AT HOME Sleep analysis... Why NOT???? Cheap at home EEG soft

Okay, guys I've been wondering for a little while about this, but am really curious about this now. Many of us are wondering why our treatment isn't working, right?

Wouldn't it be great if we could do an at home sleep analysis..? I beginning to wonder if we can. Think of the possibilities if we could match up a night's EEG trend, pulse oxy data, (maybe even night shot cam video) and XPAP data. We could see if leaks are really disrupting sleep, if apneas are really the problem or if there's someother secondary sleep disorder at play.

See a little while back in the good old days of computing I remember a software package (very affordable too) that could monitor brain wave patterns and allow a person to control a interactive application or game this way. Now I wonder why can't the computer be affordable and effectively programed to do this. Surely it could with the horse power of our average PC nowadays, and its probably a simply matter of having a expansion card that can translate the EEG signals.

I'm thinking cheap and effective monitoring of EEG signals and pulse oxy information (via somesort pulse oxy meter) would be enough to give us a rough idea of a person's sleep architecture. Sure, the more finanical resources you have the more you could monitor. However, these two alone would be of great benefit to alot of CPAPers on here.

So does anyone remember the software (I think it was called Mind drive but I'm not 100%) that I'm talking about here (roughly 95' or so maybe earlier)?

and do we know if there's any companies (or individual projects) out there that offers a cheap solution to EEG trending/monitoring via PC..???

Stryker5777

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): video, Power

Stryker, EXCELLENT idea!

There have been some previous posts on the subject, and there are bedside EEG devices for the purpose you describe. But not cheap. I have toyed with the notion of doing exactly that, just make one from parts, sort of as a hobby, starting with some low noise amplifiers that I have acquired, which have seen service in a previous lifetime in an EEG machine no less! Add to that a USB DAC card (those are getting cheap nowadays, National Instruments, Measurement Computing, etc.). Oh, and SOFTWARE! (that's the easy part). Now for the all-important ingredient: discretionary time... (*sigh*)

I have also invested in a couple of books on the subject, "Primer of EEG", Butterworth, and "EEG in Clinical Practice", Hughes. I'm intimidated by the placement of all the electrodes, EEEEEEK! And identifying delta waves programmatically also seems like a challenge. Identifying them the regular way seems sort of challenging to start out. This may take SEVERAL weekends. Or realistically, years. Maybe I'll just go buy one.

Meanwhile, I would encourage you to do all the hard part, then let us know!

Keep us posted.

-Ric

This is a really cool idea. I was thinking about trying to put something like this together. I have a vision in my mind of going to sleep with cpap headgear that has all the sensors built in and wirelessly transmitting thier data to a machine that can record it. Getting the data can't be THAT difficult, processing it and making it into useful data is probably another story. I wonder how accurate it needs to be to give you a general sense of how things are going...I bet we don't need the same level of detail that they do for an official sleep study.

Hehe, I find myself in much the same position as Ric, I would love to use something like this but investing the time to create it...hehe that might be a bit tough. It would make an interesting hobby though. lol.

Someone directed me (from another forum) to a site for a do it yourself project:

http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/

It seems like a doable project with some work though.





I put a little advisory disclaimer for you kids (& others) at home:


WARNING don't try this EEG project or anything else discussed on this thread at home!!

Only for informational and academic purposes and not to be used to treat or diagnosis any condition or disorder! Ask your health care professional before trying ANYTHING!! I am not in anyway a medical professional, so please be advised....

Stryker5777 wrote:Someone directed me (from another forum) to a site for a do it yourself project:

http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/

It seems like a doable project with some work though.

Yep. It's not rocket science, Stryker5777. (Actually, rocket science started as a series of home projects, too.)

I was seriously contemplating getting an EKG machine a while back, and found both used ones and home project varieties readily available for minimal cost. EEG machines are similar, and the underlying principles of EEG's are not really all that complicated. (I mean, if a physician can interpret the results how complicated can it be?)

I also found a few educational websites providing quite detailed data for interpreting EKG traces, and think it likely similar websites are availabe to help with interpretation of EEG traces.

Stryker5777 wrote:WARNING don't try this EEG project or anything else discussed on this thread at home!!

Only for informational and academic purposes and not to be used to treat or diagnosis any condition or disorder! Ask your health care professional before trying ANYTHING!! I am not in anyway a medical professional, so please be advised....

.

Probably equally effective would be a disclaimer such as:

I'm just a poor patient whose physicians failed me, and so am engaged in self-treatment of myself only. I'll be happy to share what I think I've learned though, with anyone else willing to take full personal responsibility for their own treatment.

I mean, good grief, isn't it time we quit perpetuating the myth that medical professionals are embued with some mystical powers. Certainly, the posts on this forum don't justify that position. I recommend anyone feeling the need to post a disclaimer, simply tell it like it is. That should be sufficient legally.

Regards,
Bill

Bill, you mean that doctor's AREN'T magical beings, with supernatural powers??!!

Obviously this must be a mistake, because clearly only doctors are able to know how to change xpap pressures, read (text) books and tell us how we feel... hmmm.. well, Its a good thing then, that they have big strong associations , politicans, and lobbists to capitalize off(I mean... safe guard) the industry.

How else could they buy their 4th porche and 3rd summer homes?

poor guys..