Still desaturating

[gpap]

Went to the sleep dr. yesterday. Apnea under control quite well (AHI <= 1.9).

I am sleeping better with a few full arousals each night.

BUT, still desaturating during sleep. The 2 sleep studies did not indicate lack of depth on ventilation or lack of respiration. But both studies and a saturation study showed low oxygen.

Anybody else in this situation? What is/was the cause (if ever found)

[HoseCrusher]

How low is considered low?

[gpap]

84%

[OutaSync]

What did the Dr. think?

[HoseCrusher]

84% would be OK if you were 110 years old, smoked heavily every day, and lived at an elevation of 6000'...

With a low AHI, the cause of the desaturation should not be related to obstructions. That means that you are going to have to dig deeper. For some reason you lungs are not transferring the oxygen to your blood stream. You may want to consider having a blood test done. If you don't have enough red blood cells, your ability to transfer oxygen is reduced.

[Lizistired]

Do you have an oximeter that you use every night?

[gpap]

sleep Dr. said see the pulmonologist (Thursday the 31st is my appt).

I don't have a pulse ox meter that I wear every night.

I have blood work about every 4 months. CBC is always in high normal ranges.

[Bright Choice]

I have had an experience with desats that I thought I'd share: My AHI is fine, I was trying to get desats undercontrol. My doc said to experiement with pressures to see if I could get the desats to drop. During the time period that desats were the worst, I would wake up feeling pretty "hungover" (no alcohol), spacey, tired etc. During the course of the pressure change experiment (pressure increase alone did nothing), I decided to try EPR. I set it to 2 and haven't had a desat since and wake up without the "hangover".

Another interesting observation is that with the EPR on I noticed that the air coming into the mask (quattro fx ffm) was considerably cooler and fresher. Makes me think that I was getting asphyxiated but I have not a clue as to what this all means.

I really don't understand it.

[gpap]

What is EPR?

[natethegreat]

EPR = Exhale Pressure Relief

From what I understand it lowers the pressure of your machine while you exhale. My machine allows a setting of 0 - 3. 0 would be off, 3 would be a 3 cmH20 drop in pressure during exhalation. It may or may not be helpful to you.

[gpap]

My machine has something similar. I found 3 to be difficult on exhale, 2 was just right.

[Pugsy]

My machine has something similar. I found 3 to be difficult on exhale, 2 was just right.

This seems to be common with the Respironics machines. The exhale relief isn't a straight cm per setting drop (like ResMed machines) but more of a breathing rhythm cycle with a small drop in pressure. Many people have commented that setting of 3 wasn't quite right but 2 worked. Seems like the most common complaint with 3 is that "it makes me feel like I need to breathe too fast".

[DoriC]

I have had an experience with desats that I thought I'd share: My AHI is fine, I was trying to get desats undercontrol. My doc said to experiement with pressures to see if I could get the desats to drop. During the time period that desats were the worst, I would wake up feeling pretty "hungover" (no alcohol), spacey, tired etc. During the course of the pressure change experiment (pressure increase alone did nothing), I decided to try EPR. I set it to 2 and haven't had a desat since and wake up without the "hangover".

Another interesting observation is that with the EPR on I noticed that the air coming into the mask (quattro fx ffm) was considerably cooler and fresher. Makes me think that I was getting asphyxiated but I have not a clue as to what this all means.

I really don't understand it.

Does anyone know if there is some connection between EPR/Flex and desats?

[Jade]

oops...posted to wrong thread...apologies

[gpap]

Saw the pulmonologist today and will get my 2l of o^2 ordered today or tomorrow.

Now for more tests....