60 or more.

not the software charts that came with the meter.. I meant the sleepyhead chart to use with your new ASV machine by what you are saying and it will also upload your model o2 meter. The sleepyhead program is available at the top of the page in this link.
I would also join http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/index.php they get rid of the trolls

you will need to check out your heart before using an ASV. They will book a echocardiogram