Intro / O2 Drops after PE; puzzling through Oscar/SP02 data

[SarcasticDave94]

It's likely a very hard sale as medically necessary on the ResMed oximeter at about $1,000 when whatever the basic oximeter will do according to insurance. As for Dr. Quacky Duck, try to find out via insurance call to customer service to see who's in-network nearby. Note 3 or so and call these offices to see if they meet your needs. Get a referral to the one you like best and distance yourself from
Dr. Q. Duck.

[Desiree]

There are only 2 in-network within an hour drive if I want to drive 2-3h in non-pandemic traffic a lot more options open up.  But then I also get stuck with a sleep lab that is 2-3h from my home, and while I don't necessarily mind driving 2h for a doctor I would loathe driving 2h after a cruddy sleep study =(  (those are the worse drives, ugh).

Anyways.. on better news.... The cervical collar came in, and I was able to snag an oximeter compatible with OSCAR off of eBay.  After a thorough disinfection cycle new charts to share...

Pain has been way up the last couple of nights for me, though I was in bed.. I didn't fall asleep until nearly 2AM charts zoomed slightly to that level.
Back on the F20 mask, leaks way down.
O2 drops to 85% on 5L o2 & bipap that seem align with OAs/ apena events... but I get O2 drops during the day as well ::ponder::.
OAs seem unaffected by the cervical collar... I would have thought the collar would have helped?
Wow.. the snore rate with the collar, what the heck?

[Desiree]

Hrm met with Pulmonologist yesterday on a telemedicine call and sadly didn't make any headway.  He was dismissive of COPD when I brought up the inhale vs expiration timing other points.  I asked about recent "awake" apnea events and he was also dismissive of those saying I must be mistaken of those as well insisting I must have dozed off or my machine is misreporting the apnea event.  Speaking of which - is it the bi-pap machine that flags/classifies the event or OSCAR?  Thinking it's the machine itself?

He was originally dismissive of my reported O2 drops while sleeping until I showed him the CMSF50 integrated OSCAR reports, which he thought were magical things that only could be done by sleep labs.

With all of my doctors seemingly challenging the validity of what I am saying/symptoms.,  I actually set up a video camera and taped myself... I am awake / flinch/guard/hold the breath at the same times the bipap machine is reporting the zero flow rates of breaths.  The pattern is pretty clear.. normal breaths, twinge of pain, stabby pain, breath hold/pain spike/tentative breaths etc until the pain passes then back to normal breathing pattern.  While more difficult to see with the night vision camera some of the clustered events appear to be the exact same thing (while the single events are not).

Yes, I know I do have legitimate sleep apnea that was present before the PE.. but honestly wondering how much my "apneas" are pain hits?  The pain slowly has been getting worse over the last couple of weeks, possibly aligning with the switch to bi-pap machine.  If the apneas are pain-related and not OA related at all, is bi-pap possibly doing me more harm than good (the over-inflation feeling/soreness)?

I have a thoroughly incompetent sleep doctor and my pulmonologist doesn't seem to believe in awake apenas.. is there a different type of specialist/doctor that would deal with whole not breathing while awake thing?