RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
Those values seem reasonable (98 seemed high to me), a bit of desaturation during walk is interesting so I googled that and see there is a 6 minute walk test that is commonly done and can indicate things like pulmonary hypertension and COPD. Seems to be some ties between pulmonary hypertension and sleep apnea as well as obesity.
I am guessing if you can keep SPO2 levels above 90 during the night that is good and that 93-95 is probably ideal.
RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
FWIW I've done the 6 minute walk test before and I'd gotten 91 about 6 months ago. That's with my stage 1 COPD.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
07-10-2021, 09:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-10-2021, 09:45 AM by nickjohn.)
RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
I'm going to the pulmonary doctor to look into my high resp.rate. Is it just due to my quick shallow breaths,[can it be treated?] or is it some CO2 gas thing. The oxy level is normal for my BMI. I was doing oxy testing on everyone, when I got the meter, everyone is the same in their age grouping and weight.
I sleep much
better, now.
My oxy is much better when I'm on the couch watching a movie, than when I am laying down on the bed watching a movie. Maybe it's that i'm conditioned by all the struggles to get a good night sleep, to be tense when in bed? A psychological problem not physical one.
If my RR improves, I will just cancel the appointment.
I can see in my OSCARS, my direction is better. Just need to give it time?
Should I take a break from posting, maybe post if AHI goes too high?
RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
Probably a postural thing, sitting vs laying down if I had to guess. Potentially the opposite of your theory (being too relaxed in bed).
You still have the odd time of slowly declining SPO2 levels some times (like last night), you could try slightly higher PS (13.5/8) to see if that helps. PS is the main thing I would adjust slightly to try and fine tune settings now. Goal is to find the setting where you get consistently good sleep and oxygen levels are maintained as much as possible.
The initial comments about respiration rate were from early data when the timing controls, square wave etc were throwing your breathing out of sync and you had 30+ RR. This has improved with the better settings and is consistently around 19 now which is at the high end of normal range. I believe this higher respiration rate is normal due to weight since your body has to work harder to try and supply enough oxygen to all the extra mass it wasn't designed for.
I think it would still be good to see the pulmonologist to get pulmonary function test and discuss the decreased O2 levels during sleep and exercise like walking. I have a feeling he will confirm that it is due to weight but it would be good to rule out any other possibilities. I would take a few of your nightly SPO2 reports and get his thoughts about the target range (if anything over 90% is good and a slight decline over hours is ok or if you should be trying to fine tune settings to maintain 93 average etc). Good to discuss these things because for example if it got worse for some reason then you may need an oxygen bleed to maintain ideal SPO2 levels.
Right now I think we have done close to as much as we can with CPAP, just the little bit of tweaking as necessary to maintain SPO2 and minor changes if your data starts to slide. You don't need to do daily checks anymore and can review data and post as you see fit. You should continue to see improvement now that your O2 levels aren't falling at night and hopefully better sleep will start helping reverse some of the other known issues.
Commitment to weight loss is probably going to be your biggest form of improvement now both in general and sleep breathing. Good luck on the battle and hopefully the improved sleep quality makes it easier. When my health was sliding I kept on putting on weight (got up to a BMI of 30 and I am naturally a thinner guy) and I struggled to lose it/keep it off until I started getting some of other health things (including apnea) figured out.
RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
taken around 2pm today. Both oxygen level and pulse rate does not match.
taken around 3pm today. Second pulseox is borrowed from neighbor.
I will not be using the Contec 50i
for recording sleeping pulseoxy.
RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
Did you happen to measure pulse rate (by hand) to see which one was closer? The data posted so far doesn't seem that inaccurate and has responded as expected with the setting changes made.
RE: What are my unclassified apneas?
no manual pulse measurement. Im looking at a possible reading 3 to 5% lower by the Centec, below 97%. I remember a comment that all pulse ox meters were never designed to be accurate at lower levels. Just to indicate that something is amiss, like a warning light in a car can tell you your oil pressure is low, but not its true pressure.
