[Treatment] insomeapnea - Therapy Advice

[insomeapnea]

I am attaching my Polysomnography titiration to see if someone can make sense of my situation.

[Jay51]

Thank you for posting your sleep study.  I applaud you for being more proactive with your therapy (since your Dr. doesn't want to prescribe you ASV or equivalent due to your heart function.  

The one thing that jumps out at me is your time below 90% SPO2.  I think it was 17 minutes or so.  Medicare supplies supplemental oxygen to people who are under 88% for a cumulative 5 minutes or more.  You surely quality based on your numbers.  

You can use this statistic to either get supplemental oxygen at night (you can bleed it into a cpap mask) and you can use this statistic to help prove the severity of your sleep apnea and current position (with all of the CA's on your chart - you can show your Dr. all of the CA's also).  

Having concrete objective data can help convince for your sake.

[insomeapnea]

I appreciate your response. I will bring some OSCAR screenshots to my next appointment to discuss your suggestion. I am aware that this is a serious issue, as last night my Spo2 dropped to 78 for 30 seconds.

[insomeapnea]

My Spo2 averages for 1 year:

Average SpO2 %
94.55
94.05
92.96
93.74
93.97
Min SpO2 %
78.00
70.00
70.00
70.00
70.00
SpO2 Drop (SD) Index
15.80
19.30
22.05
22.51
20.31
% of time in SpO2 Drop (SD)
14.58%
43.39%
49.59%
42.27%
35.88%

Which specific statistics should I discuss with the doctor if this data makes me eligible for Medicare covering supplemental oxygen?

[Jay51]

I would show all of this data that you have.  Then say, "I read where Medicare pays for supplemental oxygen if a person spends 5 or more cumulative minutes below 88% SPO2 during sleep."  Take a copy of your sleep study that shows all of the time below 90 (17 minutes).  All that time below 90 would definitely mean at least 5 minutes cumulative below 88%.

Getting down to 78 is severe!  Definitely show this and mention how bad you feel in the morning. On my 1st home sleep study, I it recorded me at 78 as a low also.  I used to wake up with chest pain at times also.  Getting his low is not good.

[insomeapnea]

You don't know how much I do appreciate your help, guys.

I sent the Oximetry data to my doctor and receive a call asking for a pulmonary test and a MRI of my lungs, I quit smoking cigarretes 17 years ago but started vaping weed when became legal in Florida.

Now I realized the Polysomnography on 10/19/2023 states "The patient spent 19.7 minutes below 90% saturation".

Mal Practice?

[Jay51]

Great job recognizing the problem and taking actions to remedy it.  With all of my dealings with Dr.'s, concrete data can be pretty convincing.  Most Dr.'s like summary data (multiple days instead of a single day, etc.), but what you have so far is great (the sleep study).

[insomeapnea]

Hello everyone,

This is the second occurrence where OSCAR is not displaying Flow Rate Waves in significant segments. Please find a sample attached.


Is there a solution or explanation available?

[insomeapnea]

I apologize if this matter is already well-known.

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

You cannot determine sleep stages from OSCAR data without much analysis and comparison to a known source, e.g. sleep study data. You can guess, but it is just that, a guess.

You can tell sleep from awake breathing with OSCAR, which is fine for our current needs.