Sleep Study Results -- mild alpha EEG intrusions?

[Abby]

Hi all,

I went for my annual titration study (even though I hadn't used my machine all year - I have been using it

religiously all month since my sleep study) and here are my results:

Sleep Onset 9.1 minutes

Stage 1 - 10.5% (normal > than 80%)
Stage 2 - 59.6% (normal 53.77%)
Stage 3 - 11.8% (normal 6.42%)
Stage 4 - 0.3% (normal 7.58%)

17.9% REM sleep (normal 26.22%)
REM sleep latency of 88 minutes (normal 90 - 120 minutes)

4 REM periods
40 awakenings during the night

CPAP final pressure = 7cm of water -- this eliminated the apneic events, maintained normal blood oxygen

saturations, reduced arousals and eliminated snoring

Apnea- hypopnea index at final pressure of 8cm = 0 per hour
blood oxygen saturation remained above 93.8%
normal sinus rhythm
no arrhythmias observed
PLMI = 0 per hour (normal <5 per hour) (periodic leg movments)

Arousals -- 83 spontaneous arousals, 7 respiratory, and no periodic limb movments
Overall arousal index = 15.7 per hour (normal <5 per hour)

Mild alpha EEG intrusion observed



My question --- what does Mild alpha intrusion mean? How does this relate to the quality of your sleep?

Basically the sleep doctor said my test was fine and he emphasized that it was important to be compliant, but he didn't explain the EEG intrusion, so I am curious.

If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it if you could share that info!
Thanks!
Abby

[echo]

bump. anyone... anyone....?

[spamgirl]

I found your post in looking up exactly the same thing. I'll ask my doctor on Monday, but I did find this in the meantime:

http://www.sleepnet.com/insomnia9/messages/388.html

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:nX ... =firefox-a

"... Alpha EEG intrusion (sudden bursts of brain activity) ..."

I'll let you know what I find out from the doctor.

[Rustyolddude]

Interested in the info as well.

[Muse-Inc]

Google "alpha intrusion into sleep" lots of links

[Julie]

Doesn't mean anything much of significance, so relax.

[KSMike]

At my 1st sleep study nearly 20 years ago, the only abnormality noted was alpha intrusions. At that study the alphas were nearly non-stop throughout the night. When I asked the sleep doc what alphas were, he said the medical community understood almost nothing about them, but that some researchers felt there may be a correlation between night-time alpha intrusions and depression. Again, that was going on 20 years ago.

Since then I've had two more sleep studies and the alphas weren't even noted. I don't know if that means they weren't observed, or if they've since decided that they aren't worth noting. I have had a couple of docs (general practitioners) suggest over the years that they thought I was suffering from some degree of depression, independently from anything related to sleep or alpha intrusions. So maybe there was something to the theory, or maybe it was just a coincidence. Completely inconclusive IMO.