Should I lower/turn off oximeter alarm to sleep

Hi Folks,
First, I appreciate all the great advice and info from all of the users. I am about a month and a half into therapy and tonight was my third night with a BiPAP due to centrals. First night AHI of 9.23 second night 5.27, mostly centrals. This third night EVERY time I was falling asleep the oximeter alarm went off. It's set to go off at 89% based on what I have read on this forum. Should I lower the alarm setting so I can sleep (No sleep at all per Zeo and my own perception), or should I leave it where it is and hope I eventually can sleep. I have only had the oximeter for the second and third BiPAP nights, a Nonin 7500. The alarm did not go off at all on the second night of BiPAP. I did use a finger oximeter a few times while on CPAP with alarm set at 80. When it went off I saw 76% O2 and 120 pulse...similar to my sleep study extremes. Note I had no centrals during the sleep study, they started on the third or fourth day of CPAP treatment. Thanks in advance for any recommendations. My daytime O2 levels are a healthy 97 - 99 depending on wether sitting or walking.

tmiker wrote:Hi Folks,
Should I lower the alarm setting so I can sleep (No sleep at all per Zeo and my own perception), or should I leave it where it is and hope I eventually can sleep. I have only had the oximeter for the second and third BiPAP nights, a Nonin 7500.

If it is a recording pulse oximeter, I'd turn off the alarm, and let the pulse oximeter record through the night, and review it on my computer in the morning. Also, since you mentioned you already have a PAP machine, I'd let that keep me breathing through the night. If, after a few nights review, also in comparison to reviewing your PAP machine data, you need to tweak the PAP machine, then you would have the data to support that decision.

If it is not a recording pulse oximeter, I would lower the alarm setting somewhat. I'm no doctor, nor expert, but I would not want to be training my body to wake up all night long.

Thanks John
Yes it is a recording unit. Will have the software Wednesday to review the data.

The alarm is for use when you are already awake, as in sports or aviation;
or when a sleeping patent is being monitored.
I am unsure of the value of being woke up every time your O2 dips.

chunkyfrog wrote:I am unsure of the value of being woke up every time your O2 dips.

the value is in keeping from more damage to your organs and killing off more brain cells leading to more bad choices. the alarm is doing its job so you want to turn it off? or lower it so more damage can occur? while you sleep?

my thought is your bipap/cpap therapy is not effectively doing its job if your o2 is going that low. work on improving your therapy instead of lowering or turning off any alarms. your body will thank you.

As long as you are sure the machine is set at the correct pressure for you, I'd turn it off so that you can get some sleep. Check your data in the morning to see how it's going and adjust accordingly.

The alarm going off would not make me happy. You need your sleep.

My goal in setting the alarm was to avoid the physiological stress of low O2. I anticipated it might go off at most a few times during the night and I would be able to go back to sleep with only minimal loss of sleep and minimal fragmentation. The machine pressure does a great job controlling obstructive apneas. My pressures are pretty low. I am not sure it is appropriate for centrals, maybe they can lower it and still block the OSA's. BiPAP is 11 IPAP, 5 EPAP. On CPAP I was only 9 and didn't have much problem with OSA's, just the centrals. I plan to lower the alarm to 85% for now and will check the charts on Wednesday and go from there. If the alarm goes off too much at 85 will discontinue the machine and see sleep doc on Thursday.

I would most definitely turn the recording ON and turn the alarms OFF.

tmiker wrote:The machine pressure does a great job controlling obstructive apneas. My pressures are pretty low. I am not sure it is appropriate for centrals, maybe they can lower it and still block the OSA's. BiPAP is 11 IPAP, 5 EPAP. On CPAP I was only 9 and didn't have much problem with OSA's, just the centrals. I plan to lower the alarm to 85% for now and will check the charts on Wednesday and go from there. If the alarm goes off too much at 85 will discontinue the machine and see sleep doc on Thursday.

if you needed cpap at 9 an epap of 5 will do nothing at all to help you and could be the reason for the desats. turning the o2 monitor off is counter productive. you do need to see your doc before you give yourself a stroke or heart attack.

Sorry, I meant try discontinuing the BiPAP if I continue to see desats until I can see the doc. I will always be recording O2, just trying to figure how best to use alarms. My BiPAP titration came up with 11/5 ... thought it was a bit low on the EPAP side, and they only had a few hours sleep to work with. May try another sleep center. Thanks for all of the help.