What DO my sleep study results REALLY mean?

[piscesman7620]

Hello,
I requested the raw data from my sleep study... and really didn't get much.

I checked out a lot of it online, but there are some things that have me boggled and i'd like to compare notes with a REAL person if possible;

well i will give the highlights:
I have Alpha intrusion.....OK WHAT does that mean?

I had 27 NREM hypopneas

I had 10 REM hypopneas

1 Obstructive apnea in NREM

8 Obstructive apneas in REM

AHI (#/hr) was 20/hr total in NREM... 60/hr in REM

My Sao2 had dropped to 52%!!!!!( I am told that is NOT good... How BAD is it????)

My baseline Sao2 was 90%(lying on back) it is 95 in sitting( when measured at doctor)

It had been lowest at 76% with CPAP treatment and as high as 92% on 11 CPAP pressure

OK... these are as good of results as I can get.. but will some REAL PEOPLE please help me make sense of this!!!!

No mixed or central apnea was detected

maximum duration (sec) was 29 in NREM

maximum duration (sec) was 60.5 in REM

[BlackSpinner]

Hello,


I had 27 NREM hypopneas

I had 10 REM hypopneas

Wanna be obstructions - 10 during your dream state (REM)

1 Obstructive apnea in NREM

8 Obstructive apneas in REM

Again you are much worse during dream state

AHI (#/hr) was 20/hr total in NREM... 60/hr in REM

combined total averages - when you are dreaming you are being choked once per minute!

My Sao2 had dropped to 52%!!!!!( I am told that is NOT good... How BAD is it????)

you are surviving at night on half the oxygen you need - you are in stroke territory!

My baseline Sao2 was 90%(lying on back) it is 95 in sitting( when measured at doctor)


It had been lowest at 76% with CPAP treatment and as high as 92% on 11 CPAP pressure

your O2 should not go less then 90% at any time. It seems even during the day you are not getting good O2

[chunkyfrog]

In a nutshell: it's very good that you got the sleep study.
Welcome to the forum.
I assume you do not yet have a machine.
Read on for further understanding, as we also have info on getting the best equipment for optimum therapy and comfort.

[jnk]

What DO my sleep study results REALLY mean?

Your results mean that (1) you have earned the right to try PAP therapy and (2) all of us will be here for you to help you make a success of it.

Welcome.

[robysue]

I have Alpha intrusion.....OK WHAT does that mean?

My understanding is that alpha waves are an EEG pattern that is typically associated with being AWAKE with your eyes closed. An alpha intrusion is when these alpha waves start popping up when you're in deep sleep and the expected brain wave pattern is a so-called delta-wave. (The wiki on Alpha waves and Alpha intrusions can be found at at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave)

I had 27 NREM hypopneas

I had 10 REM hypopneas

1 Obstructive apnea in NREM

8 Obstructive apneas in REM

AHI (#/hr) was 20/hr total in NREM... 60/hr in REM

Not much sleep there. For these numbers to make sense, you only had about 1.4 hours of NREM (that's 1 hour and 24 minutes of NREM sleep) and 9 minutes of REM sleep (i.e. 0.15 hours of REM).

Was this a split night study? In other words, did the tech wake you up a couple of hours after lights out to put the mask on you?

The NREM AHI number is not particularly bad---it would be in the moderate range for OSA. The REM number is pretty high, but also based on a pretty short REM cycle. Enough evidence to say things are much, much worse in REM. Maybe even bad enough to warrant the split night study.

My Sao2 had dropped to 52%!!!!!( I am told that is NOT good... How BAD is it????)

Ah---this is most likely WHY the tech did a split night: SaO2 dropping to 52% is very, very serious. How long during the diagnostic part of the sleep test were your SaO2 levels below 90%? How long were they below 80%? How long were they below 70%? Those are all highly relevant questions that you should be asking your doc. I'd strongly urge you to talk to the sleep doc about the real significance of these genuinely frightening SaO2 numbers.

My baseline Sao2 was 90%(lying on back) it is 95 in sitting( when measured at doctor)

And that baseline SaO2 on your back is low, but not quite in the "ALARMING" range. Still, it's considered a real concern whenever SaO2 levels drop below 88% and you're not that far above that.

It had been lowest at 76% with CPAP treatment and as high as 92% on 11 CPAP pressure

Chances are that 76% SaO2 on CPAP was when the CPAP was still at a subtherapeutic level. If I were you, I'd also be asking the sleep doc about that max SaO2 = 92% on 11cm of pressure.

My opinion? Your SaO2 levels dropped to frightening levels and you need to find a way to make CPAP work so that your O2 levels remain much closer to normal while you are sleeping. You really cannot afford to ignore this and you cannot afford to simply give up: If your O2 levels are dropping that much night after night without CPAP, you are living on borrowed time if you chose to not treat the OSA.

Best of luck