Oximeter results???

Dgrendahl · Post by **Dgrendahl** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:08 am

O.K., now of those here on this board who have one, how is this device benefiting you? It is a lot of money to be putting out for a device such as this. Have you done any experiments with them such as one night NOT using your mask to see what results you get? Tell me this, if your blood/oxygen level is low, what do you find your pulse rate to be? How much higher than normal?

Another words, I want/need to know what you are discovering by having this device and what it is doing for you.

Last night I left off my mask and wore my Polar Heart Rate Monitor of which is the type that I can download the data to my computer to see the results. I found that for the first 3-4 hours my pulse rate was more erratic than the last part of my sleep. But unfortunately, I don't know what my oxygen levels were.

Your response?

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:56 am

Too early to tell ... I am definitely still getting desats below 89% but not for long periods. I have only downloaded 2 nights so far. When I have sufficient data, I'll post more.

Mindy

RipVW · Post by **RipVW** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:07 pm

Well, for me, the result/benefit is just that peace of mind that comes with knowing my therapy must be working as it should, since I'm showing no oxygen desaturation in my reports. I'm just not inclined to sleep without my mask/CPAP for a night to see the oxygen level drops, since I know they were there during my initial sleep study.

sparky2 · Post by **sparky2** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:14 pm

All good questions. I was hesitant to use mine without being able to verify its functionality first. I am still in the process of doing that (see thread viewtopic/t28757/Quick-Check-of-Oximeters.html).

I did go ahead and try it last night anyway and found that I had one dip to 87% for about 30 or 40 seconds. This was during a night that had an AHI of about 10.6 so I am still not certain that it caught everything. The range of AHI I have had over the last 3 weeks is about 8 to 27 or so. I have not yet been able to lower it consistently much below 9. That is the reason that I got the pulse oximeter - to see if there was any harm being done beyond the foggy brain I have during the day.

I will try the same tonight either without the CPAP or having it set to one of my prescribed settings that has caused a fairly high AHI a few weeks ago.

Sparky2

I am like RipVW who said, "Well, for me, the result/benefit is just that peace of mind that comes with knowing my therapy must be working as it should..." I am hoping to either get there or to know that my treatment is not working as good as it should; either to know that it is good or know that it is in need of improvement.

I should know in a day or two if it is a worthwhile investment which, for me, still depends on being able to verify its correct operation.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:53 pm

Some good thoughts. Speaking for myself, I greatly value being able to validate what is happening at night and regard the PO data as the best info I can get outside of the nightly data from the cpap itself (unfortunately my favourite machine, a PB330 bilevel, doesn't record nightly data so the PO is even more important to me..

Twice in the past year I concluded I no longer needed cpap. But as a final proof, a few nights after dropping cpap I would do a nights PO recording and in both cases went immediately back on to cpap. The desats in the data were all I needed to remind me that what I think of how I feel, may not stack up against the actual data.

My PO only cost $150 & is an ex hospital older model (Ohmeda 3740) but does its job well. I was able to compare it against another hospital unit and the data between the two was as good as identical.

DSM

CompuTech007 · Post by **CompuTech007** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:38 pm

dsm,

where did you find th Ohmeda 3740 for that price? I've checked around and all I find is in the $500-650 price range. Are you using the finger and/or ear probe? Also do you have the diagnostic software that communicates via serial port for these units?

Sorry for so many questions but I just gotta

Thanks

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:43 pm

CompuTech007 wrote:dsm,

where did you find th Ohmeda 3740 for that price? I've checked around and all I find is in the $500-650 price range. Are you using the finger and/or ear probe? Also do you have the diagnostic software that communicates via serial port for these units?

Sorry for so many questions but I just gotta

Thanks

I got mine off eBay but made certain it had the extension cord and an Ohmeda probe (no substitutes).

I wrote my own software to extract and format the data & am happy to share that with whoever wants it & can make sense of it.

I extract the data from the Ohmeda using a serial cable to my PC, run the data through my program then take the output of my program & load it into Microsoft Excel.

The resulting data looks like what you see in the third image of this link.
(the 1st 2 images are from autoscan software - I like to line up my Ohmeda data with the autoscan data). This data is from 2006 as I haven't bothered to put recent data online, just did so while still learning a lot about formatting & understanding it.

http://www.internetage.com/cpapdata/menu_0817.html

(note the 0 AI reading - that is rare - The SpO2 data is good in this chart. I prefer it to average around 95 but 93 is acceptable.

DSM

#2a
This is an example of an older model again (3700) and also an example of WHAT NOT TO BID on (no extension cable & no probe).

#2b
Also I just use the std finger clip but do have an ear clip.

http://cgi.ebay.com/OHMEDA-BIOX-3700-PU ... dZViewItem

#3
Here is an ebay sale for the exact model I have & looking like a bargain !
http://cgi.ebay.com/Ohmeda-pulse-ox-NO- ... dZViewItem

Note it is from a Vet

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:31 am

Ok, I have just enough data to be dangerous! I still haven't analyzed it in sync with my EncorePro results but have noticed that nights when I take Ambien my SPO2 seems to go a little lower than when I don't take it. And the predominant O2 range is also lower.

My pulse rate blips up every time the O2 drops. It looks like my desats haven't improved much since my sleep study (they were mild to begin with). I've lately been wondering if cpap or apap is the right solution for me. I suspect I'm getting centrals at higher pressures and cannot suppress the apneas at any pressure. My lowest AHI is 1.9 and my lowest AI is 0.9 and that's rare. I wanted to see what the desats were; if they had been resolved, I'd quit obsessing but they clearly haven't. The desats are what matter for me because of heart failure.

So the pulse ox is definitely worth it for me. I'll discuss results with my sleep doc at next appointment.

Mindy

CompuTech007 · Post by **CompuTech007** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:45 am

Thanks dsm for your answers. Being a 'geek' by profession and hobby...I'm a bit excited about this. Didn't even think to check eBay for items like this.

I might grab one of these soon, and take you up on your software offer.

Cheers!

Great results with the 0 AHI! I'm still struggling to keep my mask on more than2-3 hours at a time. Last night I had a nice episode without my mask. I'm a little out of it today as a result. Hang in there they say (note to self)

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:24 pm

[quote="CompuTech007"]Thanks dsm for your answers. Being a 'geek' by profession and hobby...I'm a bit excited about this. Didn't even think to check eBay for items like this.

I might grab one of these soon, and take you up on your software offer.

Cheers!

Great results with the 0 AHI! I'm still struggling to keep my mask on more than2-3 hours at a time. Last night I had a nice episode without my mask. I'm a little out of it today as a result. Hang in there they say (note to self)

Humidifier

Additional Comments: Pressure 11-15, Humidifer 3, CFLEX 3, Using Pur-Sleep Peace