O2 levels and SA

Hello All,

I'm new here and a month ago I was diagnosed with Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea. During my overnight sleep test I stopped breathing 40 times per hour and my blood oxygen level dropped as low as 61%. I've been given a CPAP machine and I opted for the mask that covers the nose only. It's been very hard getting used to sleeping with the mask on. On two occasions, I've awakened in the morning to find that I took the mask off during the night, with no recollection of taking it off.

One thing that the sleep technician told me was that my worst readings occurred while I was sleeping on my back. So, I started thinking that if I could sleep on my side and stay off of my back, maybe I wouldn't need my CPAP machine. I purchased the CMS-50E OLED Fingertip Pulse Oximeter and I set it to alarm if my blood oxygen dropped below 80. So far, it has alarmed a few times and I've awakened to find that I'm indeed on my back when it alarmed. When it does alarm, I roll onto my side and breath deep and my oxygen level comes back up. Also, you can set it to record your night's sleep and dload it to the included software to see how your oxygen levels and pulse are doing during the night.

So, what am I accomplishing here? Is this an acceptable way to deal with my low oxygen level caused by the OSA while I sleep or must I wear the CPAP mask at all times while sleeping?

texasvet

Get a copy of your sleep study that specifically addresses how many events you had when sleeping on your back AND your side.
It's quite common for a person to have more events when sleeping on their back but it is uncommon for the events to happen ONLY when sleeping on their back.
There are a few people who have a really strong positional factor to their OSA but most people still will have enough events when they are sleeping on their side to warrant the use of a cpap machine.

If you want to test the Oxygen levels when on your side....you would have to make sure that you were totally prevented from sleeping on your back and use the pulse ox only and then review the software reports and you would need to set the alarm for 88% (maybe even 90%) because 80 % is too low. 88% desat is enough to qualify for added O2 if it is prolonged.
Also remember that there is more to OSA than just drops in oxygen levels. There's the fact that with the apnea events the body is put under stress even if the oxygen levels don't drop all that much and with the apnea events there are also a lot of arousals from sleep (you may or may not remember them) and thus your sleep quality is down in the toilet no matter what the O2 level is in the bloodstream.

So you need to find out if you had any obstructive apnea events when side sleeping....that information is usually on the sleep study report...not just the summary diagnosis report.
They break down how many minutes are slept in each position and give you and AHI for each position.
It's most likely that while you may have more events when supine sleeping when compared to side sleeping...it's doubtful that you had zero to 5 per hour events when side sleeping.

I know what you are wishing you can do...stay off your back and not have to use the mask and machine...don't blame you but the odds are against you. Talk to your doctor and get the copy of the sleep study that shows positions.