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Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
#1
Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
Hi all,

Not sure if I am okay to post this here as I do not have diagnosed sleep apnea but I have been a snorer on and off for quite a while and recently got a garmin watch that has the ability to monitor pulse ox through the night. I have been wondering if I might have issues with sleep apnea because of the snoring and I just wondered if the information from smart watches are to be taken as accurate? I don't notice any tiredness in the day, I do not nap at all but I have been noticing occasional issues with focusing on tasks. The results of last night were such that my pulse ox dipped below 90 once but many times altered by more than 3 or 4%. I would say maybe 20 times through the night according to the graph. My breaths per minute extremes were a high of 16 and a low of 7 if that helps too.

Thank you very much in advance for any advice on this. If this should not be posted here please delete or move to wherever it is okay to post. Thank you again.
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#2
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
My Apple Watch 6 is very accurate on blood ox, EKG, and heartbeat. It matches my finger pulse ox 100%. My blood ox drops about 3% when I’m sleeping…
Glen in Ft Lauderdale

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#3
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
Hi,

Thank you for your response. When yours drop by 3% is it fairly steady in the night or do you have many drops in your pulse ox? Through the day my pulse ox is steady at 96-97% so I assumed mine maybe generally reads low but all the same it seems very erratic in the night which made me think it could perhaps be sleep apnea.

Thanks.
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#4
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
I was pretty steady all through the night, for me it has to do with my breathing rate, I’m 95-96 during the day, and I’m about 91 through 93 at night sleeping…My apnea was not directly related to my blood ox at night, I was the same blood ox at night before I got on my CPAP machine, with an average of £.28 AHI, now I’m 1.5 to 2.5, but still showing the same blood ox.

How are the CPAP machine has changed the total amount of sleep I get (much better longer) and how fast I can go to sleep. I put on my harness and I’msleeping in 20 minutes, before this I thrashed around for an hour or even two, sometimes, without it… I used to get four hours of sleep at night, now I’m getting 6-7. Dreaming has increased dramatically, most of the times good, every now and then bad.
Glen in Ft Lauderdale

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#5
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
Hi Glen,

Thank you again for the information. I sleep soundly and actually never wake up (or atleast that I am aware of) and my watch doesn't pick it up if I am waking so I assume I sleep well, however my pulse ox is all over the place in the 90s throughout the night. Anything from 98 down to 92 several times throughout the night. My heartrate doesn't change at all and my movement doesn't leave the low reading......so should I go on the pulse ox and be concerned that it could be due to obstruction or other sleep apnea causes? 

Thanks.
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#6
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
As long as it’s above 90, my Pulmonologist would tell you , you have no ox problem. I can’t tell you much more than that , the experts here could tell you more.
Glen in Ft Lauderdale

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#7
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
I’ve had my Garmin 245 since last February before I started CPAP therapy. I mainly bought it as a GPS device to track my running miles. My O2 averages are around 91% and I have lows of 74% to 80% almost every night.

I had a clinical sleep study in July, my average for the test was 95% and the low was 93%.  I recently purchased a SleepU™ Wrist Oxygen Monitor and have been wearing it overnight for about two weeks now.  My average is 97% and my low readings are usually around 95%. I’ll have to give the Garmin 245 a thumbs down for O2 data.

I’m also tracking my sleep data using OSCAR and there is no relationship between my sleep apnea events and my O2 drops. Lack of O2 desaturations should not be taken as an indication of not having sleep apnea. 

               
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#8
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
(12-16-2020, 04:33 PM)letsrun100 Wrote: I’ve had my Garmin 245 since last February before I started CPAP therapy. I mainly bought it as a GPS device to track my running miles. My O2 averages are around 91% and I have lows of 74% to 80% almost every night.

I had a clinical sleep study in July, my average for the test was 95% and the low was 93%.  I recently purchased a SleepU™ Wrist Oxygen Monitor and have been wearing it overnight for about two weeks now.  My average is 97% and my low readings are usually around 95%. I’ll have to give the Garmin 245 a thumbs down for O2 data.

I’m also tracking my sleep data using OSCAR and there is no relationship between my sleep apnea events and my O2 drops. Lack of O2 desaturations should not be taken as an indication of not having sleep apnea. 

Thank you so much for that information. I have never had issues with needing to nap through the day or any real issues with energy levels and rarely wake in the night so was very surprised to see my pulse ox readings because I assumed if my oxygen levels were so all over the place that it would definitely wake me. I have attached three nights worth of readings with my vivoactive 4 and it just really surprised me.

My partner occasionally mentions me snoring but its only once maybe every month or two and I did break my nose in a work accident a while back to my right nostril is reasonably collapsed but I never had any issues so this just raised alarms for me and made me think, maybe I do have something that needs to be checked on.

So basically, from what I have been gathering on Garmin forums is that the spo2 readings can be taken with a pinch of salt? haha

Thank you again.
    


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#9
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
Snoring is a sign of flow limitations.  Or, maybe it would be better said that snoring IS a flow limitation.  It might be relatively innocuous compared to an outright long central, series of centrals, or individual obstructive apneas and series of them.  If desats stay above about 90, there's no point in worrying.  If they sink down to 85, and are there more than five times a night, especially in succession over several minutes, it stands to reason that it can't be salutary.  Even solitary events put a strain on the system, raise cortisol, and strain the heart tissue.  

Then, there's the effect of snoring on those who must share the spaces next to, and nearest, us.  If it interferes with their rest, it really compounds the nature of the problem.

My daughter complained of my snoring when I visited them at their lake cabin three years ago.  I had developed atrial fibrillation, and was awaiting diagnostics to determine the root cause.  It was eventually revealed that the cause was severe apnea.  Snoring might be a sign, later if now now, of things to come.
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#10
RE: Pulse Ox Smart Watch Monitoring
(12-16-2020, 06:25 PM)mesenteria Wrote: Snoring is a sign of flow limitations.  Or, maybe it would be better said that snoring IS a flow limitation.  It might be relatively innocuous compared to an outright long central, series of centrals, or individual obstructive apneas and series of them.  If desats stay above about 90, there's no point in worrying.  If they sink down to 85, and are there more than five times a night, especially in succession over several minutes, it stands to reason that it can't be salutary.  Even solitary events put a strain on the system, raise cortisol, and strain the heart tissue.  

Then, there's the effect of snoring on those who must share the spaces next to, and nearest, us.  If it interferes with their rest, it really compounds the nature of the problem.

My daughter complained of my snoring when I visited them at their lake cabin three years ago.  I had developed atrial fibrillation, and was awaiting diagnostics to determine the root cause.  It was eventually revealed that the cause was severe apnea.  Snoring might be a sign, later if now now, of things to come.

Thank you. I think my watch just records lower than a normal pulse ox monitor too because through the day it sits at 96-97% but when I tried an over the finger monitor it showed 98-99 most of the time. My partners dad was diagnosed with severe apnea and he knows he wakes a lot in the night and he regularly feels the need to nap through the day so I assumed mine wasn't that but wanted to check based on those erratic spo2 readings on my watch. I asked my partner tonight if she had noticed me snoring at all lately and she said she hadnt at all so hopefully that is a good sign too.

Thank you again for the information and advice.
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