Is it my CPAP or Lookee?

I have been using CPAP for 15 years. My air sense 10 indicates I am having 1-2 episodes per hour and gives me 100 scores every night. I purchased a lookee pulse ox and the numbers are way different than the resmed. My pressure is usually between 15-16. I don’t have leakage and it seems the last few months my apnea is either getting worse or the lookee isn’t capturing it correctly. Anyone have experience with this?

A pulse oximeter reports percentage of oxygen in your blood.
There is no corresponding measurement from a cpap.
The "100" you get from myair(head) is a percentage of the 8 hours considered ideal.

If you want to see what is really happening, import data from your CPAP machine's SD card into OSCAR. The data there is very reliable.

I don't think any of the Lookee-type products can be very accurate about apneas. All they measure is SpO2 and attempt to attribute apneas as the cause of any oxygen drops. I'm not sure how accurate such a technique can be.

Nole56 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 21, 2021 2:39 pm

I purchased a lookee pulse ox and the numbers are way different than the resmed.

Please state the Lookee numbers.

From their website, the pulse oximeters only measure pulse rate and oxygen saturation.
Two things the cpap cannot measure.
Somebody swallowed a heck of a sales pitch!

I wonder if they are thinking every little desat the O2 pulse ox reports is equal to an apnea event...and it of course isn't.
Pulse oximeters can report minor desats as events but that doesn't necessarily equal sleep apnea event.
Without more information from the OP it's impossible to know what they are talking about...like what is it the O2 reporting device is reporting that has caused the concern.

A line graph can be drawn to represent almost anything you like.
Unless you have/understand the metadata, it is all gibberish, but it looks cool.

I guess I am correlating 02 desaturation to only apnea. I’m not sure what else will cause my oxygen to drop below 90. The data from the machine has been pretty consistent that I have between 2-3 per hour on average. My oxygen fluctuates every night. Some nights much worse than others. Am I incorrect to believe that the oxygen drops are related to apnea?

It could easily be artifacts of your movement as you sleep.
When skin connection is disturbed, no data is recorded.
As others have mentioned, recorded O2 does not always correlate
to actual saturation--and especially not to apneic events.
For measurements from an OTC instrument,
details should not be considered as reliable as TRENDS.

The lookee device straps to my wrist and the pulse odometer attaches the the finger. I just can’t figure out what would be causing my low pulse ox if not apnea/holding my breath? Is it possible the air sense 10 cannot pickup when you simply hold your breath?

To echo BlueDragon, do try downloading Oscar, which will give you a much better picture of what's going on with you during the night.

To answer your question, if you exhale and wait for 10 or more seconds before you start inhaling, you'll get a flag for a central apnea event. (You'll also get an event flag if you inhale and hold your breath for 10 or more seconds.)

It is normal for O2 levels to be lower during the night than during the day, and fluctuation is normal too. Are you seeing any *extended* periods of time where the O2 measurement is below 90?

Yes, Lately I am. There are some nights where my average SPO is 93% and I am lower than 90% for 15 minutes or longer throughout the night.

OK. I would suggest that you tell your doctor you're seeing ~15 min below 90 at night. The doctor may be able to provide you with a high-grade monitor so that he/she can monitor and review your O2 levels. Is this something you can do?

It would also be super helpful if you could download Oscar and post a daily chart, as has been suggested.

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:49 am

The doctor may be able to provide you with a high-grade monitor so that he/she can monitor and review your O2 levels.

+1

Many DMEs provide the equipment and report free of charge. They do require a doctor's order.