Wellue O2Ring Overnight Results

[Garamond]

Hi, friends. Was wondering if I could get your eyes on some overnight numbers.

A touch of background: I’ve had sleep issues for 15+ years. At one point, after a series of cardiovascular tests (echocardiogram, nuclear stress test, exercise stress test) to rule out heart issues, I was diagnosed with nocturnal panic/anxiety attacks. The symptoms will likely sound familiar: suddenly waking up panicked, short of breath, heart racing, feeling like the world was closing in, and certain I was about to die, etc. You know, the fun stuff

Somewhere in there I had 2 sleep studies done in the lab. Both were abnormal with “multiple spontaneous awakenings” and “markedly delayed/brief REM” but neither test conclusive for obstructive sleep apnea. I had a *very* difficult time sleeping in the lab and I'm not sure the results were representative.

Fast forward to now. My wife got me a Wellue Sleep O2 Ring and I wore it for the first time a few days ago. Here’s what we got . . .



Any thoughts?

I should add that I'm 45 now and I’ve been on 10mg of Lexapro for the past few years and it seems to “lessen” but not eliminate the repeated wakings and/or feeling like s$#@ even after I’ve slept for 8-10 hours.

Thanks again!

[Garamond]

Quick addendum. I do remember one panicked awakening this night at 2:45 AM (as noted in red). Don't remember any others.

[HoseCrusher]

Your overall score of 7.5 is better than if you got a 5...

Take your unit and check it with one a doctor or a medical responder has to see if it is accurate. They usually are, but it is always worthwhile to check.

The pattern you see just before you woke up is what you are looking for. O2 levels drop and the heart rate increases in an effort to keep O2 supplies normal. Unfortunately what is missing is the brain scan to see what your brain was doing during all of this. If this pattern occurred repeatedly during the night it would be a cause of concern.

Artifacts occur frequently with these devices. They usually show rapid spikes and some software programs check for them and give you an artifact index that you can use to adjust your number of desaturations with.

It would be nice if your O2 levels stayed above 90 all night...

Overall, it looks like your O2 levels and heart rate fluctuate during sleep...

[Thumper1947]

Hose,
Here's a link to some info about nightmares fro WebMD.
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/s ... 3d_leadCTA
Thumper

[Garamond]

Hose,
Here's a link to some info about nightmares fro WebMD.
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/s ... 3d_leadCTA
Thumper

Thanks for the link, Thumper. Now I just have to figure out what I have PTSD from

Here's last night graph, by the way. I really need to turn off the HR alarms for BPMs under 50. I got buzzed all night.

[Thumper1947]

Garamond,
I naturally have a low heart rate, about the high forties, but at night it was dropping into the high thirties. I was getting buzzed half the night, so I set the alarm to go at 40, took the wellue printout to my doctor and he took me off Metropolol which was compounding my problem. I now have an average pulse at night in the high forties, last night it was 51, which is much more acceptable. That Wellue ring has been very helpful to me. Best of luck to you.
Thumper

[Garamond]

Those of you viewing this thread (thank you, thank you!), what's your informed take? Are these charts mildly suggestive of OSA? Should I be taking them to my doctor and requesting another sleep study?

I'll post one final chart from last night, then I'll let you good people be. Awoke around 4:00 AM with that same panicked, short-of-breath feeling. Lying there for a few minutes before getting up, it felt like my body was taking the shallowest little breaths -- almost like I had to manually override my body's breathing in order to take a full complete breath. Having read some about OHS (obesity hypoventilation syndrome), I decided to rearrange all my pillows to incline my upper body at least 30-45 degrees. Did it help? I don't know, but the graph suggests it might have.

[Grumpy48]

I'm using a PC (Win7) and the O2 Insight software so the graphs are a bit different than yours, but same sort of info. I'm going on 73 early this year. The first graph is around the time I got the Wellue ring when I had suspicions of sleep apnea problems. I had been awakening abruptly in the early morning hours with a feeling I can best describe as 'felt like I was going to die'. Through a night's sleep my wife said I snored quite a bit and I was getting up frequently to make bathroom trips (6-7 times in a night). I usually felt tired the following day, having occasional Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs), and slightly high blood pressure. I took the Wellue ring data to my PCP and he scheduled a sleep study followed by a second one with titration. The results indicated 'severe obstructive sleep apnea'. I had a lot of difficulty 'sleeping' during the study, but evidently did long enough for them to ascertain a problem.

Now on the CPAP for about a year my nightly bathroom trips are down to just one usually. I had actually gone to a urologist prior to the CPAP and he prescribed a med which essentially would 'kill' off my slightly enlarged prostate which he said would reduce the bathroom trips. Never took the med after I read about it and glad I didn't with the CPAP therapy seeming to have mostly fixed the problem. Blood pressure is down now and have not had any more PVC's either. If you eat a heavy meal for supper or snack at night watching TV it can affect your sleep, so that may be something to also consider.

I would definitely show your doctor the results you had. The number of O2 drops in the course of the night you're having would seem to lend good argument to being apnea related.

The first graph below is from November 2019 (pre CPAP). The second a recent one from February 2021. I've been on a CPAP since March 2020. Your graph is fairly similar to my first one.

[Garamond]

I would definitely show your doctor the results you had. The number of O2 drops in the course of the night you're having would seem to lend good argument to being apnea related.

Appreciate the post, Grumpy. Yeah, my SpO2 looks a lot like yours.

The good news is that I bounced my charts of my doctor this morning and he ordered an unattended sleep test. The bad news is that they don't have a device free until . . . April 28th. Ugh.

[Garamond]

Good news. I was able to vulture a cancelled appointment and brought home a Resmed ApneaLink Air for a home sleep test this evening.

Seems pretty straight forward, but if anyone has any tips, holler.

[Garamond]

Well, I was never able to get the finger sensor light to stop blinking red and turn green. Not sure if there was a problem with the device . . . or my finger

I'm supposed to return the Resmed today so they can check to see if they got enough data, but I'm very tempted to grab a copy of the data myself first. Is that even possible?

[Thumper1947]

Garamound,
There is no green light associated with the Wellue ring. There is a red light on the inside of the ring that is the sensor for blood oxygen. It never turns green.
Thumper

[Grumpy48]

Garamound,
There is no green light associated with the Wellue ring. There is a red light on the inside of the ring that is the sensor for blood oxygen. It never turns green.
Thumper

I kinda thought it was the ring also, but I grabbed a copy of the ResMed ApneaLink unit that Garamond got for the home test and I'm pretty sure Garamond was referring to LED's on that unit and in particular the finger sensor.

[Garamond]

Yes, it was the light for the pulse oximeter on the Resmed. They sent me home with a different unit and I repeated the test last night. All green lights this time, including the morning after "Test Complete" light.

Dr's office said it would take them a week or so to analyze the results. Fingers crossed for some solutions.

[Garamond]

No results yet, unfortunately.

But I've continued to wear the O2 ring with interesting results. For instance, check out what happens here when I switch positions:



Need a camera to figure out which position that was.