Garmin Vivosmart 4 with pulse oximeter feature!

Garmin Vivosmart 4

Garmin Vivosmart 4 was announced.   It has pulse oximeter feature and it can track SPO2 value during sleeping.  However it is not very clear how often it samples the SPO2 value.  At this moment, I am not sure if it is useful to collect some reference data for Sleep apnea.  (This device has not been certified as a medical device yet and it will be just for a reference data)

This feature was introduced in fenix 5X plus a few months ago from Garmin.  But the price is very expensive and it is no way to get it just for a testing.  However, this is not very expensive and I would like to get it for some testing.   There are some posts for reviewing this device on the internet.

SPO2 trend during sleeping

I have been using CPAP during sleeping.  I do not have much update and not many thing to post this blog recently.  Today, I review SPO2 trend last a few months.

I have been collecting SPO2 data during sleeping almost every day since May 26, 2018.

Here is the average data and I can see a good improvement.

3rd week of May to 2nd week of June (without CPAP)

• SPO2(Average)                            94.0 %
• SPO2(minimum)                          87.0 %
• SPO2 drop more than 5%            1.3 / hour
• SPO2 drop 4 ~ 5%                       3.0 / hour
• SPO2 drop 3 ~ 4%                       8.4 / hour
• Weight                                          165.6 lb / 75.1 kg

3rd week of June to 2nd week of July (excluding days for CPAP trial)

• SPO2(Average)                            94.6 %
• SPO2(minimum)                          87.3 %
• SPO2 drop more than 5%            1.1 / hour
• SPO2 drop 4 ~ 5%                       2.4 / hour
• SPO2 drop 3 ~ 4%                       6.9 / hour
• Weight                                          161.4 lb / 73.2 kg

3rd week of July to 2nd week of August (with CPAP)

• SPO2 (Average)                            95 %
• SPO2 (minimum)                          89.2 %
• SPO2 drop more than 5%             0.6 / hour
• SPO2 drop 4 ~ 5%                        1.6 / hour
• SPO2 drop 3 ~ 4%                        5.5 / hour
• Weight                                           158.7 lb / 72.0 kg

8月下旬から9月中旬　（CPAP使用）

• SPO2 (Average)                           95.6 %
• SPO2 (minimum)                         91.2 %
• SPO2 drop  more than 5%           0.3 / hour
• SPO2 drop 4 ~ 5%                       0.9 / hour
• SPO2 drop 3 ~ 4%                       3.8 / hour
• Weight                                          156.1 lb / 70.8 kg

SPO2 drop less than 3%, I do not see any difference therefore I did not show here.  It is probably including some measurement error and I do not believe there is no point to compare them.

Before mid June, I felt some symptoms such as felt tired right after waking up and very strong sleepiness during daytime.   However they are going away after that.  I started using CPAP in mid July and the number is significantly improved.

The average SPO2 value is improved by 1.6%.  I think CPAP works very well.  However I think this improvement is not only CPAP but also weight reduction.  Before using CPAP, the value is improved with weight reduction.  I lost about 4 lb.  However, I also tried to improve the symptom with changing sleeping positions as well.  (I think sleeping position is one of factor to improve the value)

After starting using CPAP, there is some improvement.  I think this is due to weight reduction as well as I adopted using CPAP device and the quality of sleeping is getting better.  At least, CPAP and weight reduction works very well in my case.

Follow up appointment for Sleep apnea after started using CPAP

I saw a doctor for the first time since I started using CPAP as a treatment of sleep apnea.  It was really hard to make an appointment with the doctor and it took almost two months.   Finally, I saw the doctor today.   This is a summary.

Nothing to do with the CPAP device

When I made the appointment, I was told I had to carry the CPAP device when I would see the doctor.   Therefore, I packed it into a carrying case before the appointment.  However it was not touched at all during the appointment.
I just asked a question why I needed to carry it.  The reason is it is possible that the doctor consults how to use / adjust it if people have issues.  In my case, there is no issues at all and the doctor does not have to do that.

Thee symptom is improved, no issues

As a conclusion, the symptom is significantly improved and I just need to do whatever I have been doing with the CPAP device.  That is only instruction from the doctor.
The event per hour, which is breath stopping events detected by the device, is 0.5 per hour.  That is a pretty good number and I just need to continue to use CPAP.  The target is 5 per hour and my number below the target.  There is also no issue for air leak from the mask.

