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I have been having some (I think) onset apnea stuff happening for the past couple of months. I have a sleep study in 10 days, but in the mean time have monitored my spo2 and pulse during a portion of the night. I have noticed that while my O2 levels are around 97 during the day, once sleep they fall to around 93 for prolonged periods of time (an hour plus). Can anyone speak to whether this is a sign of apnea or not? Or what might be happening.
I had a physical and bloodwork that all came up normal.
I breath through my nose all day but seem to switch to mouth breathing at night as I wake up with a dry mouth and sometimes snore.
I would really appreciate any insight!
Thanks!
Without an actual sleep study it is definitely tough to say exactly what is happening, but low O2 at night is definitely a sign of sleep apnea. Most people have other signs and symptoms, like excess daytime sleepiness, chronic fatigue, brain fog, etc.
For example, my O2 at night would generally stay at 95%-100%, with only a 20 min period at 90%-95%. But it I had lots of smaller 3-4% desaturations during my apneas and hypopneas.
04-15-2024, 03:31 PM (This post was last modified: 04-15-2024, 03:34 PM by Mshull.)
RE: long desaturations
Here is my chart for at least a piece of last night.
My concern is just that I stay at 93 for an hour or so.
I have a few little dips into 92 and even a couple seconds at 91.
I seem to be having transitional apneas where I feel like right as I am about to fall asleep, I feel like my auto breathing stops.
The huge spikes in pulse are me getting up abruptly to pee.
Like I said before, its hard to know why exactly that's happening. Could be many things, but a sleep study will tell us exactly what is happening. Blood O2 can change a little bit while sleeping but anything into the low 90s is good to get checked out. Once you get your sleep study done, post it here and we can help you out.
Good news is if it is some sort of apnea, PAP therapy will help.
One take-away: 93 is not consider low, though it is considered "borderline low." In addition to your O2 levels, your decreases in O2 levels may be important too. You'll learn a lot more about that once you've had your sleep study.
