What are your average SPO2 readings while sleeping?
Posted , 2 users are following.
I've had breathing issues for quite a few years. They call it Asthma, but they really don't know. I'm on BREO and Ventolin, but the Ventolin makes no difference to my breathing during the breathing tests. I've had a couple of sleep tests, the last one being about five years ago. They said I had mild sleep apnea at 11 drops per hour. The doctor suggested CPAP, as it may improve my sleep. Later as I was prescribed a BIPap machine, as the doctor felt it may help preserve my lung volume. I hated the CPAP/BIPAP and really couldn't sleep with them.
Lately my sleep has been worse and I don't feel rested in the morning. I've also been having dull headaches. I've had a cheap little sleep monitor for a while, I bought it before my first sleep test to convince the GP to send me for the sleep test. It gives you a SPO2 score, records a graph of your SPO2 scores and your heart rate. It also tells you the number of drops in total and the number of drops per hour. You can also get a CSV of the individual readings.
I wore this thing a couple of nights ago without the BiPAP and my average SPO2 was 91% and my SPO score was 9.7. It only recorded about 8 drops, but the SPO2 graph was very erratic, as was my pulse. I wore the sleep monitor with the BIPAP last night to see if the results were any better. My SPO2 average was still 91%, but my SPO2 score was 10 (Sure) and I had 0 drops. The SPO2 and heart rate graphs were less erratic and there was less red in the SPO2 graph, but still quite a bit. I woke up about 3:30 and ripped the BIPAP off, but my sleep monitor started vibrating wildly because it was unhappy about my SPO2 reading. I put the BIPAP back on and the sleep monitor stopped complaining. I still felt like crap this morning, so much for my SPO2 score of 10. I'm sure a real sleep test would show many more drops than my cheap little gadget, but it is useful for showing trends.
My question is what are your sleeping SPO2 scores? I know an average of 91% does not seem bad, but it does spend a lot of time in the 80s or less, as indicated by the Red on the SPO2 graph. I'm considering asking the Respirologist to add oxygen to my routine, but I'm sure there are a lot of hoops to go through and I don't want to wait a year due to COVID. I believe the criteria for government approval is a PA02 of 55% or less, I had mine tested about 2+ years ago and it was 64% then. I really don't carer about the government hand out, I just want to feel rested. Anyone else on oxygen with their CPAP/BIPAP, did it help you?
0 likes, 2 replies
barbara66703 Plain_Bill
Posted
i hate those cpap's too. i dont use one my partner does and i get no sleep due to all the confounded noises. sleeping with ear plugs and radio plug in one ear still does not stop the noises of those breathing/ cpap's. he needs oxygen and a better model cpap. it does not help him feel better in the morning either. its purpose is to force oxygen in to keep from a deprived oxygen intake which can have devastating effects down the road . lots of other reasons i'm sure your more than aware of. either way it a necessity. bummer for everyone and a life saver at the same time. o gosh wish i had a better experience to share. maybe someone else can give better data on better cpaps available.
Plain_Bill barbara66703
Posted
It sounds like my reason for using the Bipap is similar to your partner's. My sleep apnea is not horrible, but my oxygen levels are not great, especially at night. They also want to stop me from losing more lung volume. My average SPO2 was 92% last night. Woohoo. The default Bipap settings were 12 /6, i want to get to 15/10 to improve my O2 levels
Thanks for the reply, it seems we are thinking alike, i have been using my Alexa's sleep sounds to drown out the noise the machine makes. I'm going to try some noise cancelling earbuds next.