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+--- Thread: Should I see the GP with these results? (/Thread-Should-I-see-the-GP-with-these-results)
Should I see the GP with these results? - Jade98 - 02-03-2024
Hey guys,
So I've been showing signs of potential sleep apnea for a long time now like loud snoring, drowsiness, non-refreshing sleep, jaw clenching etc. I decided to go for an online WatchPAT ONE home sleep study with Intus healthcare (UK based) recently (long waiting times with the NHS!) just to get an idea of what is going on, and got the following results.
So sleep apnea wasn't detected according to my results report/letter but my blood oxygen seems to dip quite low, a few times during the night and there was a lot of respiratory events according to the graphs. Does anybody know what the significance of this is? Should I go to the GP to have this looked into further?
Thank you so much!
RE: Should I see the GP with these results? - Sleeprider - 02-03-2024
Very sharp dips and rapid recoveries in SpO2 suggest a signal or sensor problem. Rarely would I expect a desat into the 80% range to be recovered that fast, so I don't trust that it is a real event. Ignoring those spikes, we see some variation through the night, but mainly in the 95-98% range. Many of those spikes seem to occur coincident with changes of position, so I think you can view them as likely errors. I'm not sure what makes for a "respiratory event", but at 10 per hour, that seems like a screening result that may indicate a follow-up to verify it with better methods may be a good idea. The pulse rate seems to have a lot of spikes and seem worst when the position show you prone. If you sleep on your stomach, it would not surprise me if you have positional apnea in that position from turning your head to the side. This cervical misalignment can be very obstructive.
Snoring, bruxism, jaw clenching and unsatisfactory sleep are all problems, and you GP may be able to shed light on some of that. Of course it still boils down to a long wait for NHS testing and whatever they might do with that in terms of dispensing a CPAP therapy. I'm not too impressed with the low-cost, low-featured CPAPs they seem to be dispensing these days. For a short-term solution, I'll ask you to read the positional apnea wiki. See if there are some improvements you can make in your sleep position or environment that can prevent those positional obstructions that increase your snores and arousals. Prone does not look good for you followed closely by supine. https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Optimizing_therapy#Positional_Apnea