Very concerned about latest pulse ox reading

Neat. Did you see much of a difference in reading accuracy between your pulse ox and their readings?

HoseCrusher wrote:Oops, it looks like the new settings didn't take.

How do I know?

The setting for SpO2 was supposed to be 90 and when I look on your report I see Time (min) <88%. If the parameters were changed to 90 it would say Time (min) <90%.

In addition we were looking for pulse parameters of 15 and 30 and when I look at your report I see under the Analysis Parameters pulse settings of 6 and 8.

I'm sorry the original pictures didnt save with the new criteria you suggested, I must have had a brain fart and not looked at the pictures carefully before posting . I have re-saved the pictures with the new criteria. When I take these printouts to my doctors appt, should I take printouts with the old criteria the machine usually goes by, or the new criteria you suggested? What does the new criteria tell you?
Night 1


Night 2


Night 3


Night 4


Night 5

Oh my goodness... Looking at Night 5 it looks like you should stop sleeping...

That was a joke.

I would suggest you use the settings I gave you and present your doctor print outs using those parameters.

Night 5 looks like it was kind of a rough night. You finally went into a deeper sleep stage around 2:45 but your oxygen levels dropped and that kicked you out of deeper sleep.

HoseCrusher wrote:Oh my goodness... Looking at Night 5 it looks like you should stop sleeping...

That was a joke.

I would suggest you use the settings I gave you and present your doctor print outs using those parameters.

Night 5 looks like it was kind of a rough night. You finally went into a deeper sleep stage around 2:45 but your oxygen levels dropped and that kicked you out of deeper sleep.

Thanks for replying HoseCrusher. By the looks of it, my mnimum low Sp02 drops to the low 80's range every night (night 3 the lowest was 76).

Some questions:
1. Is the CMS-50F pulse ox pretty accurate?
2. What are the long term affects on someone who deals with Sp02 in the 80's?
3. Also, would auto adjusting cpap help or would supplemental oxygen be given along with the auto cpap? Thanks in advance

My doctors appt cant come soon enough, I am tired of feeling tired and unwell/headaches etc.

Papit wrote:Neat. Did you see much of a difference in reading accuracy between your pulse ox and their readings?

Yes, doing the data collection that way confirmed my at home measurements. About 1 to 2% drop in reported SpO2 as compared to a laboratory oximeter. My home unit is made by Masimo and incorporated into Respironics equipment. The corresponding ResMed unit is made by Nonin and I believe pretty much equivalent and was used in the system for my last PSG.

The reported heart rate data seems to be pretty much on par with the laboratory units under normal conditions.
However, there was one exception last fall when I had a stress echocardiogram. In that test, they inject a stimulant and control the dosage to get your heart rate up to 120 BPM or so as the attending cardiologist explained to me during the test.
When I got the report, the real maximum BPM number was 123 BPM, really close for controlling by injection .
I wore my CMS50F oximeter for that test as well. The reports were very interesting in that the EKG lead heart rate numbers went up to 123 BPM while my oximeter numbers for the same period went to a little over 150 BPM.

I suspect that the difference is in how the rate is measured. The EKG is measuring electrical signals the control the heart while the fingertip unit is measuring the difference in optical signal strength as the capillaries increase and decrease in size responding the heart contractions. In my case, the report mentions "frequent PAC's" which are premature atrial contractions. I think, speculation here since I haven't been to a Holiday Inn Express in a while, that the PAC partially contracts the atrium causing a momentary increase in blood pressure and the fingertip unit sees that and treats it like a real heartbeat. Remember, a stress echocardiogram environment isn't normal in anybody's book.

Masta: Overall, these home units like the CMS series are quite accurate and have compared favorably to similar units at my doctor's office. When I brought mine in and compared to his, he decided my home reports were close enough to be useful to him. I suspect your doctor will accept your data as well.

My Contex oximeter is pretty accurate. I had my doctor check it with hospital units and he told me it was fine. In addition I check it with the ones the local fire department uses and it was pretty much right on. I re-check annually and it is still good.

When O2 levels drop your heart kicks in to try to make up the difference. This activates the fight or flight hormones and after the event is over your body has to clear those hormones. Once or twice is no big deal but if it happens over and over again you start to develop cardiac issues. It seems those hormones are somewhat "corrosive" to your vascular system and damage can occur over long term exposure. In addition, you basically startle to "almost awake" and suffer an arousal. The quality of your sleep suffers because of all of these arousals.

If your issue is that your airway is becoming blocked, any xPAP machine will take care of the issue. An auto is nice because your needs may vary over a range as you go through the various sleep stages. If you issue is structural in that you are unable to absorb oxygen from the air due to lung damage, you then may need extra O2 pumped in. It is best to start with the simple and then move on to more complex set ups as needed.

As far as retail medical equipment goes, I mentioned that I had mine checked for accuracy. In addition when I submit a Pulse Ox report I hand write on it "Hobby Oximeter." My doctor laughs at this but thanks me because it tells him that the data was collected by me and not under "supervised" control. I do the same with my ECG monitor. If I notice a rhythm that seems a little strange I will take data then turn in a report labeled that it was taken with my Hobby ECG. If there are questions about the results my doctor will call me in and hook me up to the real ECG machine.

Oximeters are reasonably accurate when measuring in the normal range. When you get to extremes (especially high pulse rates and very low O2 levels) their accuracy falls off. They are also thrown off if you happen to have an irregular heart rhythm. Once you get a few data points under your belt you will begin to understand what is real and what is an artifact. I have a lot of confidence in the 90 - 100% range for O2 and the 50 - 110 bpm pulse range. If your data is outside those ranges you should see a doctor and just use the data as an indication that you are having some issues rather than looking at the specific values.

Good stuff, thank you both.