the only thing that was able to detect my sleep apnea was a sleep study at Stanford University. your experiment may give you some interesting information but it may not give you anything that a doctor will pay attention to. in fact if your oxygen level does not drop below 90, you may end up convincing a doctor that you don't need a sleep study. when that would not be true. they think 90 is normal for sleep. when if you hypoventilated to get your sats to 90 while awake, you would probably be unable to do it because you would feel like you were suffocating. I think that the way they think about sleep medicine is all wrong. only Stanford has it close to right. and even they are clueless about how IIH plays into sleep problems.

if your sats drop below 90, then that will tell you something, I guess. you will still need a sleep study.

I'm sure I could get the sleep study. I had seen a pulmonologist several years back for pulmonary function tests for my SOB episodes since I have myasthenia gravis antibodies, It was probably low iron stores back then even. Function tests came back ok at the time. A sleep study had been set but got cancelled because the tech went into labor the day before. I just never rescheduled. I just thought I could get a jump on some easy data quickly at home where I sleep best. I think I actually do have it though. I can always keep my results hush-hush. I've had pulse oximeter alarms go off numerous times in day surgery post-op. It's something I will get done; maybe by end of the year. Thanks, Shari

if you were having shortness of breath while awake that caused you to drop your oxygen levels multiple times an hour, if your airway was closing off multiple times an hour while awake, wouldn't you go to the emergency room? if you called your doctor wouldn't they tell you to go to the ER? and while there wouldn't they fix the problem before they sent you home?

this is just for some perspective. for some reason if these things happen while we are sleeping, we are not alarmed. not as patients, and not as doctors. but I think that we should be just as alarmed. meaning that I think it ought to be at the top of your "to do" list, rather than just one of many other things, if you have had symptoms that indicate you do have OSA.

FYI I had SOB episodes years ago, that started at perimenopause and appeared to be caused in large part by tongue collapse as my progesterone levels fell. I could not lie on my back or the back of my tongue compressed my airway. when they looked in with a scope they could see my airway was only a few millimeters, but I had a pulmonologist tell me that there was nothing wrong with my airway. I had the back of my tongue burned off and the SOB episodes went away. unfortunately they could only burn off the center of the tongue to make a sort of straw for me to breathe through, so that the sides of my tongue were still pressing on structures back there. after mandibular advancement, my ICP dropped from 23 to 14. I think that my tongue was pressing on my jugular veins and causing the ICP by preventing CSF drainage. I thought I would tell you about this since it sounds like you have had similar symptoms.

FYI I could see that my airway was only 1 mm on my brain MRI. if you get yours and look at the lateral view, the image where you can see the tip of your nose, you should be able to measure the space behind your epiglottis. this is done while on your back and perhaps in a somnolent state, so a good reflection of what you breathe through while sleeping. actually sleeping it's even worse because things collapse more. I was breathing through a coffee stirrer.

I did make 2 ER trips for SOB/chest pain. They kept me the 2nd time for 2 days at St. Lukes downtown Houston and ran cardiac echo, pulmomary work up and heart catheterization. They couldnt explain why the pulmonary artery pressure was high on the echo, but said not to worry since the heart catheter pressures were ok and the heart arrythmias were not a serious type. So, sure they SHOULD HAVE FIXED THE PROBLEM. I am a pharmacist whose work is scheduled 6 weeks in advance and any doctor appointments/sleep study etc on my "to do" list will have to get worked into that schedule. Have to pay the bills like most people.

hypoxia raises pulmonary artery pressures.
sleep apnea causes arrhythmias.

I used to get chest pains when I breathed in, caused by my sleep apnea. if I treated it the pain went away. it also got better with Flovent. sleep apnea causes asthma. but I never had wheezing, just chest pain and shortness of breath. like you.....

I'm glad you are still able to work. so many of us are disabled.
with sleep studies, the show time is usually around 9pm, then you are done by 6 am, so you actually might be able to do it and keep working. lmk what you get on your pulse ox test!