Just Diagnosed and Confused! Is 88% Oxygen Bad?

[JonBoyOhBoy]

I went to one of these sleep centers in NYC and had the home test because my insurance wouldn't pay for an overnight. I took home an Alice something.The doctor called and said I had mild to moderate obstructive apnea. I asked for specifics and she said I had an average of 7 apnea events per hour. I asked her about my oxygen levels and she said that my lowest recording was 88% and my average was 95%. I asked how many times it was 88% and for how long and she said she doesnt know, the unit doesnt tell her that. It may have only gotten there a second or 2. My average was 95.
Anyway, this week I am getting fitted for a CPAP and I will wear it for 2 weeks they say and then come back and they will adjust the pressures.

So does all this sound right to you folks?
Im concerned about the 88% oxygen.
Is this very bad?

[ughwhatname]

I just got my written report from my sleep study, and my oxygen saturation level got down to 61%. That scared me more than finding that I experience 63 events an hour. Yikes! It was so bad, I could only laugh when the doctor told me.

With cpap therapy, my AHI is regularly under 1, mostly .5 and .6. I couldn't be happier with the improvement.

I went to one of these sleep centers in NYC and had the home test because my insurance wouldn't pay for an overnight. I took home an Alice something.The doctor called and said I had mild to moderate obstructive apnea. I asked for specifics and she said I had an average of 7 apnea events per hour. I asked her about my oxygen levels and she said that my lowest recording was 88% and my average was 95%. I asked how many times it was 88% and for how long and she said she doesnt know, the unit doesnt tell her that. It may have only gotten there a second or 2. My average was 95.
Anyway, this week I am getting fitted for a CPAP and I will wear it for 2 weeks they say and then come back and they will adjust the pressures.

So does all this sound right to you folks?
Im concerned about the 88% oxygen.
Is this very bad?

[JonBoyOhBoy]

OH and I recall the doctor mentioning the word hypopnea

[hopingitworks]

Hypopnea is different than apnea. The following link will give you some information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypopnea

[ughwhatname]

I'm not certain, but I believe the hypopneas are included with the apneas to determine your AHI of 7.

OH and I recall the doctor mentioning the word hypopnea

[JonBoyOhBoy]

Hypopnea is different than apnea. The following link will give you some information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypopnea

I think she said I had both so is the cpap machine appropriate ?

[kaiasgram]

[quote="ughwhatname"]I'm not certain, but I believe the hypopneas are included with the apneas to determine your AHI of 7.

Yep -- AHI is the Apnea Hypopnea Index

[caprica]

With cpap therapy, my AHI is regularly under 1, mostly .5 and .6. I couldn't be happier with the improvement.

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[hopingitworks]

Hypopnea is different than apnea. The following link will give you some information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypopnea

I think she said I had both so is the cpap machine appropriate ?

Yes, the cpap machine is appropriate treatment for both in most circumstances.

[archangle]

Hypopnea is different than apnea. The following link will give you some information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypopnea

I think she said I had both so is the cpap machine appropriate ?

Yes. You treat hypopneas with CPAP.

88% is low enough to indicate that something is definitely wrong. Lots of people have it much worse. Lower levels are more damaging to your health.

However, it's not all about oxygen deprivation. Even if your oxygen doesn't drop that much, being strangled disturbs your sleep, and causes panic, stress, hormones, and other problems that are harmful to you long term.

[Xney]

88% is enough where they start worrying. It's also enough to usually wake you up (partially), disturbing your sleep. It's not nearly as low as it goes for some people, but it will cause sleep issues.

[APNEA-C]

Before treatment of CPAP, my SaO2 was 85%, that made me sleepy from morning to afternoon. I think 88% is poor and need treatment.

[DavidCarolina]

Some of it depends on how many nights your oximetry plunges like that. But if you did it during your sleep test then youre doing it most nights without cpap.

88 percent shows that you've got a significant problem without cpap. Your brain wants your oximetry to be in the high nineties and stay there. Thas part of the autonomic nervous systems job.

Good thing you caught this. It could cause a lot more problems down the road. You can maybe use that 88 percent wake up call to remind yourself not to go even one night without sleep cpap. This is a serious disease, even when they tell you you have "moderate" sleep apnea, in my opinion theres no such thing.

Plunging oximetry is not moderate any more than a concussion is a moderate cerebral event.

[Guest]

Question: If my lowest recorded reading was 88% but my average was 95%, does that mean I was closer to 99-100 alot of the time? Im just trying to figure out how the machine calculates the "average" percentage. My common sense says that the average is the middle number, or could is mean that I was around 95% most of the time?
Cant wait to get my CPAP!

[ughwhatname]

Yeah, I was all smug until this morning when I saw that I had an OA that lasted 45 seconds! Huh? Was I trying to kill myself?

With cpap therapy, my AHI is regularly under 1, mostly .5 and .6. I couldn't be happier with the improvement.

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