No Oxygen Desats

[jbn3boys]

During both of my sleep studies, I had no significant oxygen desats. My sats stayed above 90% for all of both sleep studies. I have read many places that it is the lack of oxygen that causes so many of the issues/complications associated with SDB. If that is the case, and my oxygen sats are good (even with mild to moderate sleep apnea), do I really NEED to be treating the SDB? I'm not planning on stopping the use of my bipap, but I'm just curious. If the reason to treat is to avoid the lack of oxygen, then it seems to make sense that if the oxygen is not a problem, then you wouldn't have to treat. I know that logic is probably faulty, but I'm not sure how. What am I missing here?

[Slartybartfast]

True, O2 levels are a very important part of therapy, but respiratory related arousals are, too. And not all of them are caused by deep O2 desats. Some folks don't seem to have desaturation events of any great significance, yet they have frequent arousals that interfere with their ability to get restful sleep. That's one of the reasons you can't really substitute what you read from your APAP therapy data for a monitored overnight stay in a sleep clinic. O2 levels are a big part of the picture, but so is what the tech reads from the EEG data.

[Lizistired]

My O2 dropped to 82% during my sleep study. It dropped to 68% at home on my prescribed pressure. That was a big wake-up call. The sleep study is only one night, and under specific conditions. I just ordered a wrist oximeter to replace my finger pulse meter.

[Slartybartfast]

The personal pulse oximeters like the one in my equipment list below often spike down to low levels. Those are almost certainly sampling errors. My pulmo-Doc said so when I showed him my data, and he was thrilled at the availability of inexpensive recording pulse oximeters and encouraged me to use it.

What's more important is the data that shows how much CUMULATIVE TIME was spent at over 90%, over 80%, etc. If the time spent below 88%, for example, is significant, i.e. more than a few percent, then it's cause for concern. If not, it's sampling errors that are common with affordable pulse oximeter.

[Bright Choice]

The personal pulse oximeters like the one in my equipment list below often spike down to low levels. Those are almost certainly sampling errors. My pulmo-Doc said so when I showed him my data, and he was thrilled at the availability of inexpensive recording pulse oximeters and encouraged me to use it.

What's more important is the data that shows how much CUMULATIVE TIME was spent at over 90%, over 80%, etc. If the time spent below 88%, for example, is significant, i.e. more than a few percent, then it's cause for concern. If not, it's sampling errors that are common with affordable pulse oximeter.

Thanks slartybartfast - good info on the spikes. I was wondering about that. I have some really low spikes but I was a bit suspicious about them. I have been monitoring with 50F for about 2 weeks now. Doc said to try to limit desats under 88% to 1 minute or less (I live at 6200 ft). On the few days that I get to 1 minute or less I feel great - on the days above 1 minute I feel pretty crappy. Doc said to try to keep desats up by increasing pressure on CPAP - I haven't seen any correlation yet.

[Slartybartfast]

The sampling interval on the 50E and 50F is pretty slow, so you'll see vertical spikes down and sometimes up as well when you move or when the device misses a measurement for some reason. That's OK. It's the area under the curve that's important. Instantaneous spikes aren't real; they're just the price you pay for not spending thousands of dollars on a more expensive unit.

For most people's purposes, the affordable units are fine for doing occasional checks of therapy efficacy.

I notice Nonin's website shows that they are (apparently) selling the same $99 oximeter both as a Prescription-Only and Non-Presctiption (ove the counter) device, depending on what it's being used for. That seems to be really splitting hairs. It seems if you want to check your oxygen level then it's considered OTC. If your Doctor wants to monitor your therapy, then it requires a prescription.