Spikes on Son's Report

[sleepy_mama]

Hello! I'm new on the forum. I hope someone will be able to help me. My 10 year old son has Epilepsy and a "spongey" spot in his left ventricle. His neurologist has ordered a sleep study because he thinks my son may also have sleep apnea. The appointment is still months away. In the mean time, he has begun to use the CMS50F with a finger wrap probe at night. I'm using the software that was included with the oximeter, SpO2 Assistant. We're getting the hang of it, but there are some readings that I can't understand. He usually has about 2-5 "spikes" at night. They don't look like his "Finger Out" readings, which are typically blank space followed by low oxygen and low heart rate that steadily climb back to an average level. Does anyone else get these "spikes"? Is it normal? I really appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you!!!

I hope I'm posting these images right. If not, please let me know and I'll fix them! : )
http://imgur.com/a/eSLhl

[ChicagoGranny]

They are just motion artifact. Ignore them.

[sleepy_mama]

Okay- thank you! That's a relief! : )

[icipher]

I am not trying to cause alarm or anything... but with the left ventricle issue, and having these readouts that might or might not be artifact. It couldn't hurt to bring these graphs to his doctor or preferably his cardiologist, if it's within you financial means to do so.

[sleepy_mama]

I am not trying to cause alarm or anything... but with the left ventricle issue, and having these readouts that might or might not be artifact. It couldn't hurt to bring these graphs to his doctor or preferably his cardiologist, if it's within you financial means to do so.

That's good advice, Icifer. Thank you! It's better to be safe than sorry.

[ChicagoGranny]

Okay- thank you! That's a relief! : )

It didn't last long.

cause alarm

[sleepy_mama]

It didn't last long.

Hahaha! It never does!

[Oltremare]

Do not give much importance to my thought.
I think it's an artifact because oxygen saturation can not come down so much in just one second of time.
Saturation of your child seems good all the time sleeping.
I can't say more.
Good luck.

[ChicagoGranny]

Saturation of your child seems good all the time sleeping.

+1

Even though we own one, I don't recommend home pulse-oximeters. In the states, most DMEs will, free of charge, provide professional equipment and forward the reports to your doctor who knows how to read the reports and will ignore artifacts.

[chunkyfrog]

Since your son's sleep study is "months away", I would not consider it inappropriate to ask if they have cancellations.
I would also send documentation of any concern/incident to the doctor--as often as it arises.

[sleepy_mama]

Thank you all for the information! I agree that his saturation looks good through the night, but I'm obviously not a professional! My son has episodes at night that I believe are seizure related, but the neurologist believes they are undiagnosed apnea events. I don't want to wait through more months of watching my son struggle at night just to disprove the Dr's apnea suspicions. My son has already had one inconclusive sleep study done where they ruled out apnea, but couldn't explain the sleep disruptions. So the doctor ordered another.
Maybe I would get better results through my son's cardiologist. The oximetry reports do show 150+ pulse rate events every night. It's difficult to juggle multiple diagnoses. I really appreciate the information you all have given me. Thank you so much!

[stienman]

Blood actually moves relatively slowly in the body. To demonstrate this, wear the pulse oximeter and hold your breath. It takes a noticeable amount of time for the oxygen level to drop.

Those spikes are unlikely to be due to actual blood oxygen level sudden changes, and thus they have little to no diagnostic value.

[sleepy_mama]

Blood actually moves relatively slowly in the body. To demonstrate this, wear the pulse oximeter and hold your breath. It takes a noticeable amount of time for the oxygen level to drop.

Those spikes are unlikely to be due to actual blood oxygen level sudden changes, and thus they have little to no diagnostic value.

That's good to know! Thank you!

[ChicagoGranny]

Maybe I would get better results through my son's cardiologist.

If they haven't done a Holter monitor study (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holter_monitor), I would inquire about one with the cardiologist.

[ChicagoGranny]

My son has episodes at night

Can you describe them to us?