please help me understand my sleep study report

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
snoozebunny
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:21 am

please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by snoozebunny » Tue Nov 08, 2022 4:28 pm

I had a sleep study done due to insomnia. I was diagnosed with "severe" sleep apnea from the sleep study. My AHI was only 7.6, but on the study report, the issue seemed to be that my oxygen level dropped to 86% at some point during the night. I think AHI 7.6 is considered very mild, do I even have to be on CPAP? Any ideas? I have not seen my sleep doctor yet, the appointment will be weeks away.

And what questions should I ask my sleep doctor when I see him.

And what kind of sleep data/report from my CPAP should I bring to him? I am still new to CPAP. Can he access my CPAP?


Below is the link to my sleep study report, it has 3 pages (I had to post it to the reddit since this forum does not have storage for the uploaded files), please take a look to help me understand the report, perhaps you can shed some light on it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CPAP/comments/ ... nderstand/

I have been on CPAP for 2 weeks, and my sleep did not improve at all. I still have the same issue -- I have no problem falling asleep, but have problem staying in sleep after an hour or two.

lynninnj
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Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by lynninnj » Tue Nov 08, 2022 4:45 pm

snoozebunny wrote:
Tue Nov 08, 2022 4:28 pm
I had a sleep study done due to insomnia. I was diagnosed with "severe" sleep apnea from the sleep study. My AHI was only 7.6, but on the study report, the issue seemed to be that my oxygen level dropped to 86% at some point during the night. I think AHI 7.6 is considered very mild, do I even have to be on CPAP? Any ideas? I have not seen my sleep doctor yet, the appointment will be weeks away.

And what questions should I ask my sleep doctor when I see him.

And what kind of sleep data/report from my CPAP should I bring to him? I am still new to CPAP. Can he access my CPAP?


Below is the link to my sleep study report, it has 3 pages (I had to post it to the reddit since this forum does not have storage for the uploaded files), please take a look to help me understand the report, perhaps you can shed some light on it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CPAP/comments/ ... nderstand/

I have been on CPAP for 2 weeks, and my sleep did not improve at all. I still have the same issue -- I have no problem falling asleep, but have problem staying in sleep after an hour or two.
First glance it seems like you are like most folks- sleeping supine/on your back leads to your airways closing up. when that happens your body O2 levels drop with no air coming in and it damages your tissues including vital organs.

Without more data it would be hard to say if your settings are optimized but a few things for sleep doc. I assume your next visit is compliance visit to be sure you used it 4hr min/day for enough days.

Doc should be adjusting your settings to optimize. Getting an SD card in there will help moving forward as well.

get a copy of the prescription when you go in. you will need it at some point I wager.

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Jlfinkels
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Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by Jlfinkels » Tue Nov 08, 2022 5:00 pm

You fall into the mild range. The question you have to answer is whether your sleep is impacted by apneas or not. If not, then whether to use a CPAP or not is purely your choice. If your sleep is impacted, then using a CPAP may make a lot of difference in your sleep quality.

Like you I am in the mild range with a 7.5. My sleep quality however had been horrible for years with naps or afternoon coffee being required to make it throughout the day without being totally knackered. Once I got the CPAP dialed into what worked for me, the qualitative results in sleep quality were excellent. Not every night is great, but on a whole it has made a big difference.
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Rubicon
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Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by Rubicon » Wed Nov 09, 2022 3:54 am

Image

Image

It would seem that the diagnosis of "severe" OSA is based on an oxygen desaturation of 86%. Even a bunch of 86%s wouldn't constitute severe using desaturation criteria and anyway it looks like there was only one, and that could be artifact. So just get severe entirely out of your mind.

Wow it's taking a long time to get things done. Physician notes issue.

Data is not completely clear. IIWM I'd get clean copies.

This is a Type III study, which means it is not definitively known if you were asleep. AAMOF, using heart rate as a surrogate for sleep, the 2 red boxes (upon which the diagnosis of "severe OSA' was made) look more like Wake to me.

That said, the yellow box indicates an extended period of time of well-defined Heart Rate Variability. That's something. I do not know what. We need to find out.

