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Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
#1
Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
Hi. Brief background- I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2012. I have tried multiple cpap masks and a dental appliance in an effort to treat the sleep apnea. I did not have success with the cpap or with the dental appliance. On 7/17/17 I had uvulopalatopharyngoplasty uppp surgery. I stayed in the hospital for two nights after the surgery. Apparently my oxygen level had dropped at some point(s) while I was sleeping during the night after my surgery.

So last night I used my cms50d+ oximeter to test where I am at with my oxygen level and to see if the uppp surgery has helped. Can you take a look at the attached oximetry report and tell me if it looks to you like I am doing ok after the surgery? Can you help me to understand what the report is saying? Do things look good?  I am going to continue to monitor the situation using the oximeter.  eventually have another at home sleep study but I would like to see the improvement I have made thus far. i have not used cpap since the surgery.

Thank you for your guidance.


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#2
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
A pulse oximetry recording is unfortunately not able to rule out sleep apnea, even if your oxygen levels remained steady for an entire night of sleep. However, dips below 88%, especially when sustained in duration (such as in time clusters or see-saw type patterns), are indications that apneas are occurring. Or at least some type of sleep disordered breathing. IMO you still need to use CPAP...
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#3
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
Hey matt00926. Thank u for looking at this report. I can say that when I wake up after sleeping now, I feel so much more energized and my mind is clear and focused. Using a CPAP sucks, so I hope the surgery resolves the sleep apnea.
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#4
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
(08-04-2017, 11:08 AM)nico08 Wrote: Hey matt00926. Thank u for looking at this report. I can say that when I wake up after sleeping now, I feel so much more energized and my mind is clear and focused. Using a CPAP sucks, so I hope the surgery resolves the sleep apnea.

I hope you can have success as well - just don't put all your eggs in one basket and set yourself up for disappointment. 

I noticed just now in looking at your oximetry report that the recording is only for about 4 hours, and you have a fair amount of artifact (3%+) so some of the sharp sudden dips that recover instantly (near the middle of the graph) may not be real. The dips in the very beginning of your recording look suspect as well -- presumably it was recording for at least a while when you were still awake, so I see no reason that your SpO2 would go below 88-90% assuming you don't have other health problems. 

I would try another recording and make sure the finger probe is secure on your finger - maybe put a piece of tape around your finger on the wire. Also rolling around a lot can effect the sensor. Try to lay still in one position when you try and fall asleep. Also, don't start recording until after a few minutes of the device being on - sometimes the readings take a bit to "settle down" and become accurate/stable.
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#5
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
Matt has some good advice there.  If that report is accurate, it appears that you are still having some sleep disordered breathing events at night.  The grouping and timing suggests they are REM related.  Desaturation events can affect your health, you can't solely rely on how well you feel in the morning.  I would talk to a doctor and get a real, not in-home, test.
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#6
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
I vote that you are having substantial sleep disordered breathing, regardless of procedures you have had.

The events could be positional, and just recently a lot of folks have found really good results with soft cervical collars. Why not try that a couple nights, and do some more oximeter reports to show the difference, if any.

This is not a CPAP forum, it is a sleep-apnea forum. I have no evidence that makes me question you have sleep apnea - therefore, suggest anything that will give good results to resolve it.

Good luck!

QAL
Dedicated to QALity sleep.
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#7
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
(08-04-2017, 01:25 PM)Matt00926 Wrote:
(08-04-2017, 11:08 AM)nico08 Wrote: Hey matt00926. Thank u for looking at this report. I can say that when I wake up after sleeping now, I feel so much more energized and my mind is clear and focused. Using a CPAP sucks, so I hope the surgery resolves the sleep apnea.

I hope you can have success as well - just don't put all your eggs in one basket and set yourself up for disappointment. 

