Need Help - Constantly Fatigued

[Tron28]

Thanks SQ & Dormeo for helping me understand the Oscar data. I will give it a few more nights at this pressure setting then readjust to the min and max setting of 7, if I can’t gain control of the sleep disturbances. This is really tough!

[Tron28]

Hello,

I wanted to share some detailed sleep data from the recent use of an o2 Ring, and get feedback from this forum. Based on the app, my "oxygen score" appears to be in a healthy range. However, I was surprised to see the amount of drops with some dropping to nearly 90% o2 level. 18 drops total on the screenshots attached. Is this anything I should be alarmed about in terms of my overall sleep apnea treatment? Could this be preventing me from healing/recovering faster regarding symptoms?

I've seen O2 Ring data of people without sleep apnea and the graph is usually a bit more smooth without all of the drops.

[Apnea23]

Science is way behind on this stuff, as is the general consensus on desaturations.

Your o2 is 100% an issue (could be the only issue causing airway obstruction) - we need to think about what's happening there, and what your system has to do to keep levels up and stable during the day and during sleep.

The autonomic nervous system has to crank up your heart rate and respiratory system endlessly. This effects sleep, appetite, concentration, insulin resistance, blood pressure, heart health over time, the list is absolutely endless.

Specifically with sleep your body trying to manage unstable o2 levels can lead to hypoventilation/hyperventilation cycles (waxing and waning in flow chart) common during REM, fragmented sleep cycles, arousals (mouth breathing) and awake arousals when the chaos is too much and your brain decides you need to be immediately awake to resolve the issue. Usually during REM which is why you feel wide awake and may struggle to get back to sleep.

As is common in medicine, PAP is often only treating one symptom of an underlying root issue.

Yet we get confused and persuaded that we only really have a sleep disorder, and we focus on that thinking if we can fix the sleep, everything else will follow. Unfortunately not for many.

Then we wonder why our health continues to decline despite the sleep being "fixed" on paper.

You are getting close Sir.

Lung function tests along with lung diffusion testing I think would be next - at least an appointment with a respiratory specialist.

Good luck,

P.S. monitor your o2 levels aduring the day also for many, many hours. You may see much worse going on, lending more to the idea this is not primarily a sleep issue.

[Sleeprider]

I don’t see any support for the claims by Apnea23 and suggest you take the advise as a bystander's opinion as you choose.

It would be interesting to see you turn on EPR full-time. I saw where you briefly used it in ramp only mode. Many of the issues raised in this thread might resolve with EPR to improve ventilation and reduce flow limitation and stabilize pressure.

[Dormeo]

Ron 28, there’s no one here whose opinion I respect more than Sleeprider’s.

To elaborate a little about the evidence, you spend the whole night with sats above 90% and all but 12 minutes above 94%.

Apnea23 seems to be saying that neither science nor general consensus would support his opinions. This leaves me quite puzzled as to what he bases them on.

Might you want to try Sleeprider’s suggestion about EPR?

[Psychotech]

The only way to know your true o2 and co2 levels in your blood is to do ABG test these test as per my knowledge can only be done at a hospital under doctor supervisions