O2 saturation

[Larrypac]

73 YO male here.  In good general health and I exercise daily. I've been using an Airsense 11 for about 14 months now, averaging 6 hours of use, with another hour of sleep without the machine, with little to no improvement of afternoon sleepiness.  AHI averages about 2, half of which are clear airway events.  To clarify, I've never just fallen asleep in the daytime ( Epworth sleepiness scale was zero), but I take 1 or 2,  13 minute naps in the afternoon.  I used to wake up (from naps) feeling more awake but no longer get much relief.  Longer naps make me more dozy for the rest of the day, so I avoid them.  2 months ago I got a Fitbit watch to see what my O2 saturation was and it seems to average 93-94.  I did have 2 nights at 97 which happened to be nights that I decided to not use the CPAP.  I realize that a Fitbit watch is  not a medical grade device, but hope that at least it is consistent to itself.  That said, other nights that I have ditched the machine, my results were not as high as 97, more like 95.  The clinic where I was diagnosed closed and I'm waiting for a new one to take its place, there are not a lot of options in rural Maine.  Would appreciate any comments.  LP

[jeffpack1957]

I use and recommend to patients, the Wellue Ring, or Checkme Oxy Max. Both are very accurate, But assuming your numbers are not grossly off, not on supplemental O2, anything 95+ is fine, does the fitbit give you anything on drops below 90%?

[Larrypac]

Last night was 91% which was the only time I've been under 92%.  Not looking to spend $150 on a Welue ring right now. I am ordering a fingertip model so i can check periodically, especially when i wake up during the night.  I assume that when i get an appointment with a sleep doc, they might prescribe a wearable recording device.  BTW, any time I've been checked at the doctors office I'm usually at 98%-99%.  The low readings are during sleep.

[StratCat48]

One of the really neat things if using OSCAR to look at your CPAP data is the ability to import O2 and pulse rate data from select wearable oximeter devices such as the Wellue O2Ring. I wear an O2Ring nightly and this morning I got up to make trip to the bathroom at which time I stopped the CPAP machine and removed the mask. I had intentions staying up, but went back to the bedroom, hit bed and snoozed for about another 1/2 hour... sans CPAP. It was pretty evident on the Wellue graphs while having coffee this morning, so I imported the O2Ring data into OSCAR to see how it looked with the CPAP data. Along with the O2 drops without the CPAP, you can notice other occurrences that correspond between what the CPAP recorded and the O2Ring. The O2Ring data is highlighted with the green box. Also notable is the drop in O2 just around 12:20am that preceded a bathroom trip. I also have a Fitbit that can measure O2. I've not compared it to the O2Ring, but to a regular clip-on style oximeter and they were close.

[mesenteria]

Many of the most recent smart phones, if you have one, have a sensor near the rear camera lens that you can place a forefinger on and get a reasonably accurate SPO2 reading.  My Samsung Galaxy 4 watch records my nightly low and average SPO2.  It gets displayed for me on the health app to which it is linked on the same smart phone when I check the night's sleep record each morning.

[jeffpack1957]

Larry, Once you've woken up, the hypopnea event is over and you are breathing.  Its like looking checking for traffic after you've already made the return.  Too late, its already done.

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. I also have a Fitbit that can measure O2. I've not compared it to the O2Ring, but to a regular clip-on style oximeter and they were close.

The Wellue systems reacts far far faster.  Even faster than the Masimo medical grade ones we use.  Thats why for tracking hypopneas, they are so good, and 
I suggest them to all my respiratory rehab patients.  I'm on supplemental O2, and wear the Checkme, as I need 24x7 monitoring and alerts