Possibility to eliminate CPAP

One thing I am really interested in was a possibility not using CPAP device.  As a conclusion, the doctor still believer I have to use it for a while.

The primary reason is the setting of CPA device is 6 cm H2O ~ 8 cm H2O.   Overall average is 6.1 cm H2O which is recorded by the CPAP device.  However, the maximum value is 7.5 cm H2O, that means the CPAP device adjusts the air pressure to high due to apnea events.   If there is no event, there is no reason the pressure is going up and staying below 6 cm H2O.   Therefore, it is better to use it for a while.

Weight reduction might help some improvement, however, jaw structure for Asian would be a primary cause of Sleep apnea in many cased.  Therefore, even if people loose a lot of weight, it is still better to use CPAP device in many cases.
On the other hand, reducing weight and keeping a right weight is very important to stay healthy for the other reason, thus, it is better to continue reduce my weight anyway.

Next appointment

The next appointment will be a year from now.   Of course,  I might need to see him any time if I have any issues / problems.  Other than that, the doctor thinks once a year would not be a problem in my case.

So, it seems that I have to use CPAP for a while and continue to do the weight reduction targeting to 63 kg.

Progress of weight reduction ~ still getting very good progress!

Due to using CPAP during sleeping, I do not have much new topic....
Since it is the end of August and I report a progress of weight reduction project

The previous update for the weight reduction is about two weeks ago, the average weight of a week was 157.9(lb).  After that, the average changed 155.9(lb) -> 155.8(lb).  There were a few days the weight was less than 155 (lb).  My weight on April 18 was 170.6 (lb), therefore, I have done about 15 (lb) reduction!  My target weight is somewhere less than 140 (lb) so, it is probably a half way now.  (140 lb is BMI less than 22 with height 5 feet 6 inches).

I do not really restricted diet.  Therefore it was not very heard and I sometimes eat some extra when I feel really hungry.


Key is to be "Habit"

I realized that the key for the weight reduction is "to be habit".  I guess I could loose more weight if I more restricted diet.  However, I think it might be hard to sustain that diet.  I guess a better way to maintain a reasonable small adjustment.  For now, I am note sure if I need to reduce amount of what I eat to reduce more weight.  I just watch the trend of my weight with the current "habit".

Improvement?

Since I am using CPAP, the symptom is significantly improved.  The event of Sleep apnea CPAP device detects is somewhere less than 1 event per hour in the average.  (The original event rate in the sleep study was 7.1 event / hour)

Web service by CPAP vendor ~ MyAir

I have not tried any new things recently.  I've just been using CPAP equipment when I sleep nowadays.
The device I am using is ResMed Air Sense 10 AutoSet.  It sends data during sleeping through mobile network and doctors and insurance companies can access my data.  They also offer to access the data through PC and mobile application.

The insurance company decides to cover this treatment based on the usage. 
Due to on-going weight reduction effort, my symptom is getting much better and the event is only less than one event.  (This is based on data the CPAP device detects)

I think weight reduction helps at least my case!

SPO2 @ 12000 feet elevation

SPO2 @ 12000 feet elevation (August 18-19, 2018)

I am monitoring SPO2 value during sleeping due to understanding the symptom of Sleep Apnea.  This is an extra edition about SPO2!

(*) This is not much about Sleep Apnea....

SPO2 value in higher elevation

As I posted before, the reason I am interested in SPO2 / Pulse Oximeter which measures SPO2 is a relationship between SPO2 and elevation as a part of my hobby, climbing and hiking.  When people in higher elevation, SPO2 value typically gets lower and it will be back to normal when people are acclimatized the elevation.  Thus, SPO2 could be a good index to show the body response in higher elevation or low oxygen environment.  Then, I found SPO2 value in my sleep study report and that was why I record SPO2 value during sleeping.

What does SPO2 value look like at 12,000 feet elevation?

I could not measure continuous measurement for SPO2 before since I do not have an equipment to do.  However, I got one which can measure continuous SPO2 data during sleeping and I was thinking to measure it when I would be in higher elevation.

Finally, I had a chance to measure it.  I went hiking to Mt. Whitney which is the highest mountain in California / USA.  The elevation of the summit of Mt. Whitney is 14,505 feet.  The camping site a day before the summit attempt is Trail Camp.  The elevation of Trail Camp is about 12,000 feet where many people feel symptoms of high altitude sickness.

