Pulse OX for "before I go to a dr. diagnosis?"

I was thinking about some of the people I know that exhibit various signs of sleep apnea, whether its tiredness, snoring, whatever. Most are not willing to set up a sleep study since it is time consuming, a horrible experience, and expensive. I was thinking that for about the same money as a single copay for me, I could purchase a pulse OX that would keep an overnight record and let them know if their oxygen was dropping and if a follow up study in the lab is something they need to be pursuing. Is this a valid line of thought? My understanding is that low oxygen is one of the biggest issues that sleep apnea causes. Is that correct?

Something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Heart-iOxime ... e+oximeter

hifiaudio wrote:I was thinking about some of the people I know that exhibit various signs of sleep apnea, whether its tiredness, snoring, whatever. Most are not willing to set up a sleep study since it is time consuming, a horrible experience, and expensive. I was thinking that for about the same money as a single copay for me, I could purchase a pulse OX that would keep an overnight record and let them know if their oxygen was dropping and if a follow up study in the lab is something they need to be pursuing. Is this a valid line of thought? My understanding is that low oxygen is one of the biggest issues that sleep apnea causes. Is that correct?

Something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Heart-iOxime ... e+oximeter

Low oxygen levels are a factor for some people with sleep apnea but not true for everyone. As a result, a normal reading could falsely lead people to believe they don't have apnea when they do.

49er

Exactly.

I think it is a good idea, but you have to understand the results.

Keep in mind that an oximeter gives you 2 channels of data. O2 levels and pulse rate.

While it is true that O2 desaturations don't always accompany sleep disordered breathing, often times you can observe changes in pulse rate.

The downside is that it takes practice to be able to "read" the data, but eventually you can come to an "educated speculation...."

I don't think it would be that helpful as a way of ruling something in or out as it's only one piece of data. If you are having symptoms of sleep apnea and your oxygen saturation is at acceptable levels overnight, you will still need a sleep study. I would instead stress that a sleep study is not that bad, and if you do a split-night test and do not have apnea or any sleep issues, they won't even put a mask on you. You go in at night and leave early in the morning, it's really not a big investment into your time.

hifiaudio wrote:I was thinking about some of the people I know that exhibit various signs of sleep apnea, whether its tiredness, snoring, whatever. Most are not willing to set up a sleep study since it is time consuming, a horrible experience, and expensive. I was thinking that for about the same money as a single copay for me, I could purchase a pulse OX that would keep an overnight record and let them know if their oxygen was dropping and if a follow up study in the lab is something they need to be pursuing. Is this a valid line of thought? My understanding is that low oxygen is one of the biggest issues that sleep apnea causes. Is that correct?

Something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Heart-iOxime ... e+oximeter

o2 saturation is one piece of the puzzle, but only one. it can't rule out apnea, because you can have plenty of apnea events, and the arousals that come with them, and the resultant exhaustion without significant desats. you can also have significant desats due to other respiratory issues, without having apnea.

and, lastly, that's not a very good unit. uncomfortable, cumbersome, liable to get you tangled up at night. get a wrist mounted one, stays on the finger much better.

I'd think that allowing them to try taking a "nap" using your auto-titrating pap machine and the resulting report/data would be more indicative of any apnea problems they might have. I just got a new S9 auto machine and thought that I'd buy the pulse OX kit to attach to it.....scratch that, it was almost as much as the apap itself cost !

Gasper62 wrote: I just got a new S9 auto machine and thought that I'd buy the pulse OX kit to attach to it.....scratch that, it was almost as much as the apap itself cost !

you must have found a deal, the last time someone priced the full kit, it was over 1000$

<100$ for a cms50I and you get the same data in sleepyhead, and no danger of strangling yourself with the cord.

Gasper62 wrote:. . . I just got a new S9 auto machine and thought that I'd buy the pulse OX kit to attach to it.....scratch that, it was almost as much as the apap itself cost !

