Added an O2/Pulse meter to my therapy:

[BigWing]

It was a very bad night, but not my worst.

Wow - isn't that "get straight to ER" bad?!

[UnicornRider]

Here you go - I guess an arousal caused it? It's interesting that you picked on the 3.30am drop to only 92%, rather than the bigger drops later - why?

   The O2 drop @ ~ 0400 I figured was due to the Loo break, the O2 drop @~0630 I figured might be in that "Sleep Wake Junk" (SWJ) we experience prior to waking.
I knew that the 0330  SpO2 drop was in what appeared to be a window in your leak rate, I thought you might find something hiding in the leak that should have been flagged. How long was that event?

   You said  " Wow - isn't that "get straight to ER" bad?!"

  Yep, I ran into one of those old timers that believed only below 88% SpO2 was cause for concern, I did not have enough below 88% to cause concern. I ordered a Fit Life Total FFM, to allow my face time to heal. If you look at my mask choices, most people at my pressure do not use FFM, much less the Fit Life Total. But with a couple of silicone ear plugs rolled into gummy worms, I was able to caulk it across the forehead and make it work. 

    I have since been in contact with medical that use 90% SpO2 as the critical point, then again it is a time weighted measure.

   I also look at the SpO2 graphs to gauge sleep performance, but after I started getting several 0.00 AHI reports, I started chasing PC & SD events adjusting pressure by 0.2 cmH2O to minimize those Events. I had some luck improving sleep quality beyond AHI measurement alone. I started watching how my body reacted, my need for naps decreased, I was physically busier throughout the day.

  Let me know how you do chasing events with 0.00 AHI, with allergy season upon us this will be interesting.

[TechieHippie]

Just a couple quick thoughts. Anytime you see large leaks or pressure is too low My understanding is thatyou can't trust that there weren't events. The machine isn't able to judge them so you won't have events necessarily but if you are having oxygen drops during those times they might be indicate an issue.

You can change the alarm on the device according to when you want it to alert you, or turn it off entirely. When sleeping, too high of an alert will disrupt my sleep. Too low of an alert sometimes means that I will already be too deep for the alert to wake me up. Not having issues now that I'm on a BiPAP but I did.

Unicorn Rider, I don't understand why your family members wouldn't qualify , why not just turn off the alarms? Or are you talking about during the day? The problem with using the alarm to wake yourself up and keep you over 90% is that it seriously disrupts REM sleep as I realized after about a year of doing this. I now look at the alarm as more of monitoring than treatment at least at night. The problem I have during the day, maybe this is better with the checkme, I have the sleepU, is that during the day I get dashes most of the time if I'm moving around.

Lisa

[Phaleronic]

I have lots to look through here everyone, thank you very much for the insights and advise, I did not know I needed to sync the data (I thought it would do so automatically) so I have some work to do

[UnicornRider]

Phaleronic

   Post back and let us know if you have any success with the time sync.

Lisa
   You are correct about large leaks blinding the sensors to events that should have been flagged. That is why I chose the time slot for a zoomed view, I thought I might find exactly what you described. I did, depending on how you measure the time of the event perhaps it should have been flagged.

   Between *PAP machines and O2 Condenser we had everyone covered for sleep. Once we figured it hit all of us we ordered more Wellue Checkme O2 Max devices. We were given the choice to turn off the alarms and bring in O2 Insight Pro reports that met Medicare/insurance requirements for supplemental O2, or we could use the alarms on the Checkme O2 Max to remind us to breath. The medical staff had seen other people in the community that had the same symptoms, some of us are able to recover the drive to breathe after a few months. My Mom had to go on supplemental O2. We know many people on supplemental O2, they all say if you can recover without the O2, you are better off. Most people who start supplemental O2 stay on it.

When you say:  "The problem I have during the day, maybe this is better with the checkme, I have the sleepU, is that during the day I get dashes most of the time if I'm moving around."

Do you mean the graph is interrupted with area of time blank, then the graph picking up again?

I had seen some of that, but we learned to wear a fingerless glove over the sensor ring. It holds the sensor tight against the finger, shields the sensor from ambient light,, it protects the USB cable from getting snagged, in winter time we wear a wool fingerless convertible mitten to help keep the fingers warm so we have good blood flow.

 It is possible for an intermittent open wire in the USB cable to cause the same symptoms, but sensor failures are usually flagged as "Error 4" on the display.
 E-mail wellue, include a copy of your invoice. describe the symptoms, they may have something for you. I have had really good response from them with issues I have had.

[BigWing]

When you say:  "The problem I have during the day, maybe this is better with the checkme, I have the sleepU, is that during the day I get dashes most of the time if I'm moving around."

Do you mean the graph is interrupted with area of time blank, then the graph picking up again?

I get exactly the same with my Wellue SleepU, and was disappointed when I first saw the gaps in the O2 and Pulse graphs (though not the Movement one) - assuming it to be faulty. Sadly, the adverts for the device do indeed say it is only for use during sleep - not during the day. Here's an example of how it looks, from my trip to the loo last night.

   

[UnicornRider]

I found fingerless bicycle gloves on sale at wallyworld, picked up about 5 or six pairs, they work out good for us.

[TechieHippie]

That makes sense, Deborah. Thanks for the explanation.

Yes, those are the dashes I mean, when it has a gap and won't record it might ACT a little differently on the cheaper devices, I've not used the Checkme. Fingerless gloves is brilliant. I'm past needing continuous wear during the day but I think your points about ambient light, movement etc are what was interfering, I don't think the device is malfunctioning necessarily. I suspect also that it happens when oxygen is volatile so it isn't convinced it can trust the readings. That happened with my dad a lot. He ended up on high flow oxygen after moving to altitude. (He passed in 22 in his bed peacefully from long term congestive heart failure).

That's smart about the oxygen and I agree supplemental O2 is better to avoid when possible and using the alarm during the day is smart, I just misunderstood. Sounds like you have a good care team!

BigWing, they used to call it an exercise device and say the opposite. I have found it to be very reliable when it is showing a reading. I think probably the checkme is better at during the day than our Sleep U devices because of the more frequent interval. That's good for me to remember when suggesting these devices.

Lisa

[Phaleronic]

Hey all, I'm having issues being able to get into deep sleep while wearing my wearpulse checkme O2 setup, it has the cord to sensor on the index finger and I just can't get completely to sleep with it, I had 3 hours last night before I had to take it off, any ideas? thanks!

[TechieHippie]

It may just take time. Try your pinkie or thumb, maybe sideways if it's more comfortable. Loosen the wrist band and see if that helps, I wear mine higher than my wrist. Lastly I run the cord inside my palm instead of over the top of my hand.

I also put electrical tape over the display. Lastly, do you have any alerts, ie orange triangles in the app? That's often what can start a wake up. If so you can lower or turn off the alarm

Lisa