The chart on the top is the data, the average of SPO2 is 77%, the minimum is 60%.   For a reference data, the chart below is the one a night before hiking.

Data at home (August 16-17, 2018)

The average is 95% and the minimum is 87%.  Just looking at the number, the data at 12,000 feet elevation is very low.  I have been using CPAP when I sleep and symptom of Sleep Apnea is getting improved.  Although the lowest value of the night was 87,  it might not be a true data.  It might be due to contact between sensor and the body.  The following is a data with a better resolution.

August 16-17 with a better resolution

If you look at the chart carefully, the data is discontinue right before dropped SPO2.  Therefore, the data right after the discontinue might not be  a correct measurement.   If I look at a similar resolution of data in the high elevation, I do not see such discontinuous part except the part sensor was off the body.

August 18-19 data with a better resolution

Those are data I captured....

This is main topic of posting today!

First of all, I was wondering why dropping SPO2 to somewhere below 90% in a sleep study is concern.  The typical duration of a drop is probably a few minutes, it is around 1 minute in my case.
On the other hand, the data in higher elevation (12,000 feet) is less than 90% almost all portion.  (Plotting in red shows the value is less than 90%).   However, I have never felt something wrong when I stayed there a several days.  Therefore, I did not take seriously when my report of sleep study shows less than 90% drop.

If you look at the data carefully, the range of SPO2 value is much bigger in the high elevation.  In fact, when I try to measure SPO2 in real time, the measured value is not really stable and it is hard to pick a number which value would be a reasonable measurement data.  This is due to how people breath, such as deep breathing might help to improve the number.  Also, it becomes unstable when we move.  Anyhow, the fact is the SPO2 value is getting much lower when people are in a high altitude.

What I found out from the data, there is heart rate data with SPO2 trend.  The average heart rate at 12,000 feet is 83.6 bpm, the minimum is 55 bpm and the maximum is 111 bpm.  On the other hand, the data at home is average is 52.8 bpm , the minimum is 46 bpm and the maximum is 90 bpm.  (The maximum heart rate at home  might be a false data since the right before the maximum value, the data is discontinues).  Even if we assume 90 bpm is true data, there is 30 bpm difference between the data at home and the data at 12,000.

Not only SPO2, but also heart rate is getting higher!

The data shows, SPO2 value is getting lower, however, due to low SPO2 in higher elevation, the heart rate is also getting higher.   I am not a specialist in this area and this is all speculation.  Increasing the volume of circulation, the total amount of oxygen could not be very low.  Another word, I think the human body might have enough oxygen even if SPO2 shows lower value.

I checked SPO2 drop due to Sleep Apnea that the heart rate is increasing when SPO2 value is dropped.  However, it is very short period and it is back to normal in a short time.  It is very hard to seem how fast a human body responds it.  But I guess it might be very low oxygen due to Sleep Apnea and this is the reason of bad impacts  to your body.

Almost all cases people are in high altitude, the elevation is not suddenly up, it is slowly changed.  Therefore it has enough time to adjust the circulation just looking into the SP value.  Therefore the chance to get really low oxygen situation could be very small.

I was not aware of the difference, when I just looking at SPO2 value.  Now I had a data in higher elevation.  With that data, I realize Sleep Apnea would be one of serious symptom people need to get some treatment wither way.

This is an extra edition of Sleep Apnea for SPO2 value

Weight Reduction status ~ making a good progress!

Trend of my weight last 12 months

Background
As I posted a couple times, a doctor suspected "sleep apnea" and I had sleep study at home in April and the doctor concluded as "sleep apnea" in mid May.   Currently, I have been using CPAP machine for the treatment.  Also, one of reasons for sleep apnea is over weight, therefore, I am doing weight deduction now.

After age 40, I have been running a couple days a week.  However, I also ate too much and my weight is 165 ~ 180 lbs last ten years.  It was not too bad as long as I did regular exercise, however once I stopped regular running, I had some chest pain.  Finally I saw a doctor and found "sleep apnea".

Around last November to this February, there is a symptom for stress-fracture, I tended to take some rests and stopped running often, therefore, the weight trend was increasing.  This happened a couple times a yer and my weight was up and down frequently.

Serious weight reduction

Due to some relationship between exercise and the pain, I started weight reduction after I saw a doctor in March.  First thing I did was reduce the strength of exercise to lower the risk of injury to avoid to stop exercise so often.  Due to my age, it might be tough to continue some high intensity menu, I decided to change the direction of exercise.