I noticed just now in looking at your oximetry report that the recording is only for about 4 hours, and you have a fair amount of artifact (3%+) so some of the sharp sudden dips that recover instantly (near the middle of the graph) may not be real. The dips in the very beginning of your recording look suspect as well -- presumably it was recording for at least a while when you were still awake, so I see no reason that your SpO2 would go below 88-90% assuming you don't have other health problems. 

I would try another recording and make sure the finger probe is secure on your finger - maybe put a piece of tape around your finger on the wire. Also rolling around a lot can effect the sensor. Try to lay still in one position when you try and fall asleep. Also, don't start recording until after a few minutes of the device being on - sometimes the readings take a bit to "settle down" and become accurate/stable.

Hi. Does artifact mean body movement? And more than 3 percent artifact is bad? My goal should be to keep my SpO2 above 88 percent throughout the entirety of my sleep? 

Yes I am going to try and use my oximeter for a lot of nights to see if I see trends and/or overall improvement. It is just that some of the terminology and the way the data is presented in the reports is somewhat confusing to me.

You are right, I tend to move around a lot when I sleep, I have been that way for as long as I can remember.

I am going to get some medical tape to use to help keep the oximeter on and I wont start the record function until right before i fall asleep. That will be challenging for me though, not starting the recording too soon but at the same time not letting it go too long, so that i actually fall asleep before I turn the record function on.

Are there certain values on the report that are particularly helpful i evaluating my oxygen level throughout my sleep? If so, what are those values?  Thanks.
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#8
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
(08-04-2017, 02:17 PM)chill Wrote: Matt has some good advice there.  If that report is accurate, it appears that you are still having some sleep disordered breathing events at night.  The grouping and timing suggests they are REM related.  Desaturation events can affect your health, you can't solely rely on how well you feel in the morning.  I would talk to a doctor and get a real, not in-home, test.

Hi. I had a at-home and in-hospital sleep study back in 2012. Then I had a more recent at-home sleep study done a couple of months ago. I see an ent surgeon, who is the one who performed the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (uppp). i saw one pulmonologist a few months ago, but he wanted to try yet another cpap mask. The cpap just doesnt work for me. So I saw another sleep specialist doctor, she ordered the at-home sleep study and referred me to the ent surgeon for the uppp surgery.

Yes I am aware that desaturation events can negatively effect my long term health, that is why I am trying to get some control over this.

I think the surgeon and the sleep doctor want to wait a bit, and let me throat fully heal, before they order another sleep study, which makes sense to me. For now, I want to use my personal oximeter just to see if there is improvement as a result of the upp surgery. What values should I be looking at on the old sleep study reports and the reports generated by my personal oximeter to assess whether there has been some improvement? Thank you
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#9
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
(08-04-2017, 08:43 PM)quiescence at last Wrote: I vote that you are having substantial sleep disordered breathing, regardless of procedures you have had.

The events could be positional, and just recently a lot of folks have found really good results with soft cervical collars.  Why not try that a couple nights, and do some more oximeter reports to show the difference, if any.

This is not a CPAP forum, it is a sleep-apnea forum.  I have no evidence that makes me question you have sleep apnea - therefore, suggest anything that will give good results to resolve it.

Good luck!

QAL

The pain of the uppp surgery was horrible. The thought that is has not minimized or eliminated the sleep apnea is truly depressing. I cannot use a cpap, I tried very hard to make it work. They suck for me, I am sure they work for some people. I am going to try and buy a cervical collar. And I will use the personal oximeter while wearing the cervical collar to see if that improves my spO2 level throughout my sleep. Thank you.
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#10
RE: Oximetry Report- Can You Help Me Understand?
I am not a doctor.  I think the ideal is to keep your SpO2 over 95% all night.   IIRC, anything below 91 is a cause for concern.  88 is not super bad, but it is not good either.

You say that CPAP does not work for you.  Do you care to tell us why?  There are people here who are pretty good at working out the issues.  None of us ended here because it was a cakewalk.  But it does not have to be terrible.
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