Using Oxygen with CPAP

[Josiah]

Based on very low sleep study O2 saturation numbers I'm very anxious to start using supplemental Oxygen while I sleep. My doctor takes forever to get anything done and although I expect he will eventually come around to prescribing O2 I'm exploring just going ahead and doing it myself. I currently have a ResMed Airsense 10 autoset and no O2 Concentrator. What am I up against here?

[ChicagoGranny]

Based on very low sleep study O2 saturation numbers

When did you have this study? Was it before or after this thread ( viewtopic/t158665/Conflicting-signals.html ) from February 2018? From that thread, I am not convinced supplemental O2 is warranted or beneficial.

[Julie]

Trying to add 02 yourself can really be dangerous and if necessary, find another MD, but don't go charging off DIY, plus there may be other factors involved that you're unaware of... unless the picture of you is out by 50 yrs.

[Josiah]

Based on very low sleep study O2 saturation numbers

When did you have this study? Was it before or after this thread ( viewtopic/t158665/Conflicting-signals.html ) from February 2018? From that thread, I am not convinced supplemental O2 is warranted or beneficial.

This study was done less than three weeks ago and my doctor said that some of my O2 readings were in the high 70s

[Josiah]

Trying to add 02 yourself can really be dangerous and if necessary, find another MD, but don't go charging off DIY, plus there may be other factors involved that you're unaware of... unless the picture of you is out by 50 yrs.

Thank you Julie, I will take your warning very seriously. The picture of me was taken last year when I was 84.

[Pugsy]

Was the most recent sleep study done 3 weeks ago with or without cpap?
Did you still have low oxygen levels even when on cpap?
Often when cpap is optimized low oxygen levels won't happen when sleep apnea events are the cause of the low O2.
Of course though...we can have low oxygen levels from other health problems and even with optimal cpap therapy they just won't come up and we need to add O2 even with cpap....so the need depends on the cause.

Low 70s is a problem for sure but was that with or without cpap being used? I had low 70s without cpap but optimal cpap therapy means I don't have that problem any more. I had follow up overnight pulse oximeter study to confirm cpap fixed my problem.

Now if I had been unlucky enough to have some other health issue that affected my oxygen levels then I would have had to address that issue and likely add O2.

[ChicagoGranny]

Based on very low sleep study O2 saturation numbers

When did you have this study? Was it before or after this thread ( viewtopic/t158665/Conflicting-signals.html ) from February 2018? From that thread, I am not convinced supplemental O2 is warranted or beneficial.

This study was done less than three weeks ago and my doctor said that some of my O2 readings were in the high 70s

Did he say whether the low readings were caused by apnea or by a pulmonary problem?

[Josiah]

Based on very low sleep study O2 saturation numbers

When did you have this study? Was it before or after this thread ( viewtopic/t158665/Conflicting-signals.html ) from February 2018? From that thread, I am not convinced supplemental O2 is warranted or beneficial.

This study was done less than three weeks ago and my doctor said that some of my O2 readings were in the high 70s

Did he say whether the low readings were caused by apnea or by a pulmonary problem?

My appointment was a telemedicine conference and I wasn't able to establish any rapport with a doctor who had a heavy accent. I take some fault that I didn't have my head entirely on top of these matters so I did not get into the subtleties of the cause of O2 deficit. I have asked for a copy of the detailed sleep study report which I don't have yet. I might point out that my AHI for the study was only 14 so not much was going on. Yes the study was w/o CPAP.

[Josiah]

Was the most recent sleep study done 3 weeks ago with or without cpap?
Did you still have low oxygen levels even when on cpap?
Often when cpap is optimized low oxygen levels won't happen when sleep apnea events are the cause of the low O2.
Of course though...we can have low oxygen levels from other health problems and even with optimal cpap therapy they just won't come up and we need to add O2 even with cpap....so the need depends on the cause.

Low 70s is a problem for sure but was that with or without cpap being used? I had low 70s without cpap but optimal cpap therapy means I don't have that problem any more. I had follow up overnight pulse oximeter study to confirm cpap fixed my problem.