The other thing was I tried to eat less especially carbohydrate foods such as rice and bread.  However it might be hard to continue very restricted diet for a long time, so that what I am doing is about 60~70% reduction.

I also take a walk during lunch time for 30 ~ 45 minutes around the office other than running.

I think it started working some time after May.  The weight reduction between March and May was probably due to resuming running.  Now, I am adopted and I can keep a good trend for my weight deduction.   It is close to 155 lbs now!

Impact to Sleep Apnea?

I think it depends on a type of sleep apnea.  In my case, it is obstructive sleep apnea and it might be a good chance to improve the symptom with weight reduction.  I can see some improvement before I started using CPAP a month ago.
Currently, I've been using CPAP and it is expected to get some improvement, however, a data detected by the CPAP machine shows it is also improved.

I will continue the weight reduction to target somewhere 135 lbs.

Here is the trend of an average weight for every week:

159.4lbs -> 158.3lbs -> 157.2lbs -> 156.7lbs

I can make a very good progress now!

(To be continue)

CPAP treatment ~ about 1 month

CPAP machine!

It's been a month since I started using CPAP during sleeping.  Initially, it was hard to get into sleep with the mask and hard to wear mask during sleeping.  I sometimes took the mask off during sleeping.   Now it is getting better.

SPO2 with CPAP

I continue to collect SPO2 data during sleeping, I still see SPO2 drop below 90% once or twice a night sometimes.  It is not everyday, however, it is still happening.  Before using CPAP machine, I tried a couple things to improve the symptom.  Some of them are probably helping to improve, but I still saw SPO2 drops a few times a night.

On the other hand, I do not have any symptoms I had before.  They are gone!  Even without CPAP, it was really improved.   However, I have been using CPAP machine for now.

Insurance coverage!

My insurance covers 90%  of cost using CPAP.  Originally, I was told that I had to buy the machine after a trial.  However, it is still renting it.  Based on the explanation, it will be rental base for a while and will switch to purchase it later.  So, the due for using CPAP is not much!  The initial cost is around USD $ 15 and monthly due is probably less than USD $10 for now.

However, I have to use it more than 4 hours a day and if it is less than 70% of total days, then the insurance company will stop covering it.   During summer, I probably go camping a couple times where I could not use it due to no power source.  Therefore, I have to use it as long as I stay home.  Also, it might be hard to do some other experiment without CPAP for now.  The CPAP machine keeps sending the data through a cellular network and doctors, insurance carrier will be able to check the usage daily !
 

Mask for CPAP

”Pillow" type mask

"Nasal" type mask

When I did a trial for CPAP, the device the hospital gave me is from "Res Med".  The product name is "AirSense 10" as I mentioned in the previous post.   For masks which is attached to the device and wear when I sleep, I could try two different types during the trial.  Actually, there are three types of mask I can pick.  (Two of three selections).    "Pillow", "Nasal" and "Full face".

See all type of masks in the vendor's web, Res Med

In my case I picked "Pillow" and "Nasal" since the area the mask covers are small.  I do not like big mask during sleeping.

For myself, the both types worked very well.  I guess "Nasal" type is probably much easy to fit without leaking air.  However, area it covers a little bigger than "Pillow" type and I had a bad experience when I had a congestion in my nose.  One of nights during the trial, I had a hard time to get into sleep with this mask and switched to "Pillow".

I guess it is a good and a bad.  It is sometimes getting loose or out of position during the sleeping.  Those cases were not working properly.  However, it is probably better to continue sleeping even if I have a bad congestion.  Also, it is probably much easy to get into sleep due to less covered area on the face.   So I picked "Pillow" type for long term use.

Overall, it works all right most of time including my actual treatment with CPAP after the trail.

In general, it is really a preference for each person.  One gentle man who got the same session for the trail prefer either "Nasal" or "Full face".  He did not like "Pillow" at all.  I think the key is reasonably comfortable with a mask.  Since people need to ware a mask for long term with a CPAP device.  Getting a better sleep is goal.

The trial system is working very well for me since I could try different type of masks during the trial and I could pick the best one for myself.  I think we could try all of them.  What I was told was just two types at the same time.  As long as I request to swap one of them to the other type, I could try all.  In my case, I was not comfortable with a full face mask and I did not pick it.

