(10-23-2013, 09:03 PM)mikehaze Wrote: Thanks me50. That is helpful. I assumed low AHI meant good quality sleep but I will rethink that. Maybe I can check my O2 somehow? I'll do some more research.
post from Archangle:
I agree to not panic, but talk to your doctor.
Speculation: Higher pressure may reduce the urge to breathe. Partly this is because of deeper breathing lowering your CO2 level. CO2 in the blood is the main impetus to make you breathe. There are also some neurological effects from stretching out your lung tissues when your lungs get filled more deeply with air.
These are part of the explanations of why some people develop central apnea on higher pressure.
Maybe these effects will lower your O2 saturation without causing central apneas due to you breathing less.
You may also be having central apenas. That probably needs to be fixed.
I agree to not panic too much over the 85%. Talk to your doctor. It may be that 85% is not too much of a problem if there's an explanation for why that happens. It might also correct itself as your body adjusts to CPAP.
You might want to get a recording pulseox and do your own testing at home. Be sure to get one of the recording pulseoxen like the CMS-50D+. (Note the plus). A non-recording pulseox doesn't do much for sleep apnea testing.
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Get the free SleepyHead software here.
What CPAP machine to buy.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.