New to the World of Apnea

[High Purity]

   
   
   
Hello All,

As the subject suggests, this is all new to me.  I have known that I had periodic sleep problems for many years, but they seemed to come and go and didn't seem to be a big deal.  I recently had an accident that required me to use a pain reliever that is known to suppress the CNS, and that is where I hit the jackpot.  I woke up gasping on several occasions and checked my O2 Sat and found it to be in the mid 70's.  I also have Asthma, and that is why I monitor my O2 levels during the day time.  Anyway, I stopped the pain meds and continued to monitor my sleep O2 and heart rate.  Two weeks out form the pain meds, and not much has changed.  I live in a remote area, and there simply are no sleep study labs, or credible pulmonary doctors within hundreds of miles.  So, it looks like I'm going to be winging it for a while.  I have done a lot of research, and I have come to some conclusions about my condition.  I found this forum today and decided to post some of my night time O2 and pulse data, and hopefully get some input from folks on this forum.

Your comments and observations would be very much appreciated !

The first image from the bottom (30.jpg) is my first record.  I started on 1.5L, O2 @ 3:30 a.m.  As you can see, the O2 levels came up quite a bit, but the problem persisted, just at a higher saturation level.  The next image from the bottom, (40.jpg) is the results with me using 1.5L, O2 for the entire night.  The third image from the bottom (50.jpg) is a study done without any O2 supplimentation.
Please advise, Thx

[DeepBreathing]

G'day High Purity. Welcome to Apnea Board.

The first thing to do is to confirm that you do in fact have sleep apnea, and what type it might be. The fact that you also have severe asthma complicates the issue and makes it important that you have a sleep test to find out exactly what's going on. If you're unable to get to a sleep centre or hospital then a home sleep test may be the best way to go. In many cases the provider will send you a kit containing the required sensors and electronics which you can use for one or more nights in the comfort of your own bed. Send it back, they'll analyse the data and give you a prescription. Check out Supplier #30 and others in our suppliers list.

[High Purity]

Hello Deep Breathing,
Thank you for your reply.  I checked with #30, and it appears that they require a prescription for a home sleep study, so that takes me back to square one.  My asthma does not play much of a role, if any, in this.  My daytime O2 Sat is consistantly in the 95%-98% range without O2 supplimentation.  The problems I am having are only occurring at night, and are evidenced by the periodic drops in O2 Sat and increased heart rate.  These drops coincide with what my wife reports as stopping breathing, and making gasping/gagging sounds.  Given my situation, I am hoping thst somebody on this forum can possibly make some generalizations based on the images I posted.  Any help would be very much appreciated.

[DeepBreathing]

These drops coincide with what my wife reports as stopping breathing, and making gasping/gagging sounds.

OK, that's usually a pretty positive indication. I just re-checked Supplier #30 site under Customer Support | Home Sleep Testing Services and it appears you have two options - one if you have your own GP you see regularly and one where you don't. In the first case your GP provides a prescription for the test. In the second case second case the supplier arranges two remote consultations (presumably including the prescription) as part of the package. You should give them a call and see if my interpretation is correct, which would then solve your problem.

I'm sure there are other suppliers providing a similar service, it's just that #30 is one that I know of that provides the complete package.

[High Purity]

Started treatment with the Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset / Resmed AirFit F20 on 4/16.  The first night, Resscan showed a sprinkling of events; 9 Obstructive, and 6 Centrals.  Interestingly Sleepyhead missed the centrals and only reported the Obstructives.  Pressure went to a max of 9, cmH2O during the night.  The O2 Sat report showed a HUGE improvement compared to the images I posted previously.  The big drops in O2 Sat were completely gone, but the overall saturation level remained low, around 90.

Last night I added 1 L of supplemental O2, and it made another huge difference;  ResScan showed the events dropped to only 3 obstructives for the entire night, with no centrals reported.  The O2 Sat report looked very good, with the average O2 Sat hanging at 92.  The erratic heart rate activity was much improved with the O2 supplementation and started smoothing out for short periods during the night.

The results I'm seeing with the A 10 are very impressive!  I would like to see the O2 Sat levels steady at around the 95-97 mark, so I will up the O2 sup to 1.5 L tonight.  We'll see...

[Sleeprider]

Sounds like you have found a good solution. Feel free to post some charts and we will try to help you identify any adjustments that may improve results. It sounds like you have done well up to this point and are moving forward regardless of prescriptions.

[High Purity]

I appreciate your help, Sleeprider.  Unfortunately I have already been through the wringer with doctors, so I do tend to figure things out for myself nowdays.  In my experience, I couldn't do much worse than a doctor would, Lol.   I am hoping to get a good O2 report tonight, as that seems to be a big part of this thing.  I will post charts and results tomorrow for your review.  Thanks again

[Sleeprider]

I have the good fortune of being able to relate my needs to my doctor, and he just goes along with it. In general, I'm afraid your experience is too common with doctors, and the sleep specialists seem especially recalcitrant.

[High Purity]

   

   

[Sleeprider]

I can't even begin to tell you how much better #Sleepyhead / OSCAR software would be to help make sense of this. Mostly these Resscan results suggest you need to control leaks.