Oxygen saturation what to expect

Hi Julie

I tried raising my PS min from 5 to 6 last night. Plan to leave it there for a while, to see how I go.
Good idea, as last night my saturation levels did not go below 90% which I was please about.
Only time will tell to see if they stay there or if it was a one off.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

TAT.LANTA wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 05, 2021 4:49 am

Hi Julie

I tried raising my PS min from 5 to 6 last night. Plan to leave it there for a while, to see how I go.
Good idea, as last night my saturation levels did not go below 90% which I was please about.
Only time will tell to see if they stay there or if it was a one off.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

So, your EPAP is where you get your oxygenation, your PS is what compensates for central apneas.

Too much PS (when you don't need it) will cause hypocapnia (low CO2) and exacerbate central apnea.

Thanks Palerider
However I do not suffer from centrals, but I have not worked out how to display centrals on Oscar as yet, as it only displays
large leak, obstructive, unclassified apnoea and hypopnoea.
Used to show it automatically on Sleepyhead on the event flag displays and the odd central came up very very rarely.

That is odd then, having raised the pressure support from 5 to 6 has made a difference to my O2 saturation levels.
This is the second night where my average was 95% lowest 91% which is better than the 88% that I was getting on pressure support 5.
I wonder why it is making a difference then?

These are my current machine settings:
PAP Mode: ASVAuto
Min EPAP 8.0 Max IPAP 28.0 PS 6.0-14.0 (cmH2O)

Wondering then, if my EPAP min should be higher instead?

TAT.LANTA wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 06, 2021 1:38 am

I have not worked out how to display centrals on Oscar as yet, as it only displays
large leak, obstructive, unclassified apnoea and hypopnoea.

They are on the Events line graph and on the Flow line graph.

Also, go to the left side of the screen and scroll down. Click on the Events tab. Each event will be listed. Click on an event and it will zoom in on the event in the line graphs.

TAT.LANTA wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 06, 2021 1:38 am

However I do not suffer from centrals, but I have not worked out how to display centrals on Oscar as yet, as it only displays
large leak, obstructive, unclassified apnoea and hypopnoea.

It's your machine's way of recording events that ends up without your seeing central apnea flagging.
It's because your machine doesn't separate central apneas from obstructive apneas and instead dumps both categories in the unclassified apnea basket. You won't ever see a central apnea flag from your machine no matter if you use OSCAR or ResScan software....it is just how the machine works. Software only shows what the machine's record.

Hi Pugsy

Thank you for your response.
So the resmed that i am currently using does not highlight centrals, if I had them.
However I think that I am correct in saying that the Philips Respironics that I had, did.
Many thanks for that information, I was not aware of that at all.

TAT.LANTA wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:46 pm

Hi Pugsy

Thank you for your response.
So the resmed that i am currently using does not highlight centrals, if I had them.
However I think that I am correct in saying that the Philips Respironics that I had, did.
Many thanks for that information, I was not aware of that at all.

Yes, the Respironics ASV machine did flag the centrals separately.

I think that supposedly the ResMed ASV will simply respond to any central in nature event that it senses and deal with it so unless the settings are such that the machine can't address any centrals...they get taken care of anyway.

Most UA flagging we see on these ResMed ASV machines....they are going to be obstructive anyway.

TAT.LANTA wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:46 pm

Hi Pugsy

Thank you for your response.
So the resmed that i am currently using does not highlight centrals, if I had them.

So, the Resmed ASV doesn't flag centrals, because it doesn't allow you to *have* centrals, that's it's whole purpose, when your breathing effort starts to drop, it starts increasing the PS immediately, maintaining your tidal volume, so you're being ventilated, ergo, technically you're not having an apnea, even if you would otherwise.