Seeking input on oximeter results

Howdy -

about 2-1/2 weeks ago I consulted with a sleep specialist (previously it was just my MD and a remote DME I never really saw), who upped my pressure to 9 and said come back in a couple weeks....

I tried that for a few nights, and found I tore the mask off without waking after a couple hours for several nights in a row - but I was also wearing a recording oximeter, and found that even after removing the mask, my SpO2 was staying in the 90's.

There were a half-dozen times when it dropped into the mid-80's, but never more than three in one night, and I've had numerous nights in the last couple weeks with no CPAP where the oximeter recorded my SpO2 in the 90's all night, without dropping. It varies from the low 90's to the high; my pulse rate is also recorded and varies from the mid-50's to 60's - there haven't been events where it spiked over 100, as it was doing before when I was on CPAP and clearly have apneas and hypopneas.

I am also able to focus mentally, feel good physically, and so on.

I still have a tendency to stay up to late, but also am finding after about 6-7 hours of sleep, I wake up without an alarm....

Also quit the AmbienCR over the last four nights and managed last night to fall asleep without trouble - sure, sure, it was 12.30 a.m., but for a long time, I've laid awake for hours no matter what time I retired....

So - in addition to using CPAP since January, I've managed to drop about thirty pounds (since October) - which has reduced the outside diameter of my neck by at least an inch and a half. I've also tilted my bed, and am having my congestion treated - finally went after a prescription to knock out the crud, after which I'm hoping routine neti maintenance will be effective in the long term.

My every instinct is that I'm not having apnea events, and don't have to use CPAP.

But I am very, very biased against it.

Thoughts?

Hmmm - sounds like you've done a lot! Dropping the ambien and losing weight are excellent and the way you feel plus oximeter results also sound great!

If it were me (and we are all different!), I would stick with the cpap for awhile longer -- as long as O2Sat is dropping into the 80's at all, there's still something going on. If I were to go 3-6 months with no weight gain, no Ambien and no o2sats below 93, I might try it ....

But remember - I'm not a medical professional and this is strictly my opinion!!!

Mindy

As Mindy already noted ... very positive results. I would continue monitoring O2 sat levels for a long while if you plan to go without the CPAP.

Best of luck!

I confess to feeling rather pleased, overall - but still need to work on basic "sleep hygiene," and I worry about the long-term implications of being wrong - heart disease, diabetes, etc.

On the other hand...improving fitness has probably reduced my risk of these things quite a lot. I had to cancel today's appointment with my sleep doc, due to work demands; I'm inclined to reschedule for late May, and try to use the oximeter and print the results more or less every night. That'd give about five weeks of data.

jda1000 wrote:I confess to feeling rather pleased, overall - but still need to work on basic "sleep hygiene," and I worry about the long-term implications of being wrong - heart disease, diabetes, etc.

On the other hand...improving fitness has probably reduced my risk of these things quite a lot. I had to cancel today's appointment with my sleep doc, due to work demands; I'm inclined to reschedule for late May, and try to use the oximeter and print the results more or less every night. That'd give about five weeks of data.

That sounds to me like a reasonable approach - give it some more time and thought and get that extra data. Then see what the sleep doc says in late May.

Mindy