SPO2 stats questions

[sleep_quest]

A minimum SPO2 of 54...can that be right?

Is it normal to have desaturations in the triple digits?

[toaste]

54 is not a true value. Oximeters can be "ify". However desaturations can be true though in the triple digits if you are not on the right treatment.

[palerider]

glitches in data don't count

[sleep_quest]

Ok, oh wise one, sooo is all of the graph glitched and how do I know what's real and what isn't?

I know my pressure is lower than optimal but I've been having terrible aerophagia and I've been trying to minimize that by lowering my pressure.

If my '54' in the graph is a glitch then do I need to make any changes to prevent triple digit desats or is the total number of them really inconsequential to my overall health as long as my SPO2 average is in the mid 90s?

I need to know what my priorities should be so I can mitigate long term health issues - balancing discomfort of aerophagia vs. any other potential issue lurking about (notice I'm NOT hung up on my AHI )

[palerider]

Ok, oh wise one, sooo is all of the graph glitched and how do I know what's real and what isn't?

I know my pressure is lower than optimal but I've been having terrible aerophagia and I've been trying to minimize that by lowering my pressure.

If my '54' in the graph is a glitch then do I need to make any changes to prevent triple digit desats or is the total number of them really inconsequential to my overall health as long as my SPO2 average is in the mid 90s?

I need to know what my priorities should be so I can mitigate long term health issues - balancing discomfort of aerophagia vs. any other potential issue lurking about (notice I'm NOT hung up on my AHI )

"wise one" hah.

it's impossible for your blood to desat instaltly, so that's a glitch, it can happen when you move around sometimes, or if you take the sensor off, or put it on, while the oximeter is recording. just ignore those abrupt sudden changes and focus on the rest.

as to the number of desats... your level actually looks pretty good, I don't know what triggers the sw is set to, so I can't even begin to guess if it matters, .... and even if I did know what it was considering a desat, I'm no expert on what minor (looking at your traces) actually signify.

[cnaumann]

Zoom in on that 54 desat. I would be surprised if it was not a glitch, but your pulse rate did go up so something is happening there.

A desat that deep should take three or four minutes depending on how much air is in your lungs.

Your stats looks quite good. I wish I could I sleep for 8.5 hours straight.

[sleep_quest]

Thank you for the explanations!

I guess I don't need to worry about wearing that darn thing every night

[JDS74]

Sometimes the sensor on your finger gets jostled and the oximeter momentarily loses synch and you get these very low readings while it attempts to synch back up. Blowing up the graph in SleepyHead will show a precipitous drop and a flat bottom when that happens. A "real" drop in O2 sats will be much more gradual.

As a experiment, put on your oximeter and, after it stabilizes and is giving good readings, just hold your breath for a while and notice how slow it is in responding. "Real" desats look more like that.

[Ogeo]

First I don't know anything about SPO2 but I want to get a meter so was studying your chart. This is just my guess what it means.

In your Oximeter Information it shows: SPO2 Desaturations: 194 (14.07%) and your baseline is 97%.
IMHO I think it might mean that you had 194 times during the night that your O2 was below the baseline of 97% but that it was only for 14.07% of the night. Your medium was 95%. If you look at your graph, you can see about 7:15 it dropped to the 54 that you see but didn't stay there. That is probably when the connection was briefly lost.

Like I said, I have nothing to back me up - it is just the way I would read the info. Does anyone know if this is right?

[palerider]

In your Oximeter Information it shows: SPO2 Desaturations: 194 (14.07%) and your baseline is 97%.
IMHO I think it might mean that you had 194 times during the night that your O2 was below the baseline of 97% but that it was only for 14.07% of the night. Your medium was 95%. If you look at your graph, you can see about 7:15 it dropped to the 54 that you see but didn't stay there. That is probably when the connection was briefly lost.

Like I said, I have nothing to back me up - it is just the way I would read the info. Does anyone know if this is right?

no, desats are based on x% drop in y minutes, x and y are configurable in the software, whether the sw that comes with the oximeters, or in sleepyhead itself.

the oximeters occasionally display glitchy data, and you just ignore those abrupt spikes... just like at the end of the trace, his heart rate didn't go to 100 instantly