Sleep study results

I had the split night study and within an hour and a half they came in and masked me. The first problem I had was the horrible dry mouth so he turned on the humidifier which helped tremendously. The mask did leak and he tried two different sizes. My question though is if anyone can help with what I got as the result of the test, I don't see my doctor until the 13th but they are going to go ahead and get me started with the CPAP.

The patient was studied on 4/14 for 402.5 minutes according to standard protocol. He (I guess they weren't paying attention) had a sleep onset of 9 minutes and a sleep efficiency of 50%. Sleep architecture demonstrated during the diagnostic portion, 9 in stage 1, 44 minutes in stage 2, 15 minutes in stage 3 and 22 minutes in REM sleep. The patient has frequent episodes of sleep-disordered breathing and coincident oxygen desaturation. The apnea-hypopnea index was 27.7 and of the 45 minutes at this pressure, 21 minutes were spent with saturation below 89%. The patient met criteria for CPAP titration and this was initiated at 4 cm and titrated for respiratory events. At a setting of 12 cm of pressure the patients apnea-hypopnea index reduced to 1.4. There was no time with saturation below 89% at this pressure. There was a total of 41.8 minutes at this pressure.
IMpression: Sleep-disordered breathing, severe, successful CPAP titration
Recommendation CPAP at 12 pressure.

I don't understand why they don't say how many times I stopped breathing during the night, or how many episodes I had that qualified for the titration. Also why they don't provide the actual oxygen saturation. I guess they just don't think that WE need that info and should only follow their direction. I do not mind doing what my doctors say I need to do but I do need to know why I need to do it.

Does this look like a normal report to you?
Thanks!

The techs can only tell you so much - by law - and it's the doctor's place to fill in the blanks, give the definitive diagnosis, ideas for therapy, etc. etc. Not popular, but it's the way the system is, all over, and techs could be fired for giving more than what you got.

It's a normal-looking summary report. You should be able to request and obtain a copy of the full report from your doctor.

Julie wrote:The techs can only tell you so much - by law - and it's the doctor's place to fill in the blanks, give the definitive diagnosis, ideas for therapy, etc. etc. Not popular, but it's the way the system is, all over, and techs could be fired for giving more than what you got.

Thanks Julie, that was the from the doctor that reviewed the sleep study and what he sent to my pulmonologist. I just haven't heard from my pulmonologist yet. I do plan to get a copy of the entire report when I see my primary next month.

kaiasgram wrote:It's a normal-looking summary report. You should be able to request and obtain a copy of the full report from your doctor.

Thank you.

Believe or not, this is GOOD news! You now know, for sure, why you have trouble sleeping and are tired all the time!

And the treatment for it is very effective and without any major risks. It may take more or less effort - you won't know until you get your machine. Some, including me, took to it immediately because it was SUCH a relief compared to my AHI of 80 - so on average, 80 arousals per hour - basically, not "sleeping" at all. I recently posted a link to an article about compliance that said the more severe the apnea, the greater the compliance.

I hope they get a machine to you soon - even a loaner while you wait for a permanent machine would be good. And try very hard to get an automatic machine that is supported by the wonderful, free SleepyHead software so that you can monitor your progress. http://sleepyhead.sourceforge.net/wiki/ ... =Main_Page

Welcome to the forum!