Now if I had been unlucky enough to have some other health issue that affected my oxygen levels then I would have had to address that issue and likely add O2.

Thank you Pugsy for your informative reply. The sleep study was done w/o CPAP and my AHI was only 14 so it is hard to see how sleeping interruptions could have dropped my O2 into the high 70s. ASAP I will sleep with my CPAP and an O2 monitor and I will see how my typical AHI of 3.0 night with my CPAP looks.

I'm very concerned about delaying the onset of cognitive decline and the common wisdom now is that dementia is associated with a brain that's starved for oxygen. This is the reason behind my inquiry about O2 ASAP even DIY approach. I take the warning above the DIY might not be a good idea.

[Julie]

Not sure where you saw the research about 02 and dementia, but it is by no means a 'done deal' idea and many other things are being looked at. I get that you're in a hurry (so am I - 77 in Sept), but ... please don't cut off your nose, etc.

[Okie bipap]

My oxygen level drops a lot if I fall asleep without my machine. During my sleep test, it dropped as low as 63%. With my bi-level machine, my oxygen level stays within the normal range. The last time I was in the hospital, any time I would doze off without my machine, my oxygen level would drop low enough they would come in and wake me up within a few minutes because my oxygen level dropped low enough to set off the alarm. With my machine on, it never dropped enough to set off the alarm.

[Josiah]

Not sure where you saw the research about 02 and dementia, but it is by no means a 'done deal' idea and many other things are being looked at. I get that you're in a hurry (so am I - 77 in Sept), but ... please don't cut off your nose, etc.

I'm really seriously into the subject of preventing cognitive decline. I'm currently following the Bredesen protocol which does talk a lot about oxygen depletion in the neurons of the brain. I will certainly pay close attention to the warnings I've received in this thread, but in theory I see supplementing with O2 as a straight forward way of raising my abnormally low oxygen saturation at least until the cause of this problem is discovered and fixed.

[colomom]

Why did your doc order another sleep study without CPAP?

For someone like you with what I assume is diagnosed OSA, untreated O2 concentrations dipping into the 70s is not something I would be overly concerned about. If you are worried about your O2 sats I recommend you ask your doc to test your O2 levels while using your CPAP, overnight oximetry is pretty inexpensive.
If you have another underlying pulmonary issue to much O2 could harm you.
Treatments should be based on your treated O2 levels, adding O2 based on untreated sats would be ill advised.

[Pugsy]

Test your O2 levels with a pulse oximeter that you can buy (needs to be able to record overnight and not just spot check) while using the cpap first before worrying about doing the DIY oxygen thing.
Did you ever get one? I thought you were thinking about doing it a while back.
They are getting a bit hard to find what with the COVID thing happening but I think they are still out there if you look.
I would check Amazon or EBay first. Between 50 and 100 bucks depending on the features you might want.

Your DME should also have one available....ask them to ask your doctor to order it. That's what I did some years back. Didn't cost me much and was speedy.

Then if it still shows marked drops in the O2 levels even on cpap THEN we can talk about maybe going the DIY route or light a fire under the DME to get you some added O2.

[Josiah]

Why did your doc order another sleep study without CPAP?

For someone like you with what I assume is diagnosed OSA, untreated O2 concentrations dipping into the 70s is not something I would be overly concerned about. If you are worried about your O2 sats I recommend you ask your doc to test your O2 levels while using your CPAP, overnight oximetry is pretty inexpensive.
If you have another underlying pulmonary issue to much O2 could harm you.
Treatments should be based on your treated O2 levels, adding O2 based on untreated sats would be ill advised.

I intend to monitor with a recording pulse oximeter my O2 sat while sleeping with my CPAP. I'm desperately trying to hang onto what cognitive abilities I have left and for that reason I see starving my brain of O2 as a major problem which needs to be fixed. As it is, my daytime O2 saturation is only 93% and I'm anxious to improve on that number.