[Diagnosis] [Way to read data from] home sleep study with ApneaLink Air

[Campion]

Okay, I apologize in advance for the long email, but my issue is rather complicated. The tl;dr version is: is there someone who can read data from an ApneaLink Air device and confirm my ideas about my diagnosis, or is there a way to use the SleepyHead software to read it?  

The long version:

A year ago, after my dad suffered an aortic dissection, we discovered that it runs in the family and that pretty much everyone in the family has primary hypertension and suffers a terrible cardiac event in their 60s (dissection, aneurysm, etc) as a result. So, I gave in and went to the doctor and have spent the last year working through the various drugs on the market, all of which are making me miserable. The cardiologist recommended I get a sleep study because he thinks I have sleep apnea: I'm overweight, I'm tired, and all these hypertension drugs are giving me edema in my lower legs and ankles (even the ones that aren't "supposed to"). 

I did a sleep study about 17 years ago because I was always tired - the results were clear that I didn't have apnea at the time. Basically, I think the reason that I'm tired all the time is that I am an inveterate night owl who works a day job. Every single night I take Benadryl to fall asleep, otherwise my natural sleep cycle would have me sleeping from about 3 am to 10 or 11 am. If I sleep on my regular cycle, I wake up refreshed. If I go to bed "early" (that is, taking Benadryl and going to bed around midnight), I will be tired the next morning, no matter if I get 10 hours or 4 hours of sleep. The doctors all have their little paradigms, though, and are convinced I have sleep apnea. So I agreed to do the home test: in the end, it doesn't hurt to have more data.

This weekend I did the test using the ApneaLink Air device - the belt around the chest measuring thoracic respiration and the nasal cannula for nasal resp, plus a finger sensor to measure pulse. I was able to copy all the files from the device before I mailed it back. There are two .edf files for each night: one is just a series of numbers and clearly marks every second I was using the device with all the measurements, the second has the word "events" added to it, and appears, to me, to be an automatic accounting of what the machine considers "events" that were noteworthy. I found a program with which to read the .edf files - you can see the respiration patterns and S02 levels quite clearly. Regarding that "events" file, each night there were only four or five events. I'm assuming (and everyone knows what that means, lol) that the machine recognized only four or five events each night that were out of the ordinary. In looking through the larger file of the whole night, I'm sure not seeing many instances where my nasal respiration appears to stop - I see a pretty steady inhale/exhale. 

So, my final questions are: is there a way to make the sleepyhead software read any kind of more useful data from these files (.edf, .crc) than I can tease out? And second, have any of you done this particular test, and if so, did you look at the files and see many more "events" listed in that "event" file?

Truth be told, I really do not want a diagnosis of sleep apnea. I have a hard enough time falling to sleep at night as it is, and I don't see myself adjusting to a CPAP well, with all its attendant issues on top of all my own separate issues. I wear contacts and don't need the hassle of dry eyes, I sing and don't want to mess with dry mouth and other sinus issues that come along with the machine.

PS - I'm a side sleeper, almost exclusively, if that matters.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

[PaulaO2]

I changed the thread title to better reflect your questions and get the attention of the folks who would know this kind of stuff. - Moderator

[Walla Walla]

You should be able to take screen shots of your sleep study just like sleepyhead data is put on here. Check the links below.

[Campion]

A) Thanks Paula B) Walla Walla - if I can't get the software for the device I used, I'll upload some photos. But since it would be raw data in graphical form, I'm not sure how useful it would be at the timeframe I'd need to do to not have to upload 100s of pictures. : I just noticed I have a PM and I'm hoping I'll get the software downloaded so I can read through it with their analysis.

[Campion]

Okay, unfortunately it looks like the file I need to view in the native viewer didn't download with the rest of the data, so I'm resorting to some screen captures from the edf viewer I was able to download.

This is raw data, and I've pulled some images from each night. A couple from the first night that look normal to me, then several that seem to change in pattern. The entire folder is available in next post. 

I'll post images and the url to the folder in the next post since I need 4 posts to do that.

[Campion]

Album is here:  https://imgur.com/a/Bzg2f
I'm embedding a couple images in the post just so you can get a feel. Basically, the S02 levels stayed pretty consistently from 90-98%, with one dip down to 85% and another couple to 89%, but they were very few and far between. I didn't see a single event where I flat-out had flat nasal respiration for more than a second or two, and even those seemed to be few and far between.

The screenshots are mostly at 5 minutes a page. I can pull images at different time frames, if they would help.

Thanks for your help!

1. 10 minutes a page - fairly standard breathing, it seems to me


2. An event?

3. I don't know.

[trish6hundred]

Hi Campion,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hopefully, someone will be able to help you with your sleep study report.
Good luck to you.

[PaulaO2]

The blip on the first one is just something momentarily came loose or blinked.

#2 is an event.
and #3 is where an alien spoke to you. Duh.

[Campion]

Thanks, Trish6hundred and Paula! Given the weird dreams I have, I would not rule out an alien speaking to me.   And I'm glad that I'm looking for the right thing on the readout.