Oxygen desaturation

[Samolotus]

Hi all. I was hospitalized in December of 2016 with pneumonia. Being very ill with obviously compromised lung function, the doctors did an overnight O2 saturation study and it was concluded I needed nocturnal supplemental O2. Fine, whatever. So I start the O2 and go in a month later for a scheduled sleep study which showed I had OSA (duh) .

So for the last almost two years, I've had the 02 and for a year and a half, the ASV bipap therapy. I want to ditch the 02 because it's cumbersome and EXPENSIVE. Doc orders an at-home O2 study which I pick up tomorrow.

My question - have any of you been in the same boat as me? I'm thinking since we have the OSA under good control, my O2 stats without the supplemental O2 will reflect no more desaturation issues. Does that make sense? Thoughts?

[raisedfist]

Oxygen saturation can go down to abnormal levels for other reasons than OSA, but yeah most likely if the OSA is under control you won't need O2 at night. Only one way to find out though...which you are going to be doing.

[ChicagoGranny]

I'm thinking since we have the OSA under good control, my O2 stats without the supplemental O2 will reflect no more desaturation issues.

Right. The exception would be if you have a lung disease or get pneumonia again.

[palerider]

cumbersome and EXPENSIVE.

Huh, I bought a Respironics eveflow with OPI for 100$ last weekend.

[Okie bipap]

I was placed on supplemental oxygen when sleeping after I had knee replacement surgery in 2014. Since I had my sleep studies and started on a bi-level machine, I no longer use supplemental oxygen.

[Woody]

I hope your home test shows you don't need it. But a few of us even though we don't need
oxygen during the day may require it with our cpap at night. When I was first titrated 11
years ago I was prescribed oxygen along with my cpap.

[Okie bipap]

I had very bad desaturation during my sleep study (63%), but once bi-level treatment was started, my oxygen level returned to above 90%, so the supplemental oxygen was stopped.

[Samolotus]

cumbersome and EXPENSIVE.

Huh, I bought a Respironics eveflow with OPI for 100$ last weekend.

My insurance will not buy an O2 concentrator - only rent through the home health provider. With that being said, the HH folks bill my insurance $500 a month for the rental and until I meet my deductible, I'm entirely on the hook for. Luckily my deductible and coinsurance combined are $2000 per plan year BUT, that's a lot of money to me to have to pay out in four months.

Thought about buying my own concentrator but with a goal of getting off the supplemental O2, I figured why bother?

I am hoping and praying the roughly year and a half on ASV therapy will eliminate the need. We shall see!

Side note - you guys are great.

[palerider]

cumbersome and EXPENSIVE.

Huh, I bought a Respironics eveflow with OPI for 100$ last weekend.

My insurance will not buy an O2 concentrator - only rent through the home health provider. With that being said, the HH folks bill my insurance $500 a month for the rental and until I meet my deductible, I'm entirely on the hook for. Luckily my deductible and coinsurance combined are $2000 per plan year BUT, that's a lot of money to me to have to pay out in four months.

Thought about buying my own concentrator but with a goal of getting off the supplemental O2, I figured why bother?

And, that's why I bought one for $100.

[Duck]

I am hoping and praying the roughly year and a half on ASV therapy will eliminate the need.

It's possible the need was eliminated the very first night you used ASV.

In any case, I hope it works out for you to do without supplemental oxygen.

[JDS74]

I'm in a similar situation although I purchased my concentrator directly.
If you still have to use O2 after the study, then for about the cost of two months of co-pay, you can buy your own in the US, other countries differ.
All I needed was a scrip from my sleep doctor, a credit card number and the on-line company and presto it was on my doorstep.
Without my ASV machine, my sats drop to the 87-92 range and stay there. Supplemental O2 combined with the ASV machine give me an average SpO2 for all night of about 95% and leaving the O2 off, gets me the same result. Those numbers correspond to my normal "room air" SpO2 numbers so that is about as good as it will get for me.
As others have said, the ASV by itself may have eliminated to need for supplemental O2.

Do you have a recording, fingertip pulse oximeter (on line for about $90 USD)? If so you can do every night what the home O2 study does.
I used to use the CMS50F which makes very clear and useful reports and can load O2 data into SleepyHead. My current ASV machine has a pulse-oximeter module so I get the data direct into Encore without any extra processing.

[Samolotus]

I'm interested in how to get one of those $100 concentrators! Haha! Each one I have seen is in the $700-$1000 range. Boo hiss.

My daytime sat on room air rarely dips below 96 and if it does, I notice that my hands are either freshly washed or cold. I have a basic fingertip pulse ox but not one that records. I'd be interested in buying one but for now, I have the one from the HM folks o picked up on my lunch hour. Not sure which finger to put the sensor on. I sleep exclusively on my right side but I sometimes roll over onto my back slightly. Any suggestions on which hand I should use?

Hoping for good news! Thanks for the information and encouragement, guys!

[palerider]

I'm interested in how to get one of those $100 concentrators! Haha! Each one I have seen is in the $700-$1000 range. Boo hiss.

This one was on craigslist, The guy wanted 350 for it, I pointed out that there were a number of them on CL for around 200, (though most didn't have OPI), then I found out that this one had 41,000 hours on it, though it'd been services about 6 months prior, and I offered him 100, and he took it.

I think the best ones to watch for (home units) are the invacare perfecto2 and respironics everflo, they're both very quiet. I've got one of each now. I've had the perfecto2 for a while, and it started acting up... of course, now that I've got a spare machine, I seem to have fixed the problem the perfecto2 was having, and it's humming along quite happily now.

Not sure which finger to put the sensor on.

It shouldn't matter, unless you've got some weird circulation issues... whichever one is most comfortable.

[Muse-Inc]

...Do you have a recording, fingertip pulse oximeter (on line for about $90 USD)? If so you can do every night what the home O2 study does.
I used to use the CMS50F which makes very clear and useful reports and can load O2 data into SleepyHead...

Amazon is less $: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

[palerider]

...Do you have a recording, fingertip pulse oximeter (on line for about $90 USD)? If so you can do every night what the home O2 study does.
I used to use the CMS50F which makes very clear and useful reports and can load O2 data into SleepyHead...

Amazon is less $: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

The one you linked to is not the F, it's the D+ it'll work, but it eats batteries, and is much less comfortable than the wrist mounted F model.