CPAP Trial

ResMed AirSense(TM) 10 CPAP

CPAP Trial

In the United States, it is probably popular that people usually purchase CPAP device for the treatment with some insurance coverage.  As a part of process to purchase it with some insurance coverage, the doctor needs to write a prescription to proceed.  Due to this, it is usually required a trial to make sure it works and collect some data for prescription.

For trial, people need to make an appointment to rent a device for trial and instruction of CPAP device.   I made an appointment right after I picked CPAP option for my treatment.  However, I cannot get it right away and I had to wait more than 1 months for the trial.

Finally, I started the trial on June 20, 2018.

Wow!

Here is SPO2 trend with CPAP.

Without CPAP, SPO2 value dropped to near 90% a several times a night.  In this data, you may see a drip in the beginning, however, I had not slept at that time and it might be a false data.  After that, overall, it is much better than without CPAP.

So I do see CPAP helps to improve the symptom a lot.

The other note, I took CPAP mask off after 4am, since I started waking up in a short period after 3am.  The instruction was minimum 4 hours a night.  Therefore, I was not very comfortable and I decided to take it off for the next day.  Even though, I do not see SPO2 drop after that.....

(To be continue ....)

Sleeping position ~ a way to force sleeping on a side!!

Plastic balls in a waist bag

Looking for a better way to force sleeping on a side

It seems that it might help to improve symptoms of sleep apnea when I sleep on a side.  However it is not really easy and hard to insure I am in the position.   It is really hard to avoid moving during sleep and it sometimes I sleep on a side.  Then, the SPO2 value is dropped when I slept on a back.

If I do some internet search, some people mention holding a pillow helps to keep the position.  Also some other people say wearing backpack would help to keep the side position.   However holding a pillow does not help much for my case.  Also, I have some backpacks, but they are dirty since I have been using them outdoor and I do not want to use them in a bed.  But I do not want to buy a backpack just for this purpose.

Plastic balls

Then, an alternate idea is using a waist bag with plastic balls during sleeping.  Due to the balls in the back, it would be uncomfortable when I sleep on a back.  I though it might help to force sleeping on a back.

The result ....

The result was not bad.  I can see some improvement, reducing SPO2 drops during sleeping.  I collected data for a several days and I did see some difference with / without the balls.  There are a couple issues:

• The bag got loose during the sleeping and the back position was not on the back.  Then I can sleep on a back.
• It is not really comfortable.  Every time I was on a back position, I woke up and I could not sleep well since I woke up so often.  I may adopted when I continue to do...  But it was bad the next day during this experiment.

The conclusion is it might help, but it is not very comfortable to wear the waist bag during sleeping with the balls.  For long term, I may be able to adopted when I continue to do.  But just for a short term, it was not very comfortable and did not sleep well.  We might consider softer balls instead of the hard plastic balls

(To be continue ....)

Sleeping position

SPO2 trend during sleeping

(June 2 ~ June 3, 2018)

Sleeping position

I selected to use CPAP to improve the symptom of sleep apnea.  However I need to purchase CPAP and I need to have a trial for a several days before proceed with some insurance coverage in the United States.  For the trail, I needed to make an appointment with a sleep disorder center to rent a CPAP and getting some instruction.  It took more than a month from the day I made the reservation.

In a mean while, I was looking for ways to improve the symptom.  One of possible ways is sleeping position.   My case is a mild sleep apnea, it is OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea).  Therefore it might be a chance to improve to change the sleeping position.  According to the doctor, sleeping on the back would be worse and probably better to try sleeping on a side instead of the back.

It is not easy...., but try!

So, the first thing I tried is try sleeping on a side.  However, it was not really easy.   Only thing I could do was to try sleeping side intentionally.  But during the sleeping, my sleeping position would be changed.   However, I did see some difference if I tried.
Without "trying", SPO2 value dropped below 90% a few times during sleeping.  However, it may reduce the dropping if I try it.

I took data for a week, or 7 days and I did see some improvement from not trying.

It is probably worth to try sleeping on a side ......

(To be continue .....)

Example of Report file ~ SPO2 / Heart rate

Heart Rage (Pulse Rate) and SPO2 summary

Here is an example of the report file.   Once upload the data from the pulse oximeter, the site will generate a report file and the report can be downloaded in the application on a smart phone.  It can be sent via Email with a PDF file.
The report includes summary graph for heart rate (pulse rate, PR), statistics and detail information.

