Newbie...Overnight Pulse Ox

I have been reading the posts on here for about a month. I am 32 years old, average weight etc. I am on 3 blood pressure meds which still can't keep my bp under control. My echo showed an elargement of my heart. My doc order a bunch of tests to try to find out the cause of the high bp, including overnight pulse oximetry. The results showed that I spent at least 8 minutes below 81% and a great deal more time below 90%. I was put on overnight oxygen as a result. I have my first overnight sleep study in a couple of weeks. After my thorough consult with the sleep doc, he said that he was certain that I suffered from sleep apnea. How accurate are the results from the overnight pulse oximetry?

I'm not a medical person but I think an ovenight oximetry test is very accurate.

An overnight pulse oximetry is what led me to my sleep study and diagnosis of sleep apnea..... although I only had 1 apnea during my sleep study but had 77 hypopneas. My O2 bottomed out at 76% during my study, and in the overnight pulse-ox is bottomed out at 80%. Since I started using my machine, my O2 is perfect all night, and I've have my AHI averaging 1.5 (anything under 5 is good).

So.... you will definitely benefit from this testing, and if it turns out you need cpap, count your blessings that it was found early enough to avoid a heart attack...as you are surely on that path with high bp and an enlarged heart, and, secondly, that it happened at a young age. I wish I had been diagnosed at least 15 yrs ago when my symptoms began.....losing that many productive years is depressing, but I keep telling myself it is water under the bridge and I can't look back....only forward now that I am sleeping well and keeping myself healthy.

Good luck with your test... keep us posted on your results. In the meantime, read all you can here and be sure to click on the yellow lightbulb at the top of the page to go to the wiki....tons of info there!

Yea....I'm very happy that my primary dr is very responsive. He told me that if we don't find the cause of whats going on that I could be in congestive heart failure in 10 years at this rate. Kinda scary! I should also mention that I have multiple PVC's (like they happen 5-6 times per minute) which I've also read can be caused by sleep apnea.

Good luck with the sleep study. I'd say the results of your overnight pulse ox were accurate. Those machines are pretty sophisticated.
Mary Z.

Since your study is still a couple of weeks away, I would suggest you help yourself by either sleeping on your side (preferably the left side) only and/or raising the head of the bed several inches.... all to help you keep the airway open better and avoid as many events as possible between now and then. If you have a recliner, that might even be a better solution....just sleep in the chair! Remember, OSA is really about mouth/throat architecture, and even though you are of average weight, that doesn't preclude you from this disorder. You may have a small palate; an oversized tongue.... view your tongue in the mirror when you first wake up and see if there is any scalloping along the edge; if you still have your tonsils, they may be part of the problem; and the tongue may fall back and block your airway when you sleep on your back. So... try to do anything you can to help yourself now, and then after your study until your machine is in your possession.

Again...more great info. Did anyone else go through overnight pulse ox as a screening method before having the sleep sutdy etc.? If so, what did your overnight pulse ox show? WIth all of the other possibilities that my dr said could cause the uncontrollable high bp (tumors), I'm really hoping its sleep apnea and going a little nuts waiting for the sleep study..lol.

When a sleep study was suggested to me, I purchased a recording pulse oximeter and did a couple of months of nightly recording. I noticed that I did have some desaturations below 90%, but my average for the night usually came in at around 96%.

I wore my pulse oximeter during my sleep study, and I had 4 desaturation events below 90% in the 7 hours I slept.

Since starting on xPAP, I no longer desaturate below 90%. This is an improvement. However, my nightly average is still around 96% or a little higher.

My goal was to eliminate the obstructions that cause desaturations. I think I have been successful.

so the apneas/hypoapneas are typically correlated to desats on a pulse ox test?

Obstructive apneas do cause desaturations. However, sleep studies go beyond desaturations and look at arousals too. It is difficult to get into a good sleep if you are waking up all the time.

The xPAP machines do a good job of eliminating the obstructions, but many people find that a good nights sleep eludes them even when they have good oxygen saturation. It seems that arousals require more than blowing air into your nose...

So...typically..with desats like mine...81% for more than 8 mins....would indicate sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea would be a good choice, but desaturations could also be caused by damage to the lungs or a chemical imbalance that is preventing you from getting oxygen from the air you breath. Also, heart failure will result in desaturations.

From what you have indicated so far, obstructive sleep apnea seems like a good fit.

The pulse oximeter measures O2 saturation and heart rate. These are good screening indicators, but the sleep study measures brain activity and respiratory effort. The more parameters you measure, the better the picture of what is actually going on. When you have your sleep study done they will measure everything and you will have a much better idea of what is going on.

I had 31 desat events during the overnight pulse ox test.....the sleep dr said he was certain I had sleep apnea and that my pulse ox test indicated that I had significant apneas/hypoapneas...does that sound right?

It sounds like a great starting place...

I had no idea that I had sleep apnea and have probably had it for years. I was tired all the time and my doctor would give me the standard answer of "lose weight and exercise". I had absolutely no energy to exercise! I was lucky to drag myself from the bed to the couch!

My oxygen desatuaration was discovered when I had major surgery back in March.....during my 4 night hospital stay, my oxygen would drop down as low as 82 when I'd sleep at night and they had to keep me on oxygen.

This triggered a sleep test where my oxygen went down to 77....which resulted in me being diagnosed with OSA and getting a Cpap machine. I was kept on the oxygen here at home for several months after my hospital stay....until I got my cpap machine. Then I went off the oxygen.

Then after being on the cpap for a month, my overnight oxygen was tested WITH the cpap on and it was still dropping to the low 8o's, so I was put back on oygen, which is fed into my cpap hose.

I'm having another oxygen overnight test done to see if it's dropping anymore because I've still been very tired. When I was just on the straight oxygen I was a "new person" and felt like I was living again! So, I felt like I went backwards when I went on the cpap, but once my oxygen level stays up overnight, I know how much better I will be. I'm actually beginning to do better, so maybe I'm getting there, but the oxygen overnight test will be a good thing to tell if my oxygen is staying up all night or not.

So, yes, your oxygen levels dropping overnight may very well be due to sleep apnea.