lurker coming out

Did you have oxygen desaturations during your sleep study? What does your report say was your lowest SpO2 level?

kaiasgram wrote:Did you have oxygen desaturations during your sleep study? What does your report say was your lowest SpO2 level?

it says lowest oxygen desaturation was 86.0%m below 90% for 1.6% of the time.

It also says "Recording noted steady snores". My wife was in the bed reading, she said I snorted, 2X. Twice.

js12278 wrote:Is it wrong or out of protocol to request an in lab study? That device I took home seemed to be a bit archaic to give any accuracy to breathing other than chest/diaphragm motion.

Since many home studies are known to under report the severity of apnea, my guess is a full scale one will report an increased severity if your AHI is reported as 15 to 17 from the home study test. But if you feel it will help your piece of mind, I would go for it.

49er

Had I slept on my left side the whole time the device was recording I could possibly have had a lower record of events and came in under the criteria, and not needed the therapy per employer criteria. I have been told by one MD already that if I lose 30 lbs, the machine wouldn't be necessary. I don't know how that all figures but there it is.

Those numbers are bad enough to cause a lot of ugly things to happen, like diabetes, heart disease, or ED,
(Yes, really!). Not all the damage can be seen or felt until your body is beyond repair.
My boss was the first to notice my brain was working better.

It seems like your real choice at the moment is to find another job or lose weight (or you could pay for an in-lab study, but that's kind of pricey). I was 350 lbs. when I was first told I had OSA. I've now lost over 100 lbs. You could lost 30 in a few months, and then get a new study. There's never a down side to losing excess weight. Would your employer then cover the cost of an in-lab test, if you would feel more comfortable with those results rather than a home test?

js12278 wrote:It also says "Recording noted steady snores". My wife was in the bed reading, she said I snorted, 2X. Twice.

Unless your wife stayed up all night and monitored you she probably missed some of the snoring. Or the machine's interpretation of snoring is different than your wife's.
I know my wife sleeps so sound that she never really noticed I have sleep apnea. (Of course after the fact she said she noticed it. )

Based on what you are saying if you can get a sleep study done in a sleep lab you might be more willing to accept the results. Or it will show you don't need it.
It does sound like you had a more sophisticated home study than a lot of people have but I know I would trust a lab study better than an in home study. But maybe that's just me.

Just curious....what is your occupation that is requiring that you be screened for sleep apnea and treated or not have a job?

Those software reports...showing minimal events happening..those are the events that slipped past the defenses. It doesn't have any way to tell you how many it prevented.

Welcome JS !
"to know is everything" Pullup a chair & learn. you've come to the right place. Your O2sats were scary. list your equip in profile when you get a chance Brother

Occupation is driver. Will head to profile and edit information.

My wife was up most of that night reading. I was intimidated by the test equipment and slept lightly, I usually sleep like a rock and I was overly concerned about damaging the equipment. I woke myself up anticipating removing the equipment as soon as possible.

If I knew how unreliable The HST was, I would have opted for the in lab. The nurse that handled my test told me upon my return the next day that the only way to debunk the HST would be in lab.

One thing that is troubling to me it's that a doctor other than my own is diagnosing my health. I got huge issue with that. Almost feels like a work comp doctor/patient relationship. This is a company doctor and they 'll do what's best for the company.
My opinion of course.

js12278 wrote:I have been told by one MD already that if I lose 30 lbs, the machine wouldn't be necessary. I don't know how that all figures but there it is.

I was 6' 225 lbs with 7% body fat at 32 years old when I started CPAP therapy. My doctor was insistent that if I lost 30 lbs I'd no longer need CPAP therapy. I was at a pressure of 12, decided I'd give it a try and dropped my weight down to 190 lbs, I was feeling worse so did another sleep study and found I actually needed a bi-level therapy with a pressure that was 12-16, most nights in the 14-15 range was usual and would hit 18 at times. So my weight loss had a bigger effect on my therapy. A couple years later I was in a car wreck and shattered my nasal cavities and therapy declined from there. I am on a VPAP ASV machine now with pressure on the 18-24 range nightly and sleep amazing.

js12278 wrote: ...I was intimidated by the test equipment and slept lightly, I usually sleep like a rock and I was overly concerned about damaging the equipment. I woke myself up anticipating removing the equipment as soon as possible...

If you got those results sleeping lightly, imagine how your results might look when sleeping soundly. I would hate to think how low you might desat on those nights you sleep better. We don't see it said often, but I have read on here of a couple people with OSA who did not snore. Not all snorers have sleep apnea. Not everyone with sleep apnea snores. I'm thinking even your side sleeping would likely have put you in the "needs treatment" category when you sleep soundly. As has already been said, a lab study could answer your questions - if you could sleep.

My appointment the first time was for 10am. sleep wasn't gonna happen that time. I would schedule it for later in the day/night. I could sleep if I was able to get in a bed around 11 or 12, I won't take meds for inducing sleep. I don't do chemicals. I will have to see what comes out of asking for the follow up. until thenI will do 4-5 hrs a night as much as I have to to maintain compliance.

kteague wrote: If you got those results sleeping lightly, imagine how your results might look when sleeping soundly. I would hate to think how low you might desat on those nights you sleep better.

So true. I scored an ahi of 79 in lab, and I never made it to deep sleep or rem sleep, where people are typically worse. My back sleeping was only a tad worse than average. I'm sure if I had done a full night diagnosis phase instead of the split night, I would have gotten a higher ahi. But when you are already severe at 79, who really needs to prove they are worse than that. With cpap, I am pretty much always under 2, and usually under 1.

We don't see it said often, but I have read on here of a couple people with OSA who did not snore. Not all snorers have sleep apnea. Not everyone with sleep apnea snores. I'm thinking even your side sleeping would likely have put you in the "needs treatment" category when you sleep soundly. As has already been said, a lab study could answer your questions - if you could sleep.

Also very true. My dad snores, but does not have sleep apnea. My mom does NOT snore, and she has severe sleep apnea, though different from mine. She stops breathing for over a minute at a time sometimes, so severe oxygen desats. Lower ahi but the longer events take up more time than my shorter, more numerous events. She does not have complex sleep apnea and is treated well with an apap like mine.

I really recommend the in lab sleep study. It will eliminate all false events since brain waves will be monitored. ANd there won't be an early off, so more of the night will be recorded.

I know it really helped me to get serious about treatment when I could look at the graphs of my breathing (and not breathing) and really see how many times I was being disturbed during the night. I didn't think my sleep was that bad, except for the loud snoring which didn't bother me (just everybody else). But seeing the oxygen data, the number of events, and the high ahi really helped me to realize how terrible my sleep had gotten. And once i slept 5 hours with a cpap machine, I realized just how bad my sleep was since I finally had a dose of good sleep to compare it to. You don't realize how this crap sneaks up on you over the years.