newb needs help analyzing oscar oximetry

I uploaded contec oximetry data to oscar it has 121 spO2 drop events in 4 hours.
am I going to die?
don't have a CPAP yet.

Were you asleep or awake?

I was asleep. I had to turn it off after 4 hours because contec laser was burning my finger to cinders
I woke up one time to use bathroom, I think.
I'm 47 yo and overweight

The SpO2 assistant for contec
says I spend 1.6 mins under 88% O2. This is probably not healthy, I assume I must have sleep apnea?

No, don't assume it - there are many other things that matter and only a proper sleep test will tell if you have apnea. Why do you think you might have it?

I'm not familiar with using just an 02 meter to test anything much (except the very obvious) and others might come in here, but definitely don't assume 'apnea' based on a one night home 02 test.

my dad had it and he had a lot of the same symptoms, so im borrowing his equipment. I also put on weight recently due to quarantine.
Is there a sleep test i can do at home and get data from? His doctor said he'd be willing to look at the data.
I have no job or insurance.

There are home tests available, but you want to be sure to get a proper one... don't use e.g. funny watch or fitbit type of things that don't cover necessary bases. Your doctor should refer you to legit places that provide the right equipment and/or info on what to do and then how to get results. There is another way, but you would need to have the right type of Cpap (or Apap) machine that would let you use the right software (downloadable free from here) for proper results... whether you can find something e.g. on eBay, or borrow one, or ??? depends on you, but if you go that route please come back to this thread to get info on which machine will (and will not) work with the software before spending. Getting the wrong stuff won't help. The software will tell you what you need to know to get started and we can help set things up for you once results are available.

It's also now thought that apnea helps to put on the weight, rather than the other way around.

Have you had any recent lab work, testing for other things like thyroid problems, diabetes, etc. etc?

You aren't going to die. You did have some drops in O2 but while suspicious...not clearly diagnostic for sleep apnea . Pulse ox reports only don't always show something definitive. They can point to for sure problems but not always because people don't always have huge drops in oxygen with OSA. I have a friend who has OSA with 60 apnea events per hour and her oxygen levels never dropped below 94%.
It is normal to have a 3 to 4 % drop in O2 levels just from sleeping...so some of the drop you see is normal. A couple of the drops are really fast down and up again. Those are probably loss of contact artifacts from the Pulse Ox losing contact on your finger.
Real O2 drops don't go down fast and they don't come up fast either.
If you think you have sleep apnea....get the home study to make sure. Your pulse ox report isn't horribly bad but it is suspicious because of some of the drops are more than what might be considered normal.
You aren't going to die though...My oxygen levels went to 73% for prolonged times...I am still alive....but I did have some killer morning headaches from it. Those all went away once I was on cpap.

There are home sleep studies that are pretty much equal to the data available during a sleep study done in a lab but they cost more than cheaper studies.
Go here to learn about the various sleep studies available.
http://freecpapadvice.com/home-sleep-tests

You want a Type 2 Home sleep study...it pretty much gathers the same data as a sleep test done in the lab. More data channels means a more comprehensive and a more reliable sleep study.

Within that page is a link to AXG Sleep Diagnostics, LLC. They will do the home sleep studies...the type 2 test costs $499.
They will require a doctor's order. Your dad's doctor can do it.
I know the guy who has this business. Super nice guy and I have had occasion to recommend his business to people who need a home study...he also has a doctor on staff who does the interpretation of the results. It's not all done by computer. Humans are involved with the interpretation of the data.
Some home studies are just computer reporting and humans don't even look at the data.

my dad has a backup machine and my mom doesn't really need hers anymore (plus she's concerned)
I can get a hold of a airsense 10 and dreamstation auto cpap on a short term basis, can i use that special software on these models to do a superior sleep test? Like, is there a way to set the pressure to 0 and just do the apnea detection?
If so, pointing me to a how-to would help me out a lot.

OSCAR software (top of the main forum page) will work with the ResMed or Respironics data capable machines and the apap models are full data.

BUT...the minimum pressure is 4 cm. You can't do a home sleep study with them for diagnostic purposes because 4 cm is still considered therapy.

Now you can use one of those machines and set it to 4 cm minimum in auto mode...and give it a range to go to IF it wants to go and if it does go up then you know he found a reason to go up. It won't go up without a good reason.

20 is the usual max pressure with 4 min, but most people can't inhale properly at 4, so I suggest using 6 for now. I also suggest using the Airsense Auto vs Respironics as it's more popular by far.

Julie wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 22, 2020 11:07 am

20 is the usual max pressure with 4 min, but most people can't inhale properly at 4, so I suggest using 6 for now. I also suggest using the Airsense Auto vs Respironics as it's more popular by far.

While it is true that some people have a problem with 4 cm....I do suggest at least trying it when they are wanting to use the minimum as a diagnostic tool to see if the machine responds at all because the whole idea is to see if the machine wants to fight anything.

If a person sets it to 6 and all it needs is 6 to hold the airway open then it might look like there is no apnea since the machine doesn't do anything. A person might think ..."oh, the machine didn't do anything and I must not have OSA".

So when using cpap to help self diagnose...that's why I suggest the 4 cm minimum if they can handle it. I want to see if the pressure line moves at all. It might move up to 6 and stay there which would of course indicate a potential OSA issue. If he used 6 to start with we wouldn't see movement and thus might think no OSA issues.

Now if he does try 4 cm and comes back screaming "I can't breathe" then we of course increase the minimum to a more comfortable level because we all know he has to be comfortable to sleep.

But this is why when we are using the machine to help self diagnose I don't want a higher minimum unless we just have no choice.

yes, thanks pugsy, and julie you were also helpful.
I will try to borrow a resmed and set it to min 4 max 9 and see if i spend the whole night at 4, I probably don't have apnea.
If it moves up then I probably do and i know its worth saving up the cash to get it treated properly.

mastaCpappy wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 22, 2020 12:01 pm

yes, thanks pugsy, and julie you were also helpful.
I will try to borrow a resmed and set it to min 4 max 9 and see if i spend the whole night at 4, I probably don't have apnea.
If it moves up then I probably do and i know its worth saving up the cash to get it treated properly.

That will work. I did the same sort of screening with my brother in law....I also limited the max because I didn't want higher pressures (if it went there) to cause leaks or wake him up. The whole idea was to look for pressure movement and worry about what might be needed later once it was proven that there was a need.
I set the max at 10....he pegged it out at 10 all night long. I had the answer we were looking for.
Now he still blew off therapy...but at least I had the answer I was looking for. And when my sister complains of his snoring or his complaining of not sleeping or feeling good...I just get to say "I told you so"...he needs a cpap machine but until he is willing to accept it...nothing can be done.