Having some issues and was thinking it might be CPAP related

[RodL]

The reason why I elected to purchase this home O2 monitor was that I was having a period where I was falling asleep at work during the day. I have learned from the past 2 weeks that the sleepy during the day was a result of taking a pill at night called Duloxetine DR 30mg. If I took the pill at night then the next day roughly to be between 10AM and 3PM I would have a period of drowsiness. This usually resulted in a little nap at my keyboard. I do not take this pill every day because it made me too lazy. So I was (not anymore) taking the pill every other day or every three days.
Also I had two episode’s where this append just after my work nap.
• I could not walk other than baby steps after I woke up. It was not like my legs had fallen asleep, but rather they were made of lead or concrete. The more steps I took the better I got and was feeling more like myself. This did take some time.

After some night readings from an O2RING I dropped off the results and a letter to my primary doctor. He later responded to the fact I have no clue how to read these reports. Neither do I. List below some results from three-night studies. Perhaps someone would have a better idea is this normal or not.
The test was based on a 10 Hour night sleep and off the pill described above for at least a week.

O2 score 2.6 <90% time: 1h8m
Drop over 3%: 221 times ODI 3%: 22.1/H
Drop over 4%:194 times ODI 4%: 19.4/h

PSO2 highest 99, aver 94, lowest 70
Pulse Rate: highest 105, ave 76, lowest 52

Anyone have a clue what this means.
Thank you for your time and help

[Pugsy]

Your topic mentions cpap related....did you mean sleep apnea related?
I assume you are NOT on cpap and wondering if sleep apnea is a potential culprit for your unwanted symptoms?
Can you confirm?
You are wondering if you might have sleep apnea? And that's why you got the pulse oximeter and gave it a try ? Is that correct?

[RodL]

Yes you are correct, I have been investigating the possible issues with Sleep Apnea. Perhaps I posted on the wrong form?
Because I was falling asleep at work for some short periods of time and when I awake the mouse that I had in my hand can fly a bit once a suddenly awake. Not sure if I awake like this was due to sleeping upright in a chair and moving OR, the lack of O2 sent a shock to my system to say breath.

In any case, I purchased a 200 $ O2ring, in hopes that the reading would lead to a positive or negative for Sleep Apnea.
What I have learned since then is that the O2 readings don't seem to mean much. BUT looking at other people's results my O2 readings are far worse than others that were suggested that they might have Sleep Apnea.

[chunkyfrog]

Oxygen is only a small part of apnea.
Stress hormones and lack of restful sleep have a cumulative effect
on your metabolism, brain, and internal organs.
These things can only be determined with a SLEEP study, when the apneas happen.
If insurance will not cover a lab study, you might look into a home sleep study.
Not as comprehensive, but way less expensive.

[rick blaine]

Deleted.

[TropicalDiver]

Taking a step back for a moment.

Big Picture: You have stopped taking the problematic (for you) medication. Are you still symptomatic? If so, I would encourage a sleep study (could be in-home or facility).

Context: The most common measure of apnea is essentially an average of how many sleep interruptions you have per hour (AHI). Most often, they are obstructive in nature. As others have noted, there are other negative impacts from apnea beyond lower O2 levels. Some folks have high AHI but their desats are not severe; others it is the reverse. Most have neither issue or have both. Typically, some form of treatment is done if either measure is problematic.

As others have noted, averages are not super helpful. The real question is how much time (and how often) are you desating to a problematic level. Looking at their website, it looks like they provide some of the data (albeit not super clean -- what percent of your night were you at 85% or below?) as well as a line chart. You have an hour plus under 90 with a low of 70 -- but it is around 90 most of that time or is it more around, say, 80...

But, again, a proper sleep study is the only way to know....

[Geer1]

Not sure why others are commenting saying that these results don't seem to show signs of sleep apnea, based on what I see you should definitely be requesting a sleep study and probably do have sleep apnea.

