Supplemental Oxygen

Does anyone here use supplemnetal Oxygen if so do you track your spo2? Does it make you feel better in the morning. I guess my blood oxygen is low but I don't know at what level is good my guess is hovering near 91 is not to good.

I did have to use it during the first year on cpap. Used 2 Ltrs input into the hose. After a while I did an overnight oximetry test and proved to my Doc I no longer needed it. Of course a pacemaker to keep my heart beating at 50 bts/min did not hurt either. What they told me was as long as your O2 levels did not drop below 90% this was good enough. They also look at a drop of 4% in a short time, called a desaturation, also but it does not seem to be as important as keep it above 90.

Jerry

Hello, I had to be on Oxygen even before starting Cpap. Mine just hooks up right where the hose connects to the machine. Can't tell you if I feel any better with it because have not tried it without. No I keep track of my SPO2 as I don't have anyway of doing it. I do know last week it was tested at the Dr and it was 87 when I was just sitting.
Don

Yup, I used 2L of 02 supplementation w/my VPAP Auto and, yep, I've used my VPAP Auto w/o 02 and w/02 and I've used 02 and no bi-level and the 02 w/the bi-level gives me the best of both worlds. Of course, I have COPD so that influences the greater comfort experienced w/the combination of 02 and bi-level. I used 2L of 02 w/my CPAP and my APAP prior to starting the VPAP Auto as well.

I wasn't born in Missouri so my sleep professionals didn't have to show me. BUT - skeptic that I am I had to find out for myself.

me to 2l and my numbers got better

I use 3LPM and have used the oxygen suppliment as long as I've been using my CPAP ... I've tried getting off of it once or twice but my o2 levels drop as low as 70% without it, so I guess I'm stuck with it for now ... on the brighter side, I feel a whole lot better with it than with out and my numbers improve tremendously too ...

I use it but I am not sure why I use it..I will get an answer.

My SpO2 is constant around the 95 mark - (93-96). Wife is constant around 97 (96=98).

I have a SpO2 concentrator I got to play with but in my tests (only s feew thus far), I can't see much of a difference. The SpO2 data at best raises my average by about 1 point at 3 lpm.

Did start a night time trial & monitoring but the machine is so noisy I abandoned that (wife not amused). But may try again this coming week.

I also agree with the poster who was told that if you stay above 90% then O2 is not really needed.

DSM

That great info. At 2L, last night my SpO2 was an average of 4pt higher than the night before and never went below 90%. I bought a 50ft hose and the Concentrator is in the living room with the cats. I have not notice a change in how I feel yet but two night is not a trend.

Dpursi, were you prescribed supplemental O2 before you had a sleep study? Or were you prescribed O2 after they saw your SpO2 drops in your sleep study?

Reason I ask... a woman in town had extreme desats during her diagnostic sleep study. So bad that they started her on O2 during the study. Her doctor told her to use the O2 "at night." She didn't have to use it in the daytime (while awake.) When she went back to the sleep lab for her "cpap titration" study, they continued to use supplemental O2 on her. They didn't titrate her without it.

So, now the lady was supposed to use CPAP and supplemental O2 at home, every night for the rest of her life.

I loaned her a recording pulse oximeter to let her see what her O2 was like at home for a night, using cpap only. Not using her O2 that night. Looked at the printout the next day. Lo and behold, with CPAP alone her O2 was staying up all night at 95 - 97. She turned in that noisy, big O2 concentrator that had been taking up so much space in her bedroom and continued to do fine on just CPAP.

Unless you have a pulmonary condition that requires using O2 when awake, you might want to ask your doctor to order an overnight recording pulse oximeter test at home, using just your CPAP. I've read that most DMEs will provide the oximeter free for one night if the doctor orders it. That would reveal whether a person actually needs supplemental O2 while using CPAP, or if CPAP keeping the airway open, allowing normal breathing during sleep, is all it takes to get enough O2 just fine.

I am wondering if an overnight pulse oximeter gives a true reading of your need for 02 or would you need further nights to get a good reading of your saturation level?