Sleep study

I was at my dr's today and got my study back

durning the diagnostic part of the study the patient slept only in the lateral position and no REM sleep but despite this demonstrated clear evidence of very severe obstructive sleep apnea (AHI 79, RDI 79, nadir of SpO2 78%) on that basis CPAP was introduced durning the night and titrated from initial setting of 5 cmh2o to a maximum pressure of 11 cmh2o to over come upper airway obstruction in supine sleep.

it them goes on to say total # of events pre was 254 and post was 76 and
apnea/hypopnea index 78.8 pre and 16.7 post
resp disturbance index 79.1 pre 16.9 post
REM respiratory index 0.0 pre and 17.5 post

does anyone know what all this means?

all my family dr told me was it was very bad, and its good that i'm being treated on CPAP

Hello Stan, it means you are going to feel alot better being on Cpap.

slideshowstan wrote:I was at my dr's today and got my study back

durning the diagnostic part of the study the patient slept only in the lateral position and no REM sleep but despite this demonstrated clear evidence of very severe obstructive sleep apnea (AHI 79, RDI 79, nadir of SpO2 78%) on that basis CPAP was introduced durning the night and titrated from initial setting of 5 cmh2o to a maximum pressure of 11 cmh2o to over come upper airway obstruction in supine sleep.

it them goes on to say total # of events pre was 254 and post was 76 and
apnea/hypopnea index 78.8 pre and 16.7 post
resp disturbance index 79.1 pre 16.9 post
REM respiratory index 0.0 pre and 17.5 post

does anyone know what all this means?

all my family dr told me was it was very bad, and its good that i'm being treated on CPAP

Because your oxygen level dropped to below 80% they halted the study and put you right on a cpap. if you had not dropped below 80% they would have called you up, discussed the results, and titrated you during a second overnight study. Your AHI (apnea hypopnea index) was 'severe' - over 9i think) 50 is severe. I was at 75. It means 75 times an hour, your breathing stopped (below 20% flow) long enough to trigger a response in your brain that they can see on your EEG. Once they hooked you up to the cpap, your incidents went way down, as they should. CPAp works.

Not to freak you out or anything, but a SpO2 as low as yours could only come from a breathing event for more than a minute. You stop breathing for a while. A SpO2 that low, they admit you to the hospital and put you on O2.

Congrats on getting seen and treated. Please do yourself and your family a favor and don't think of the cpap machine as a burden or a punishment, but as life support. Read all you can here, find a person at your supplier you can talk to, find a mask that fits, wear it when you sleep. You will be saving your life.

Again, congrats, you did a great thing.

I really wish they had just started me on CPAP the night I went for my sleep study.. my oxygen dropped to 75% with a 56 second pause in breathing. Instead, they had me wait 2 months for the results and booked a 2nd sleep study 2 months from now. I have a feeling that they only get paid by the government by the sleep study..

ChrisC wrote:I really wish they had just started me on CPAP the night I went for my sleep study.. my oxygen dropped to 75% with a 56 second pause in breathing. Instead, they had me wait 2 months for the results and booked a 2nd sleep study 2 months from now. I have a feeling that they only get paid by the government by the sleep study..

They told me beforehand that if mine dropped to below 80% they would be doing a combined study/titration. I think you are right, they wanted your money.