Oxygen Level Dropping During REM to low 80's

I was able to start tracking my Oxygen levels using a new Samsung watch and it's showing my Oxygen level is dropping to 82%-84% typically twice a night during longer stages of REM. I'm scheduling an appointment with Dr and have adjusted pressure levels higher and narrower on my Cpap, but wondering if anyone has any suggestions based on my data? My sleep numbers aren't horrible as I've never been able to get events to the low levels others on this forum have, but I obviously need my oxygen to stay higher assuming the watch is close to being correct. I've attached a link to my numbers from last night. https://www.screencast.com/t/OPMEDte5pbpP

Are you doing anything about the high leak rate?

I'm trying to figure out what's happening with the leaking. I've tried different masks and I feel the current one is really snug. In fact, I think this it is probably the best fit I've ever had while using a Cpap. I get a green mark every morning on mask seal, but I realize that's not the entire story. I'm going to record audio of myself tonight to see if I can detect what's happening.

Have you had any (other) cardiac or pulmonary related testing lately? Any particular diff. in AHI or ? with changing pressures, etc?

1. Click on the Events tab and see if there are any long events. If there are, see if they match up with your desats.

2. Check if the desats match up with any of the large leaks.

I don't know anything about the Samsung and how it measures and whether it's validated, but I have an Apple Watch and I found that the blood oxygen levels are not all that reliable.

I don't know how the Samsung measures blood oxygen. When the AW does it, it takes 15 seconds and it's only about every 30 minutes to one hour that it takes a reading during sleep. When I take deliberate readings during the day, the reading often fails for one reason or another (wrist position, movement, tightness), so I don't see how it claims to have those readings at night.

So I bought a recording pulse oximeter, and the AW readings did not correlate. Some people swear by their AW readings, but when I probe they admit it can be 1 -2% off when they compare to a pulse oximeter. That doesn't sound like much, but consider that the "normal" range for blood oxygen is between 94 and 100 percent, and a difference of 1-2% in the reading is actually a much bigger percentage on the scale of normal. I suggest when you see your doctor you ask to get a reading on the doctor's pulse oximeter to compare to your Samsung Watch at the same time.

Certainly if you are having a lot of leaks, they need to be addressed. Leaks are usually not a matter of CPAP settings so much as the adjustment of the mask. Have you used the mask fit feature of your machine to make sure that the mask holds when your pressures go higher during REM?

jeffreytt wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:31 pm

I was able to start tracking my Oxygen levels using a new Samsung watch and it's showing my Oxygen level is dropping to 82%-84% typically twice a night during longer stages of REM. I'm scheduling an appointment with Dr and have adjusted pressure levels higher and narrower on my Cpap, but wondering if anyone has any suggestions based on my data? My sleep numbers aren't horrible as I've never been able to get events to the low levels others on this forum have, but I obviously need my oxygen to stay higher assuming the watch is close to being correct. I've attached a link to my numbers from last night. https://www.screencast.com/t/OPMEDte5pbpP

I had the same problem you have now. my numbers dropped down to the low 80s. I woke up every 2 hours. I felt like crap all day. what I did. I purchase the lookee 02 ring. checked my oxygen during my sleep. when I got up. download my data to my iPad with the software that works with my 02 ring. my numbers dropped down to the lower 80s. I told my doctor about this. he sent me in for a blood test to check my Hemoglobin and Hematocrit. my blood oxygen was not normal. He sent me to see an oxygen doctor, he gave me another test. that test was on the boarder line. we talked it over. oxygen will help me but I have one problem. I'm not bad enough to get medicare to approve this problem for sleep apnea. I'm not going to play politics with the government. wright me out a prescription for an oxygen concentrator. I will pay out of my pocket. money well spent. I feel like a new man. my blood oxygen now is normal. my numbers now average 95 and hang around 90. I get night I will have one drop down to 88, but never drop down to 80. home concentrator are cheap. you can buy a good one for 900 dollars and if you need a portable one they cost more. for what I have paid out of my pocket for two concentrators cost 3 thousand. money well spend. get a blood test now.

First, thanks to everyone that responded. I really appreciate the detailed feedback. I've attached last nights info and my AHI was down to 1.83 and my oxygen only dropped to 87%. (according to watch) We had storms/tornado watch's so my sleep was interrupted.
https://www.screencast.com/t/L5IBRY0aQC

@Julie No other pulmonary testing. Increasing the top pressure from 13.0 to 14.6 has helped.

@ChicagoGranny I will continue to look at your suggestions. It's hard to look at the Samsung information to know the exact times on the chart, but it appears last night first oxygen drop was around 12:45, followed by 3:00 a.m. and the longest drop started at 5:45 a.m. At first glance it appears the leak was worse at 5:45-6:00.

@Janknitz I have an Oura ring arriving today and I ordered a recording pulse oximeter to make sure my statistics going forward are accurate and I can compare and see the differences. I'm not sure how often Samsung checks readings. My mask fitting/seal using the test feature is always good so what I did last night was move the hose from hanging over the headboard to wrapped up behind my pillow. I put a towel down between edge of mattress and headboard so the hose wouldn't drop in case the weight of the hose/shifting was the problem. Based on the numbers it certainly seemed to help so we're going in the right direction.

@Ray4852 So glad to hear you are doing better and you figured out a solution. The crazy thing for me is I just did yearly bloodwork last week and my Hemoglobin is 14.8 and Hematocrit is 43.2 which are both in the middle of normal and consistent with my historical results. I'm hoping if I can get my results to 90-95% I'll feel like a new man as well! Once I get verifiable results from Oura and from recording pulse oximeter, if I'm still below 90, I'll ask my doctor for an oxygen concentrator prescription. Thanks so much for sharing your story and I'm thrilled you were able to fix the issue even if you had to pay out of pocket!

Hemoglobin reference range 13.2 to 17.1. my last test. 16.4
Hematocrit reference range 38.5 to 50 percent. last test 48.8

my events I average .5 to 1. if I don't use oxygen. my events go up to 2 to 3

last month I had covid. I went off c-pap for two nights. my events went up to 3.

I also went off oxygen. My levels dropped to 80 with many drops in the middle 80.

don't get covid. this stuff is terrible for c-pap user.

we want our oxygen to stay up in the 90s for most of the night. its normal to have a few that go below 90. if we get a lot of them that drop below 90, it can be very serious if we don't treat it. it can cause a heart attack and a stroke. your numbers are a lot better than mine. I think you are doing very well too. you are smart to keep an eye on your oxygen levels. keep doing it. watch your diet. salt products will raise your events along with alcohol. keep getting your blood test. I get one every 2 months. what I see of you. you don't need oxygen.