The first number, O2 score, is a rating system Wellue seems to have made up. It is a rating out of 10 and low numbers aren't good. I wouldn't trust this number though.

<90% time means your oxygen saturation level was below 90% for 1hr and 8 min. Oxygen levels below 90% (88% in some resources) is considered hypoxemia (low level of oxygen in blood).

ODI 4% is the number of times your oxygen saturation dropped at least 4% which is often caused by an apnea or hypopnea. There are numerous studies you can read relating ODI to AHI, not an exact correlation but a fairly strong one.

Lowest oxygen saturation of 70% is significant. With low oxygen it is more important how long you spend at low oxygen and these numbers don't really say. Looks like you should be able to get graphs and see more complete data using their app. https://getwellue.com/pages/o2ring-oxygen-monitor

Definitely ask your doctor to order a sleep study. Most of your results are similar/slightly worse then mine and I was just diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea.

[chunkyfrog]

My pulse-oximeter sits forgotten in the back of a closet.
It was fun for a while--but it became boring.
So I put it away.

[Goofproof]

My pulse-oximeter sits forgotten in the back of a closet.
It was fun for a while--but it became boring.
So I put it away.

Mine just died, screen went to dim to read, price almost doubled so it wasn't worth it anymore. XPAP machine still work after 14 years and tells me what I need to know, that I have Sleep Apnea and it's well treated. Jim

[RodL]

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the attachment is 5 pages long

Thank you to all for your replies and comments.

I have posted the graph image file of my latest overnight results. All of the other night tests we about the same. So no difference between one to another.
It would appear to me that I only stay below 80% for one min of time.
Looks like the drill down, each grid box is 1 min

Also, I am sleeping better off the medication and do not have a daily drowsy period as before.

[Bjjpapi]

You’re SPO2 dropping many times into the 70s and 80s is not good at all. You need a sleep doctor or your primary doctor to order you a sleep study. The graphs look bad enough, that’s all the info they can give. To get more info get a sleep study.

Btw, each box grid looks to be 10mins (probably an average)

[Miss Emerita]

Just to repeat what others have said: you are spending way, way too much time with O2 levels well below 90. This is dangerous for your health, and you need to talk with your doctor about it right away. You may well have sleep apnea, or you may have some other condition that is causing this hypoxemia. Don't try to diagnose yourself; see a doctor, and soon.

[TropicalDiver]

I have posted the graph image file of my latest overnight results. All of the other night tests we about the same. So no difference between one to another.
It would appear to me that I only stay below 80% for one min of time.
Looks like the drill down, each grid box is 1 min

Also, I am sleeping better off the medication and do not have a daily drowsy period as before.

'
I think you are badly misreading the data.

Your sleep time was 9:28 (568 minutes). If you focus on the vertical bar chart, it looks like about 75% of the time you are between 90 and 100. That means you spend more than two hours under 90 (in hospitals they will often start administering 02 between 90 and 92.). Now lets look at far right of that, the under 80. My guess is that is around 7% of the time -- but lets say 5%.

That would be be about 30 minutes below 80%. My guess is that you spent close to 80 or 90 minutes under 85%.

Now look at the grid, there are many times when you are 80 -- and often into the low 70s. Each instance might be short in duration -- but they are frequent, show significant desating, and are repeating.

Assuming the device is accurate, you are clearly hypoxic during the evening -- most likely apnea but there are other possible causes. This requires a very prompt follow up with your doc. My guess is he will better understand this report.

I might start with my PCP if I can get in quickly -- I would not be surprised if they want you to sleep with 02 until a sleep study is done and, if appropriate, pap therapy is initiated. That is up to them.

Please note I am not a medical professional -- although I am strongly encouraging you to see one.

[Geer1]

Each major grid line is 1 hr, not 1 min.

As I stated before your oximetry results are similar/slightly worse then mine. You probably have sleep disordered breathing and should be setting up an appointment for a sleep study.