do you trust your oximeter?

[nmevan]

greetings o' wise ones

I recently bought a SPO Medical PulseOx 7500.
Unfortunately, the readings seem to be all over the place and though I wear it throughout the night, it only seems to record for about 3 hours. I'm sure it is on secure.
The battery is fully charged.
I seem to have quite a bit of "undefined motion" whatever that is.
The only part I trust is the pulse.
It also starts to hurt the end of my finger late into the night.

Just wondering if others have questions about these devices?

Here is the link to last night's report
http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... =nose3.jpg

One more thing...the software will only show about three quarters of the report on my computer screen without scrolling, so when I snip it to send it to photobucket I only can upload 3/4s of the report.

thanks

evan

[Goofproof]

A pulse ox is only one tool, the data software for your machine (XPAP) is also needed so you can see what happened in real time while you were sleeping. By compairing the two you can better see what was cause and effect. Jim

[nmevan]

thanks
The software is in the mail.
Hopefully this week.

evan

[DreamDiver]

I was able to compare mine with one from a hospital and found the readings to be identical using two different fingers simultaneously. It was a contec 60d, not yours, but I believe yours is considered even more 'hospital-worthy' for reasons beyond my ken. I agree with goofproof about coordinating SP02 data with your cpap data. Good luck.

[M.D.Hosehead]

I don't have an SPO oxy, and don't know what all the terms mean, but it appears to be functioning.

I don't know what the diamonds mean in the status section. For our purposes, movements don't matter much, so long as the machine still detects desats.

The sudden O2 drops are artifacts and the software correctly ignores them.

The desat at around 3:30 is accompanied by increased pulse, so it's probably valid. By eyeball, does it line up with an obstruction on your cpap printout? If so, then you are surely measuring genuine OSA related desaturation, and if over time you get those to go away, or at least not go below 92% or so, then you know you are making progress.

That you only spent 1.5 minutes below 88% doesn't sound that bad, but many here don't feel as well when it drops below 93 or so, and you you probably have more of that. I can change the CMS software to display minutes below 90% or 92% instead of 88%. Can you do that?

I think others have reported the sore finger. It probably doesn't matter if you switch fingers during the night.

[nmevan]

thanks for the info

I will hopefully get my cpap software going this week

I'm still wondering why the oximeter only recorded part of the night?

One more thing that I find odd...when I hold the oximeter above my head I can get the O2 readout to go from 98% all the way down to 75%...makes me wonder how many fluctuations in the data are due to positioning during sleep?

[Slartybartfast]

I'm sure there's a joke somewhere about the blonde who wore red fingernail polish, then wondered why her pulse-ox wasn't working. But I don't expect it would play well to any crowd but this one.

[archangle]

One more thing that I find odd...when I hold the oximeter above my head I can get the O2 readout to go from 98% all the way down to 75%...makes me wonder how many fluctuations in the data are due to positioning during sleep?

Well, if you end up cutting off circulation to your hand, wouldn't the O2 Sat in the tissue of your finger drop? i.e. A saturation drop may be the right thing for the meter to show.

I did a little playing around with putting pressure on my upper arm and my readings did seem to drop.

That is an important point. If someone has poor circulation in the hand, or is simply positioned wrong and cutting off circulation, will you get a low O2 reading that's not valid for anything but your hand? It would be bad if you "panicked" and pumped up your CPAP pressure when nothing was really wrong.

I guess that may be why you want to check the pulse at the same time before you decide you had a "real" event.

[Goofproof]

Odd's are when you are laying down the Blood flow will be stable in any position, unless you are applying pressure to your arm and shutting the blood flow down that way. Being forced to hold your hands over your head for a long period of time, means you have ran into a uncareing hold-up person. I never make my victims do that for long. Jim

[archangle]

Odd's are when you are laying down the Blood flow will be stable in any position, unless you are applying pressure to your arm and shutting the blood flow down that way. Being forced to hold your hands over your head for a long period of time, means you have ran into a uncareing hold-up person. I never make my victims do that for long. Jim

My arms will often go to sleep while I'm sleeping if I fold my hands over my chest, or when lying on my side, or even in some other positions.

[M.D.Hosehead]

One more thing that I find odd...when I hold the oximeter above my head I can get the O2 readout to go from 98% all the way down to 75%...makes me wonder how many fluctuations in the data are due to positioning during sleep?

They are very sensitive to motion artifact. The best tipoff is that physiologic desats are gradual. Motion artifact is usually sudden. On your tracing, there are drops from around 90 to around 50 in around a minute, then spiking back up just as fast. Ignore those. the gradual desats that correspond to apneas and hypopneas are the meaningful data for CPAP purposes. How frequent, how long, and how severe.

The pulse ox software produces some data that isn't very useful in checking CPAP efficacy, because they're designed for many uses, for example, monitoring an unconscious person, post-op recovery, or producing a record of O2 sat. during an ambulance trip.

[ozij]

I have one just like that. It correlates very well with my ResScan data.

I get dense motion artifact signs only when the battery is about to die. I have learned to place it on my finger if a way that doesn't hurt.

I have no problem with the size what I see on the screen - you can choose the time period to view.

[Lizistired]

Yes, I do. Until you get the xpap software to compare it to it won't do you much good though.

[cortez356]

I have been using that same oximeter since Oct 2010. At first I wore it every night. As my therapy worked properly ( less leaks) I found that I do not need the 7500 every night. It works 100% !! Has never given me strange readings. I find that it works better on my ring finger. More comfortable. Make sure you do not use any lotions on your finegr before you go to bed. I do not put it on super tight. Has never hurt my finger. Are you sure that you have put it on correctly? The cable should exit the bottom of the rubber sleeve. I have had software problems. Worked great on WindowsXP> Would not work on Windows Vista. I have the latest software and it is supposed to work on Windows 7. OK on one of my computers and horrible on the other. They have new sofware that should be available next week.

Bob

[codinqueen]

Bob, are you using the oximeter that can be plugged into the S9? I looked for it when I first got on the CPAP back in Feb and cannot find the one that plugs into the S9. I am hoping someday I will find one on Craigslist or Ebay that is affordable, but right now have no money. Just need to know where to look. I can only afford to see my sleep Doc once a year. So hoping I don't need his order for it.
Codinqueen