Results from the Sleep Study

[sleephd]

           

got my sleep study results. Would really appreciate some assessment from the experts on here. I am 5.6 and 162 lbs, age 38.

I went to the ENT and the only thing she said was may be a nasal inferior turbinate reduction and latera implant. I am not looking to get a surgery done but the cause of the diagnosis is still not clear. The ENT did not find any other issues with throat etc.

Also how valid does the sleep study result look? cause I have not been able to sleep much for the past 3 weeks, on the night of the test as well I woke up quite a few times. Not sure if I should ask for another test or do a in clinic test to get a clear diagnosis

My biggest issue is my heart beat continues to be low throughout the day and night and I constantly feel dizzy.. (daytime below 60 and nightime below 50 dropping below 40 at times). my SPO2 largely stays ok.. 90-97 range with blips of below 90 in sleep (less than few seconds). My head stays heavy probably because of the lack of sleep but I wonder if my brain is getting enough oxygen. However the spo2 seems to indicate that the oxygen levels are ok, so unable to explain the slow heart and heavy head.

I have visited couple of cardiologists and wearing a monitor for a week that can help them catch anything fishy. got all heart tests done and the docs are saying besides a low heart rate they are not able to locate any other issue with the heart

Visiting my pulmonologist next week and potentially get a CPAP. Highly appreciate any inputs or direction(s) that I should take to get to a clear diagnosis and eventually a good nights sleep with a rested heart

[SarcasticDave94]

It appears valid, you would want to request the "ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet" specifically this whole name. The only alternate I'd suggest is the "ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet For Her. Whichever of these 2 you can get, will be a great choice. These are identical except For Her includes that extra Mode and had a different exterior color.

There's no Central Apnea, so while on a CPAP you may get treatment emergent CA. This is rather expected of new PAP users and not to be a real concern. You're more of a vanilla Apnea person. That's just fine as it's less complicated.

My supposition is the heart and oxygen issues are Apnea based.

This was a home study I suppose. To get correct Central count you used an effort belt. Correct? Just clarifying this.

Do you live at high altitude, like 5, 6k plus? No then the above ResMed model stands.

PS while you wait for your PAP, download OSCAR and get a CPAP Setup Manual for the AutoSet.

[Dormeo]

Hello, sleepsd. Please follow up with the cardiologist about the bradycardia (slow heart beat). Here is some basic information from a trusted web site:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-cond...c-20355474

Be sure to mention that you feel continuously dizzy. If the cardiologist is not concerned, you need a clear understanding of why that is. I worry a little bit that the doctors may be dismissing concerns because you are relatively young and bradycardia is more common in older people. But younger people certainly can have it, and the underlying causes may need to be diagnosed and treated.

By the way, your O2 levels can be normal and yet your body may be getting insufficient O2 if your blood isn't moving normally through your vascular system.

Your sleep study shows "vanilla" apnea, as Dave notes. It apparently recorded almost 8 hours of time while you were asleep, which is plenty. It says that most of your obstructive events happened during REM sleep; this is a fairly common pattern. It also says your sleep was free of respiratory-related events for stretches of time between REM periods.

Your overall AHI was 4.4, which is a little bit under the AHI of 5 that is regarded as the minimum for a diagnosis of mild apnea. Adding in non-apnea, respiratory-related arousals brings your index to 6.6. But if the AHI is calculated for REM sleep only, it is 16.7.

When you see the pulmonologist, see what he/she thinks about PAP for primarily REM-related apnea. I would hope his/her attitude would be that PAP is a good experiment to try in order to see whether you feel more rested when you use it. (You'd want to try it for a while before reaching any conclusions.) Dave has given you a great recommendation about the machine to request, if the doctor will write a scrip for one.

But also ask the pulmonologist about the bradycardia. Not his/her area of specialization, but I think you should be talking about this with all your medical professionals.