Need Help Interpreting Sp02

[raisedfist]

Use the SpO2 assistant software for the Contec pulse oximeter. We have to see the actual oximetry recording graph, including all the summary data, for a full night of sleep. Your min pressure of 4 is not helpful if you have OSA. The amount of SpO2 desaturations is meaningless. Ignore everything but the cold hard data. The vast majority of people's O2 desaturations are resolved once the sleep-disordered breathing is resolved. Even most pulmonary patients don't need supplemental O2 given enough support.

[palerider]

What becomes more clear is that you shouldn’t have turned cpap off. After doing so you had the biggest group of desats and this is likely when your O2 hit 89%.

I am taking a bit of a leap due to lack of information/graphs but I think your apnea is worse with rem sleep and that is why it got progressively worse later in the night/morning. Turning off your cpap had a clearly negative effect as one would expect. Your minimum should probably be raised a bit to avoid some of the breathing issues/desats.

Don't guess, it helps no-one... work from actual data.

[CPAPLuv]

Ok, so here is the data from the Contec software and the graph from OSCAR. Notice I got the graph cleaned up with the help of Bluedragon. The problem was my high resolution screen.

[jnk...]

And was that with blue (as you described), pink (as in your avatar), or clear nail polish?

I see nothing panic-worthy in your spO2.

But I do see a 4 cm minimum set on your APAP, which may be a low starting point unless you happen to be one of the few for which a 4 cm min is perfectly comfortable and effective.

[CPAPLuv]

And was that with blue (as you described), pink (as in your avatar), or clear nail polish?

I see nothing panic-worthy in your spO2.

But I do see a 4 cm minimum set on your APAP, which may be a low starting point unless you happen to be one of the few for which a 4 cm min is perfectly comfortable and effective.

It was with the blue polish! Yeah, after seeing the oximeter data I am not worried. I will, however, keep tracking it for a bit.

The 4 cm min was what my GP wrote as the prescription. I don't seem to be having any problem with that setting but may try bumping it up as suggested in this thread to see what happens. It is my impression (and I could be totally wrong about this) that GP's tend to write broad prescriptions like that with the APAP.

[jnk...]

. . . . GP's tend to write broad prescriptions like that with the APAP.

Especially the ones who don't sleep using an APAP themselves!

The manufacturers advertise the APAPs as being designed to use "wide open" like that; that way docs don't have to bother to think or to customize. And the machines do work fairly well that way for many. But for people who hang out in forums like this one designed to help people get the best sleep possible with the most benefit and comfort from therapy, seeing that 4cm is like seeing a red cape being flung around in the arena. Hard to ignore. But I'll try.

[raisedfist]

You spent 0% of the time below 90% oxygen saturation. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to SpO2. Raise your min pressure for efficacy of therapy, comfort, and hopefully to improve the quality of sleep/reduce arousals.

[Geer1]

It appears that your clock settings are out of sync. If you line up the graphs (I used paint but maybe OSCAR has the ability to adjust oximeter start point) then you will see a number of your desaturations were during periods of minimum pressure.

Your SPO2 numbers are not concerning but they do support that your minimum pressure is too low. I would increase minimum pressure to 7 and turn ramp off. This will give you full benefits of EPR at all times in the night which will probably help you avoid these low pressure desaturations. If you are like me it will make it more comfortable and easier to fall asleep too.