Self-medicated oxygen supplementation

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
gingerkitty
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Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2023 6:16 pm

Self-medicated oxygen supplementation

Post by gingerkitty » Thu Apr 02, 2026 9:31 am

Has anyone here experimented with oxygen supplementation when not needed by normal medical standards?

I have good treatment with minimal leak rates (using the Resmed P10 mask) and under a 1 AHI and have been this way for years now. About 2 years ago, I stopped taking a stimulant that was helping - modafinil. I was on a very low dose, cutting each pill into 1/4ths. I stopped because of side effects, but it was helpful with productivity.

While my data looks good, and I meet with my sleep specialist annually to review everything, I can't help but wonder if there is room to improve my treatment further with oxygen. I was a relatively uncommon case where my AHI data marked me down as mild, but I had dozed off at least once at a stop light, so the quality of life impact was much greater. While I believe my treatment is effective by the normal measures (AHI, leak rates, etc.), I can't help but wonder if there is anything else I can do to further improve it, and this is where oxygen supplementation came to mind.

Does anyone have experience/thoughts about this?

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Pugsy
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Location: Missouri, USA

Re: Self-medicated oxygen supplementation

Post by Pugsy » Thu Apr 02, 2026 9:39 am

Not something I would want to mess with if I didn't have a doctor on board monitoring things.
There is a thing called oxygen poisoning or oxygen toxicity. Look it up.

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gingerkitty
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2023 6:16 pm

Re: Self-medicated oxygen supplementation

Post by gingerkitty » Thu Apr 02, 2026 11:40 am

Thanks for pointing out the risks - I hadn't thought about that perspective. I'll raise it with my doctor and get their input now.

I do have an oximeter that can record overnight data, maybe I'll start by collecting some data and bring that with me.

Janknitz
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Location: Northern California

Re: Self-medicated oxygen supplementation

Post by Janknitz » Fri Apr 03, 2026 7:02 pm

Two things:
Besides just AHI numbers are you looking at your graphs?
I wasn't feeling tip top despite good numbers, and the graphs showed that I was hanging out on the "ceiling" of my pressure setting. That resolved by increasing my max pressure just a little.

Definitely do a few nights with your recording pulse oximeter. If that's showing low O2, then you need to talk to your doctor for a more calibrated test and let your doctor decide if you need supplemental O2. Oxygen toxicity is not something you want to risk.

In my case my apple watch was showing pretty low O2 sats although I felt fine. The recording pulse oximeter showed my O2 sats were fine. It was nice to be able to check it.
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