Sleep study inaccurate

[Applecheeks]

Help me understand why the flow data not important.

You are overthinking this and worrying needlessly. That is actually a symptom of sleep apnea - emotional instability.

Wonderful, now you are suggesting that Sanjay is emotionally unstable.

Is that helpful (give him another thing to "worry" about) ?

[dataq1]

Help me understand why the flow data not important.

1. What's the worst that could happen in your sleep study? That would be a false negative - the test shows no sleep apnea, but you actually have sleep apnea.

2. Let's take the case you are worried about which is an unlikely case: you breathe through your mouth and there is no flow through your nose. The device will record you are not breathing. You get diagnosed with sleep apnea.

In both of your scenarios there is a FALSE (negative in #1 and positive in #2.
The result in #1 is that he would not be getting the treatment that he needs. The result of #2 is that he would be being treated unnecessarily.

What I don’t know is if mouth breathing precludes any air being passed through the nostrils and that nasal air flow being measured as the sum of all the inspired air.

IMO the whole issue can be avoided by sealing the lips during the at home sleep study, direction that apparently not given to patients.

[Miss Emerita]

Imagine that your actual AHI is 10 on the night of your sleep test. (Let's just stipulate that. We're not imagining how we would know that.)

If your test comes back with a 7, in the U.S. you'll still be eligible for a machine.

If your tests comes back with a 20, you'll also be eligible for a machine.

If your test comes back with a 3, you won't be eligible for a machine.

All three test results are, as we are imagining this, inaccurate. But on the first two outcomes, you get the machine you need; on the third, you don't. That's the sense in which inaccuracy doesn't matter if you clear the threshold (in the U.S., 5).

Could it be that the test will come back with an AHI of over 5, even though you don't really have sleep apnea? It's possible, though I don't quite see how the nasal canula would make a difference.

Stepping back a little: you should definitely talk with your doctor about the mouth breathing no matter what the outcome. It's hard for me to believe that a commonly used sleep test would be basically useless for mouth-breathers, especially if you weren't asked ahead of time whether you breathe through your mouth at night. But I suppose stranger things have happened.

[ChicagoGranny]

Wonderful, now you are suggesting that Sanjay is emotionally unstable.

Is that helpful (give him another thing to "worry" about) ?

Do you have a HS diploma? Do you think you could be admitted to a Logic 101 class at a local community college? As your comments in this forum show, you are in need of some basic education.

Is that helpful (give him another thing to "worry" about) ?

This is where you fail terribly at logic. If you think the OP is emotionally unstable, it should be a relief for the OP to learn this could be an effect of apnea and know that treatment of the apnea will also treat emotional instability.

Applecheeks

Were you bullied in middle school?

[ChicagoGranny]

IMO the whole issue can be avoided by sealing the lips during the at home sleep study

That's just great.

The CPAP rejection rate is high. Now you want to create a high rejection rate for HSTs.

[Applecheeks]

If you think the OP is emotionally unstable, it should be a relief for the OP to learn this could be an effect of apnea and know that treatment of the apnea will also treat emotional instability.

Actually it was YOU that implied that Sanjay might be emotionally unstable.

He only wants to know how his at home sleep study flows could be accurate if it did not measure flow from his mouth.
That appears to be the topic.

[dataq1]

IMO the whole issue can be avoided by sealing the lips during the at home sleep study

That's just great.

The CPAP rejection rate is high. Now you want to create a high rejection rate for HSTs.

What??? Telling patients to not mouth breathe during an at-home study would create a high rejection rate?

Would these test be more accurate/reliable if all the air flows were measured (nasal and oral)?
I would think that patients would have more confidence in these tests if they knew the measurements were accurate and reliable.

[KENSKIP1]

Can I jump onto this ship? Being a new member myself may I offer you a suggestion? Insist that your doctors office email you a copy of the Sleep Study report. I recently had the sleep study and requested a copy and a DVD for both sleep studies. I received all this on line and the DVD's arrived within a week. Ken

[Tec5]

Can I jump onto this ship? Being a new member myself may I offer you a suggestion? Insist that your doctors office email you a copy of the Sleep Study report. I recently had the sleep study and requested a copy and a DVD for both sleep studies. I received all this on line and the DVD's arrived within a week. Ken

Good point, obtaining the sleep study report, but not really on topic of questionable accuracy if oral breathing is ignored during a home sleep study.
You mentioned “both studies”, was your study at home or a split study at a sleep lab?

[KENSKIP1]

Both studies were done at a local hospital sleeping lab. 5/17/2022 and 5/25/2022. I have both reports and DVD's of the events.

[ChicagoGranny]

Telling patients to not mouth breathe during an at-home study would create a high rejection rate?

Wow, you just solved a great problem. Just tell people not to breathe through their mouths during sleep - a stroke of genius. You just eliminated the markets for FFMs, chinstraps, mouth tape, cervical collars and scuncis.

[dataq1]

Telling patients to not mouth breathe during an at-home study would create a high rejection rate?

Wow, you just solved a great problem. Just tell people not to breathe through their mouths during sleep - a stroke of genius. You just eliminated the markets for FFMs, chinstraps, mouth tape, cervical collars and scuncis.

IF a client uses oral breathing, that flow should be measured and If the equipment for the at home study does not account for that oral breathing the flows measured are inaccurate. The client should expect medical testing to be as accurate as reasonably possible. Failure to account for such oral breathing is not a reasonable practice and results in flawed (or at least questionable) results.

As Sanjay suggested above what is the point of collecting garbage data (if the oral flows are unimportant). Why collect erroneous information?

[ChicagoGranny]

collect erroneous information

You have no evidence and are purely speculating.

Level 3 studies are quite accurate (and more importantly, not expensive) in diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea. There have been numerous studies that show a good accuracy level - find the studies yourself and quit the speculation.

Should a level 3 study give a negative report, the doctor uses his training and experience to judge whether an in-lab study is needed to confirm/reject the negative report.

Portable equipment for home use has been a very important advance in diagnosis. You have tunnel vision and don't even think about the huge medical resources saved by home tests.

It's too bad you have beat the drum increasing Sanjay's worry about the accuracy of the test he will undertake.

I'm through with you.

[palerider]

collect erroneous information

You have no evidence and are purely speculating.

Silly granny, idiots don't have any need for this 'evidence' you speak of.

I'm through with you.

As are all that have encountered that fool.

[Grouchy Bear]

Post by Sanjay1976 » Sat Jun 11, 2022 4:46 am

"uses a nasal cannula, a pulse odometer, and two body belts."


Two body belts. What is the function of the two body belts? Hold up the OP's pajama pants? Or detect breathing/attempting to breath in conjunction with the nasal cannula?