SpO2 normal or not?

[Deepdiver998]

Hello guys and gals,

I have been dealing with unrestful sleep and morning headaches for years. I have had an appointment with an ENT and had to do an overnight polygraphy at home. Now I have to wait until july to get my results bc this ENT here in Germany is really busy 

In the meantime I decided to help myself (recklessely or rather out of desperation) by buying a ResMed AirSense 10 and sort the pressure out myself, but my guestimation (9.6 mmH2O) is either not good enough or my airway limitation (deviated septum) is just to strong to be treated by cpap alone. I have been using the machine religiously and it does help a tiny bit by limiting my snoring. OSCAR doesn't show any major flow limitations though.

Recently I got myself a proper finger pulse oximeter, which I can wear during sleep. Today I have looked at my report (-> attachment) and I am unsure if I should make an appointment with my normal doctor for oxygen therapy or something. It doesn't look terrible but yet I still don't feel rested.

Maybe there is someone who just knows how a healthy SpO2 curve and ODI should look like and can tell me wether mine is okay or a reason to worry.

[staceyburke]

I have been on oxygen for some time - your levels are fine.

[cmpman1974]

Yes completely fine. Not sure why you're concerned.

[Deepdiver998]

Yes completely fine.  Not sure why you're concerned.

I am concerned, because I still have strong sleep inertia, feel sleepy and sluggish during the day, have increased appetite (actually gained around 8lbs since I started in april) and on bad days I even get headaches but it is not as common as before I started using the cpap. So, not much has changed and the weight gain is very demoralizing, that's why I am looking for an answer.

It is entirely possible that breathing obstructions might not even be the reason for my bad sleep, but I won't know before July which is distressing.

[gainerfull]

We can help you more if you post your OSCAR data from your Airsense 10. I too deal with desaturations similar to yours and was able to dial in good parameters plus sleep on a wedge pillow and it's greatly improved my sleep and blood oxygen numbers.

[cmpman1974]

I am concerned, because I still have strong sleep inertia, feel sleepy and sluggish during the day, have increased appetite (actually gained around 8lbs since I started in april) and on bad days I even get headaches but it is not as common as before I started using the cpap. So, not much has changed and the weight gain is very demoralizing, that's why I am looking for an answer.

It is entirely possible that breathing obstructions might not even be the reason for my bad sleep, but I won't know before July which is distressing.

I understand.  I'm 15+ years into this using BPAP and I can't say much has changed.  I feel as you described - run down, little energy, sluggish, etc.  As the other poster said, seeing OSCAR data may provide some insight.  if your SPO2 is generally good, it would make sense the sleep apnea issues are pretty controlled and maybe not the cause of fatigue.  I think all too often (myself included), people believe CPAP/BPAP is a miracle that is going to make us feel perfect.  Many times it doesn't and is only one piece of a large puzzle. It never hurts to rule out stuff though and be logical.  Best of luck.

If I'm reading your report correctly, it's showing you have no events under 90% SPO2 so I can't see how sleep apnea is playing a huge part at this point. Those are pretty solid numbers.

[DevinJones]

Are 48 oxygen desaturations of more than 4% not harmful at all as long as the desaturations don't go below 90%? Thanks.

[Jeff8356]

Are you using a fingertip type, or duckbill type sensor? Either of them can be knocked around during sleep and skew the numbers slightly.
It looks like you are using a Contec brand, so you can import that SpO2 file into OSCAR. It would show a better picture of whats going on when it is combined with your PAP data.

Any other health issues like Pulmonary (asthma, COPD, emphysema) , cardiac, autoimmune ? Medications can also have an effect.

Being that it was just that one night, see what happens over the next couple of nights. It may have been just a bad night. It happens...

[gainerfull]

I wouldn't focus on one night too much but use the statistics tab in OSCAR to look at trends under oximeter statistics to inform you if you're getting better at your sleep or worse.