Oximetry Pulse Relevance?

[brammaha]

How relevant is the pulse portion of oximetry data? 

I have two overnight oximetry reports I made. The oxygen portion is a svelte 1 or 2 events per hour but the pulse rate portion has 20+ events per hour. 

The reason I think the pulse is relevant is that my polysomnography reports show around 15 to 25 spontaneous arousals per hour and that number matches up too well with the pulse rate events. I think the pulse fluctuations may be related to my excessive daytime sleepiness but none of the doctors I've seen know anything about it.

Some background about me, I have mild sleep apnea, around 7-9 AHI without CPAP. I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy type 1 on November 2017. I finally got my CPAP just two weeks ago and I'm as tired as ever.  I've been averaging about 4 AHI since I got the CPAP so I'm aware I have some more fiddling to do with it. The oximetry reports I did were also before I had the CPAP. 



Oximetry: https://imgur.com/a/MuZg8

Polysomnography 2014: https://imgur.com/a/2TfLr

Polysomnography 2017: https://imgur.com/a/n09sY

CPAP Titration 2017: https://imgur.com/a/0GRoh

[Mosquitobait]

If you are still having events, your pulse generally will go up during those events, so your assumption is probably correct. You likely need to raise your pressure. I suggest .2 every 3-4 days. Slower is better.

[brammaha]

Yeah I know the body's pulse will increase when it has a breathing event. What I was trying to say is that my pulse rate has events way more often than I have breathing events. Maybe a sleep  apnea forum is the wrong place to ask the question, what else could cause pulse rate events?

As for raising pressure to lower events further, I'm not sure what to do. My AHI was 60/hr in my CPAP titration at 10 cmH2O compared to an AHI of 0 at 8 cmH2O.

[Mogy]

I don't know about your original question about the pulse oximeter but you're right about not increasing your pressure to reduce the AHI
The majority of your apnea events during your titration study were centrals when the pressure was increased. This happens in about 15% of people who go on CPAP. In the majority of the 15%, the centrals subside within a couple of months. That is what happened to me. If you are going to adjust pressures, I would suggest going slowly down. Give it time, your AHI will improve.

[Sleep2Snore]

If you suffer from centrals, keep an eye that they do not increase with pressure.
Take it very slow increasing pressure, even just 1 at a time, see if any centrals increase, if they go down after a few days that;s fine.
If they don't seek advice before going further.

What causes your pulse to race during sleep, depends what you are dreaming about.
Even when you prepare to move in your sleep your pulse can rise, but not by huge amounts.