Sleep test

[Sanmil1029]

I am trying to get some answers. I am currently 200lbs and have snoring issues. My test does not say to much except that apnea were 3.9 per hour. My AHI in REM was 12.5 and in supine was 2.9. My RDI was 4.2 and RDI in REM was 13.8. What does this mean?

[Julie]

If you sleep on your back, you'll normally be expected to have more problems, but you say that sleeping 'supine' (on your back) was only 2.9... which surprised me (sure you haven't reversed any #'s here?). As far as the REM goes, someone else should be along very soon with more answers.

[Pugsy]

Sounds like in REM sleep you meet the criteria for mild OSA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apnea%E2%8 ... pnea_index
It's not unusual. My OSA is about 5 times as bad in REM stage sleep as it is in non REM and sleeping position doesn't really make much of a difference in my case.

Your overall AHI is low because the periods of non REM sleep (where not much OSA stuff is happening) bring down the overall hourly average.

Does your test say anything about oxygen levels?

[Sanmil1029]

Hi it states that my O2 sat was 92% during REM and 90% durning non REM. Nope that's the numbers. My husband can't even sleep in the same room because I am so loud. Just confused

[Sanmil1029]

Since it looks Mild. What should I do? What do you guys do?

[Pugsy]

To give you a general idea what sleep studies report you might read this
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... -test.html

What does your doctor say about the sleep study report?
Depending on your insurance OSA diagnostic requirements it may be difficult with the low overall AHI to get them to cover cpap therapy.

Do you have any other typical symptoms of OSA besides the snoring?

[Sanmil1029]

I am tired most of the day. Weight gain cranky. Walk around in a fog

[Pugsy]

How is your overall sleep quality? Wake often? How many hours of sleep do you normally get? Take any meds of any kind for any reason? Any other health issues.

Was this sleep test that you took an at home test or one done in a sleep lab?

You might benefit from cpap therapy but I don't know that your insurance will cover it. It's really only diagnostic in REM stage sleep which normally makes up around 20% of our sleep stages and insurance companies are notorious for trying to wiggle out of covering something and saving money.

I assume your doctor ordered the sleep study because of the fatigue and snoring and whatever other symptoms you are having that typically go along with OSA.

We can't guarantee that cpap therapy will fix your issues but I would think it would be worth at least trying if at all possible. For sure the hubby would benefit from lack of snoring on your part.

If insurance won't cover cpap machine though...it means that you would need to purchase out of pocket and in that case you might want to consider a gently used machine to keep the costs down.

[Sanmil1029]

I have been on Ambient for about 3 months. Could never fall asleep and even now I have problems staying asleep. My sleep test was mailed to me I haven't met with dr yet. It was done in a hospital and seems a little half assed. Does not rate my snore rate or leg movements or arousals. I just wNt to feel normal what ever that is!!!!!!

[Sanmil1029]

Also my latency was 22.5
18.9 in N3
63.9 in N2
14.1 in R sleep

[tedburnsIII]

To give you a general idea what sleep studies report you might read this
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... -test.html

...

Woo-hoo! WOW! Just what I've been looking for since February of this year. This should be very helpful!

Thanks so much for the link and 'props' to that 'RobySue' for what appears to be something very special and informative!

Later: The linked page was displaying okay in my phone but NOT using my desktop and Chrome. Don't mean to be a party-poop but I don't understand this problem.

[Pugsy]

The linked page was displaying okay in my phone but NOT using my desktop and Chrome. Don't mean to be a party-poop but I don't understand this problem.

Have no idea what the problem is but you are the first to have it so I suspect the problem has something to do with your browser settings.
I see the page just fine on my computer here at the house using FireFox and IE. I just now tested it to make sure.
And the person that did that blog uses a Mac so I am sure it works fine on Macs.

[tedburnsIII]

Thanks, I will try another browser

[robysue]

Woo-hoo! WOW! Just what I've been looking for since February of this year. This should be very helpful!

Thanks so much for the link and 'props' to that 'RobySue' for what appears to be something very special and informative!

Thanks for the complement.

Later: The linked page was displaying okay in my phone but NOT using my desktop and Chrome. Don't mean to be a party-poop but I don't understand this problem.

I have not been doing serious maintenance on some of the blog related issues because I do have a day job as a college math professor. I'm sorry that blog is not displaying properly when you use Chrome on your desktop. I don't use Chrome much myself, so I have not been aware that there is a problem. It displays fine (for me) with both Firefox and Safari.

[tedburnsIII]

robysue-

Thanks so much. I had no problem with FireFox.

I do realize that the titration portion of your blog has not yet been completed but from my understanding of titration I drew an inference from a reading of the sleep doctor's interprative report pertaining to it that

On equal level with AHI as one titrates must be adequate Sa02.

IOW, AHI may be low at low pressure but Sa02 must be >90% as well to recommend a starting fixed pressure.

Agree or disagree with my inference? (Relatively 'new' to CPAP). I would post the table of my titration study but I don't know how to do it on photobucket. I've tried but my screen shots of a pdf file just don't enlarge enough due to page size.

Later: I resorted to taking a photo of the titration table, not the report, and at 12cm supine I eventually found out (a story there- referring cardio gave script for auto 6-15cm, pulmonologist upped to 9-15cm citing no REM until 9 and I had been SOB- he apparently did not review the Sa02, original sleep specialist doctor whose report I did not receive until a few days ago recommends straight 12cm consistent with technologist written comment) was the recommended pressure:



THE POINT IS that my machine goes to the minimum pressure to clear events. So at 6-15cm it might go as high as 7 or 8cm with an occasional spike; at 9-15 it averaged only 9- the machine is not concerned with Sa02/sp02. So, all along I was feeling for the most part really good at 9-15 but I never felt as good as I did when I got out of the split-night study the following morning after I had been titrated to 12cm. This is something to be aware of for those of you on the forum who have Sa02 issues and are using an auto-CPAP set in auto mode. The machine may take care of your apneas/hypnopneas at a lower setting not enabling you to have adequate oxygen content in your blood.

My comments are based solely in reliance on the titration study. An overnight pulse oximeter is on order to correlate my Sp02 with the findings in the titration chart. I will do my overnight at straight 12cm and take it from there. The setting has been changed to straight CPAP at 12cm and I have not felt this great for approximately 30 years- when I was in my 30's . And I am currently overweight by about 30 pounds- finding it difficult to lose weight while on corticosteroids for lung 'issues'.