Sleep Apnea Support Group

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. People with sleep apnea partially awaken as they struggle to breathe, but in the morning they may not be aware of sleep disturbances.

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victorino545 12/15/2017

Would like your opinion on sleep apnea test. I have emphysema and use 02 at night. I had a sleep test and they did not put O2 on me at all and never put a Cpap on during test. Everyone I talked to that had sleep apnea said, they put cpap on after couple hours to see improvement. My concern is my pulmo (she also heads sleep study) called and said I have mild speed apnea. I should come in and get fitted with cpap. My 02 dropped 77. When I told her they never put 02 on she was not happy as she ordered test with 02. I told her they never put Cpap on and she said that’s how she does test. My problem is I don’t want to use it if I don’t have to and kind feel she is pushing it on me. How do I know if it was just lack of 02. I go in next week and will ask for copy test. Did you wear you 02 and did they put cpap on when you got tested? Please any help on this would be appreciated.

sptrout 12/15/2017

I have SA, but do not have the O2 problems that you have so I cannot comment about anything O2 related. As for a sleep study, I think most labs do fit a patient with a CPAP to test if increasing pressure reduces SA that occurs during the test. However, testing for SA is not the same as testing for what kind of pressure that would be needed for a CPAP machine. Why some labs do separate sleep studies like you are being pushed into, while others do everything in one test is not something that I do not understand. Maybe because of your O2 problems,your doctor wanted to keep them separate to make sure the results are not confusing????? (Just guessing.)

During your sleep test, you should have been wired-up with several sensors so that they could tell when you were asleep and how well you were breathing. This process would determine if you have SA or not. Get a copy of the lab's report and you should be able to tell what your results were, BTW - - There are home SA sleep studies/equipment that can be used to screen people to see if a more detailed test is needed. These devices just monitor sleep and have no CPAP capability.

If your study confirms that you have mild SA, then you should return for a second study so the doctors can determine what level of pressure you need to reduce/eliminate SA events. If you have SA, you want to fix/control it ASAP, you do not need SA to make your O2 problems even worse, not to mention the truck load of problems that SA cause that are not O2 related.

sptrout 12/15/2017

I forgot to mention this in my first response but,.....

This Board is not very busy. I highly recommend that you visit the Boards linked to below. They both have true subject matter experts that can provide much more advice than me. Post in either, or better both, and I promise you will have many comments and suggestions today.

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum

http://www.cpaptalk.com/CPAP-Sleep-Apnea-Forum.html

victorino545 12/15/2017

Thanks so much for your feed back, very helpful. I will follow up with your websites you suggested.

Allenn 07/06/2018

there is a recent interesting news story in Heathcare Asia Daily, if you have not seen it – you might want to forget the new cpap machine and keep the money in your pocket

http://www.healthcareasia.org/2018/when-breathing-too-much-can-kill-you/

When breathing too much can “kill” you

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