opinions of my oximeter report

[nmevan]

hello

I have uploaded my first study from my oximeter

I'm hoping that those of you in the know may comment on it

http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... t1Evan.jpg

I'm afraid that I have yet to accomplish uploading the info from my cpap machine (computer problems)

from the info off the machine I am averaging around 6.5 - 8 AHIs per hour with no leaks

my pressure ramps from 4 to a high of 13

I use a full face mask

I am going to sleep without my cpap tonight, using the oximeter, to compare the 2 studies

thanks again

evan

[old dude]

Photobucket print is not very clear and hard to read. From what I can see pulse and O2 looked ok. Any O2 over 88% is acceptable. Maybe someone else here can advise a better way to print info.

[HoseCrusher]

Overall, your numbers are OK. Not excellent, but OK.

To get to excellent you need to keep your O2 levels above 90%. You spent 20 minutes overall with O2 levels below 90%. With that said, you only went down to 85% at your lowest, so that is not to bad.

You are experiencing desaturations at the rate of 13.5 per hour. That number is high. With some tweaking of your settings you should be able to get that down to 1 or 2 per hour, or less. After starting on xPAP treatment I often only have 1 or 2 desaturation events for the whole night.

Keep in mind that elevation effects O2 saturation. If you live at 6000 feet, your desaturations can drop to 88%. At close to sea level shoot for 90% as a minimum.

Your desaturation events and the depth of your desaturation will usually be reduced if you can keep your airway open and eliminate the obstruction there. xPAP is good at doing this, if you can find the right pressure.

[Jade]

Which oximeter do you have? I like the reports, and it seems to "track" better than the CMS brand I had.

[AMUW]

my first study from my oximeter
http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... t1Evan.jpg

I see clusters of events similar to my oximetry report: fluctuations in the %O2 coinciding with pulse rate increase. Does you oximeter software allow you to zoom in and show better time and amplitude resolution? And to compare what happens to air flow at the same time?
Such curves, like mine, illustrate why averaging over the recorded time hides important phenomena.
You'll probably find the above events synchronizing with the CPAP flow irregularities; but they may use different definitions on the severity of the event necessary to trigger the counter:
- the AHI is triggered if it lasts >10 sec (and in the case of hypopnea if there is a sufficient reduction in flow rate)
- what triggers your Oxygen Desaturation counter: %O2 simply dipping below a threshold, or also staying there for some duration? or cumulatively leading to oxygen defficiency in the blood?
I am far from knowledgeable; but it is conceivable that your sleep doctor may take a quick look at your oximetry and decide that your sleep fragmentation on CPAP is not related to oxygen defficiency.
Finally, for what reasons do you believe that VPAP would be better for your case than what your currently have?
Re the motion indicator: are we talking about a simple accelerometer on your finger? which may not be an indicator of changing body position or changing sleep stage.

[Lizistired]

Which oximeter do you have? I like the reports, and it seems to "track" better than the CMS brand I had.

Ditto, and I want to know what the little circles mean on the motion summary line, compared to the bars.

[nmevan]

thanks for all the input

the oximeter is the SPO Medical PulseOx 7500™

I'm afraid that I don't have any answers to the other questions asked...but I will once I figure it out

evan

[Jade]

Amazon reviews give some useful info about this device. Apparently it has, at its best recording frequency, a 1-second interval, which is the same as the cheaper $100 device I had. What I gathered from earlier discussions on this board that frequency led to the "choppiness" of the reports, and it's that which made it very hard for me to think I was getting information that was useful to me. I'm not sure how accurate the percentages, etc., are...