Yeah, ResMed charges a ridiculous amount for their brand of pulse-ox and adapter connection to the S9 machines. For less than $100, instead, you can get a nice wrist-worn pulse-ox to capture and save your oxygen and pulse rate data while you sleep. I've been using the Contec 50F for a couple years now with good reliability. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... EC+CMS-50F Then you can connect it to your computer and see the graphs and a very nice report. Quite a few of us here who use SleepyHead have been able to insert their pulse-ox data into SleepyHead and thereby add pulse and oxygen detailed graphs to the usual set of SH graphs. If you'd like to do that, see the link in my signature block below for a set of instructions.

Hey, btw Gasper, is that puppy on your deck ok?

palerider wrote:

Gasper62 wrote: I just got a new S9 auto machine and thought that I'd buy the pulse OX kit to attach to it.....scratch that, it was almost as much as the apap itself cost !

you must have found a deal, the last time someone priced the full kit, it was over 1000$

<100$ for a cms50I and you get the same data in sleepyhead, and no danger of strangling yourself with the cord.

Yeah, I haven't gotten the paperwork yet but, I was told that my 25% contribution was gonna' be approx. $320.00 for the S9 Auto. I'm assuming that SleepMed is charging/receiving $1280.00 total from me and my DME benefit plan. I got the impression that that is pretty much "list price" for S9 Autos. The O2 kit would be completely out of pocket so I decided to rethink that ResMed accessory ! Going from a PR 250 "brick" to auto settings the last two nights, I was happy to see that my very first AHI readings ever were 1.4 & 1.1 ! I hope the pup was OK ! I just loved that pic when I found it !

Papit wrote:If you'd like to do that, see the link in my signature block below for a set of instructions.
SH PulseOx Data viewtopic/t8779 ... 22#p702522

the instructions in your link are incorrect as to what sleepyhead supports, and the processes are outdated.

sleepyhead supports direct import of data from the cms50d+ cms50e, cms50f old and new, cms50h and cms50i.

hifiaudio wrote:I was thinking about some of the people I know that exhibit various signs of sleep apnea, whether its tiredness, snoring, whatever. Most are not willing to set up a sleep study since it is time consuming, a horrible experience, and expensive. I was thinking that for about the same money as a single copay for me, I could purchase a pulse OX that would keep an overnight record and let them know if their oxygen was dropping and if a follow up study in the lab is something they need to be pursuing. Is this a valid line of thought? My understanding is that low oxygen is one of the biggest issues that sleep apnea causes. Is that correct?

Something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Heart-iOxime ... e+oximeter

I have one of these units. I use an iPad to record the data. It produces a .csv file of the data that can be either printed or, even better, emailed for import into a spreadsheet program for graphing. You won't be able to import the data to Sleeyhead.

If you order this unit, I would advise ordering a 1 meter extension cable to prevent launching your device while your asleep.

Also, I am listing phone and pad comparability.

This will work on an iPhone5 or higher, iPad with iOS 6.6 or higher,
Here is a listing of Android phones:
Working Models:
Samsung Galaxy S2
Samsung Galaxy S3
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung Note 1
Samsung Note 2
Samsung Note 3
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" GTP-3113
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10"
Samsung Galaxy Note Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
HTC One
HTC One Mini
HTC Desire 601
HTC EVO 4G LTE
Google Nexus 10

MODELS CURRENTLY NOT COMPATIBLE:
Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 4g
Samsung Galaxy S5
LG G2
LG Optimus F6 ( D500 )
LG Optimus
LG ENACT
LG Lucid 2
Google Nexus 3
Google Nexus 4
Google Nexus 5
Google Nexus 6
Google Nexus 7
Sony Xperia Z
Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX
Motorola Droid RAZR
Motorola Droid Bionic
Motorola XOOM
Motorola X
Motorola XT875
HTC MyTouch 4g
ASUS Transformer
Kindle Fire

TESTING NEEDED:
Kindle Fire HD
Kindle Fire HDX
HTC One M8