oxygen saturation & Bi-Pap

Well I was having a vacation on the local Cardiac Floor, for AFIB &Congestive Heart Failure and last but not least Cellulitis in my left leg. They put me on oxygen to help support the heart. Any way I came out of the hospital and then 5 days later I was back. I have been home for a couple of days now. They check my oxygen saturation. does any one have experience with a good oximeter?

What a darling mug on that pup in your avatar!

A lot of us here have one of the recording CMS-50 models by ConTec. They come w/their own software. I'm still chugging along w/the old CMS-50D+ (note, the +, the CMS-50D w/o the + was "not" a recording model) but there are much newer models by this company now and I'm sure we will have members who have them jumping in soon to advise you about their model.

Yeah, I've got one of the cms50's too. I actually bought it on ebay from Hong Kong for about $40 a year ago, and saw today the same guy is selling them still. Its worked great until just the last couple days - the pulse portion isn't recording correctly, but maybe that's due to my increased heart rate issue - see my recent post - it's still spot displaying my pulse ok. The SPO2 software that comes with it prints out some nice reports, or you can import the oximetry data into sleepyhead. You can also export the data to a .cvs file to load into Excel, if you are feeling particularly geeky.

If you really want to do overnight recording, you might want to look at the wrist ones - the CMS50's are kind of bulky fingertip only units, and to keep it on my finger overnight I have to tape it on with firstaid tape.

Hey, Indy - and those who have the fingertip style CMS-50s: no problem keeping the sensor on your finger overnight if you just put a clean sock on your hand like a mitten.

I have one of the ResMed kits. I bought it as "I was forced to buy this and your are the only one to ever ask about it" sale. Iist price is about the same as the cpap unit or more.
Its main advanage is that it appears that some of the stuff I got was a parts of a SpO2 sensor that you tape to your finger. I'm guessing this is so it doesn't go away at night and it doesn't restrict blood flow too much.
It also records the data so it can be downloaded in theory.

There are cheap SpO2 sensors that just clip on and you can see the display and if you start them at the same time as the cpap, things like sleepyhead will show you both data streams at the same time.

Hi Slinky. I originally tried wearing a thin cotton glove over it - the type you use for handling photo negatives (back when we had photo negatives). But I found 2 pieces of tape just work better for me. I noticed last night there was a review thread about this oximeter, and other people were complaining about losing data, or not getting readings. I cleaned the sensor windows with a swab and alcohol this morning, and my spot pulse readings are showing less error, but it stil isnt showing up in the recording, while o2 is still just fine. Maybe I'll try emailing China where they are all made, and ask what the deal is?

I see you are in Mid-MI. I am originally from Bay City area - relocated to Indianapolis area 15 years ago for a job. Still miss "home".

Ahhhh, IndyDave! I was born in Bay City!!! Out at Lagoon Beach. Great little town! I don't live there now and haven't for years but I'm not all that far away either. I'm closer to Saginaw now. *sigh*

An SpO2 detector works by shining red light and Inferred light through your finger and detecting how weak they are on the other side. The LEDs that make the light and the photo detectors can take some heavy chemicals so don't be afraid to wipe them with harsh chemicals. Just don't use gritty sink cleaning stuff or stuff that will melt the other plastic.

-tim wrote:An SpO2 detector works by shining red light and Inferred light through your finger and detecting how weak they are on the other side. The LEDs that make the light and the photo detectors can take some heavy chemicals so don't be afraid to wipe them with harsh chemicals. Just don't use gritty sink cleaning stuff or stuff that will melt the other plastic.

Agreed. But to make it simple, if you have some of those CPAP mask wipes then you have a perfect pulse oximeter wipe as well. .. If you feel the need to wipe it off. I never have .. but then, I'm lax on the xPAP cleaning side as well, since I just use distilled water. No food for germs = no growth of germs. Usually. As I've noted elsewhere, over the past 23 year years, I've had a handful of times when I could smell something was off .. so I very thoroughly cleaned my water tank, hose and mask. In fact, I've cleaned it more often when it did NOT need it than when it needed it. And if anything my lungs are healthier now than they were 23 years ago. I used to get bronchitis two or three times per year. Now I get it once every five years or so.

The nurse at my Doc's office say they clean their PO's with the alcohol patches they use to sterilize skin before an injection. I have a bunch of lint free swabs so I just dip those in acohol to clean the sensors.

Slinky - other end of town for me - Essexville area originally!