CPAP is a lifelong commitment. IMO you need an in-lab study to accurately diagnose whether or not you have OSA because this study is a disaster.
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Rubicon
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Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by Rubicon » Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:16 am

We'll need this later:

Image
Freeze this moment a little bit longer.
Make each sensation a little bit stronger.
Experience slips away.

dataq1
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Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by dataq1 » Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:35 am

Rubicon wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 3:54 am
It would seem that the diagnosis of "severe" OSA is based on an oxygen desaturation of 86%. Even a bunch of 86%s wouldn't constitute severe using desaturation criteria and anyway it looks like there was only one, and that could be artifact. So just get severe entirely out of your mind.


Completely agree, this is report is not indicative of severe OSA.
Rubicon wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 3:54 am
This is a Type III study, which means it is not definitively known if you were asleep.


Again agree, data must be drawn from epochs that you are actually asleep..... for accurate analysis.

Rubicon wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 3:54 am
The yellow box indicates an extended period of time of well-defined Heart Rate Variability. That's something. I do not know what. We need to find out.
Among the possibilities are paroxysmal (and silent) atrial fibrillation, that is something to be discussed with your physician/cardiologist, not your "sleep doc". (Don't be alarmed, this is a very common arrhythmia, that is often largely benign)
Rubicon wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 3:54 am

IMO you need an in-lab study to accurately diagnose whether or not you have OSA because this study is a disaster.
IMO this "study" is nearly worthless.

If I might a suggestion. If you have a smartphone, and ~40$ to invest. The EMAY pulse oximeter is a dandy recording pulse-ox unit that will display second-by-second your pulse and oxygen saturation for your entire night. Available on your favorite internet site (sometimes on sale for 32)
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Rubicon
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The Price of Admission

Post by Rubicon » Thu Nov 10, 2022 4:17 am

Understanding Heart Rate Variability really isn't difficult, but we'll need to focus.

Consequently, make these changes to your profile in order to remove these distractions and poor advice:
Freeze this moment a little bit longer.
Make each sensation a little bit stronger.
Experience slips away.

dataq1
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Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by dataq1 » Thu Nov 10, 2022 11:27 pm

Heart Rate Variation:
Heart rate variability is where the amount of time between your heartbeats , fluctuates slightly. Even though these fluctuations are undetectable except with specialized devices, they can still indicate current or future health problems, including heart conditions and mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/s ... bility-hrv
Differs from Pulse Rate Variation by granularity. Pulse rates are typically measured over some time period. For example, EKG pulse rates are typically QRS complexes over a 20-30 second interval, while the HRV is comparing changes in milliseconds from one heart beat to the next.
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MariaMorrison
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2023 10:59 am

Re: please help me understand my sleep study report

Post by MariaMorrison » Sun Apr 02, 2023 11:04 am

lynninnj wrote:
Tue Nov 08, 2022 4:45 pm
snoozebunny wrote:
Tue Nov 08, 2022 4:28 pm
I had a sleep study done due to insomnia. I was diagnosed with "severe" sleep apnea from the sleep study. My AHI was only 7.6, but on the study report, the issue seemed to be that my oxygen level dropped to 86% at some point during the night. I think AHI 7.6 is considered very mild, do I even have to be on CPAP? Any ideas? I have not seen my sleep doctor yet, the appointment will be weeks away.

And what questions should I ask my sleep doctor when I see him.

And what kind of sleep data/report from my CPAP should I bring to him? I am still new to CPAP. Can he access my CPAP?


Below is the link to my sleep study report, it has 3 pages (I had to post it to the reddit since this forum does not have storage for the uploaded files), please take a look to help me understand the report, perhaps you can shed some light on it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CPAP/comments/ ... nderstand/

I have been on CPAP for 2 weeks, and my sleep did not improve at all. I still have the same issue -- I have no problem falling asleep, but have problem staying in sleep after an hour or two.
First glance it seems like you are like most folks- sleeping supine/on your back leads to your airways closing up. when that happens your body O2 levels drop with no air coming in and it damages your tissues including vital organs.

Without more data it would be hard to say if your settings are optimized but a few things for sleep doc. I assume your next visit is compliance visit to be sure you used it 4hr min/day for enough days.

Doc should be adjusting your settings to optimize. Getting an SD card in there will help moving forward as well.

get a copy of the prescription when you go in. you will need it at some point I wager.
thanks!
you helped me too