Statistics information for SPO2 and PR

This is a reference data for myself.  I just slept without any special treatments. It does not seem to be very bad, I only saw one big drop to SPO2=90% and a several small drops.  Depending of days, I might see a several big drops.  Therefore, just a data for a night won't be enough to conclude a treatment.  However if there is data for multiple days, we can see a similar trend and that would be probably enough to say the symptom is improved or not.

The problem is we cannot see a raw data which is raw data reading for each sampling.  I sometimes saw some false data which is some drops before getting into sleep.  Depending on contact between the sensor and finger, the reading might not be stable.  I saw this even I collect data in daytime.  If there is such false data, the statistics might be meaning less....  Ideally, it is better to access the raw data to exclude them to analyze the result.  Therefore the valid portion is really plots in the report.

I already collect some data and I will share them in the future posting!

(To be continue ...)

Improvement for Sleep apena ~ need a reference data

As I mentioned in the previous posting, I needed to wait for more than a months for CPAP trial.  In a mean while, I was looking for some way to improve the symptom of sleep apena.

First of all, another thing the doctor suggesting is reducing the weight.  My weight was little over BMI=25 and it might be one of causes of sleep apena.  It is probably true, since my wife mentioned the symptom during sleeping was worse than recently.  Since  my weight was more than what I have now a few years ago.  So weight reduction is one of possible way to improve the symptom.  However, the paper work from the hospital indicated that I might need to reduce more than 10% of the weight to see some difference.  Also, it might not be a cause of the problem in some cases.   But I thought it worth to try it anyway.  So I decided to do weight reduction.

Also, based on the internet search a position when I am sleeping may make some difference.  A side position might improve the symptom, therefore, I also try to sleep on a side instead of on the back.

How to quantify the difference?

Before doing some experiments, I need to know a good way to see a clear difference.  One is a symptom I felt in daytime or after waking up in the morning.   I had some symptom such as strong sleepiness in daytime especially after lunch.  The other thing is that I felt I was really tired when I work up.  They might be a good indication to assess the difference.  However it might not be very clear to quantify.

Pulse oximeter (Watch style)

So the other idea came up is to measure SPO2 value with pulse oximeter.   Since I like hiking and I often went to Mt. Whitney where is above 12,000 feet.  Many people gets symptoms for high altitude sickness.   One of way to quantify the impact of elevation is SPO2.   So I have a pulse oximeter to check SPO2 duirng hiking in higher elevation.

However, the problem was one I had was not be able to capture SPO2 value periodically over night.  It can measure a real time value.  Therefore I needed to look for a one which can capture the data over night.  There are some different types of pulse oximeter on Amazon.  Finally I got a watch style pulse oximeter to measure SPO2 during sleeping.  The model name is CONTEC CMS50K.
It can capture overnight data and upload the data to their site to get a report through a smart phone (iPhone or Android phones).

It seems to be working well to capture some reference data for the comparison.

(To be continue ....)

Sleep study result ~ my case

Sleep Study at home

After I visited a doctor in sleep disorder lab, the doctor suggested to have a sleep study at home.  Based on the result, I might need to have another study at the hospital (lab).   A day before the study, I stopped by the lab and got instruction how put all sensors when I sleep.  The sensors I wore:

• Pulse oximeter
• Breathing sensor (chest and stomach)
• leg motion sensor (near knee on the both legs)
• snoring sensor (microphone on the neck)
• air flow sensor (on the nose)

Then, I needed to summarize the sleeping time including when I woke up.

After the study, the doctor analyzed the all sensor data and review it. 

My result is AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index) is 7.1.  According to the doctor, if it is less than 5, then it is considered as a normal.  So my case is 7.1 and it is a mild sleep apnea.   The other data point is the lowest SPO2 value is 90%.   It is almost impossible to have such low number in the elevation around my home (about 100 feet).   I only saw such low value when I hike to above 10,000 feet.  It indicates something happening to me.  According to the doctor, it is not a good idea to ignore even if my case is mild symptom.  I need some treatment to improve the symptom.

The doctor suggested the following 3 options:

1. Using CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) device

2. Using a Sleep splint

3. Physical surgery

In terms of the cost, the doctor told me opton 1 (CPAP) would be lowest cost with some insurance coverage in the US.  The doctor also told me it is probably worth to try this first.

For this option, I need to purchase a CPAP device.  However during the process, I need to do a trial with a rental equipment and collect some data.  Based on the data and it works, the doctor gives me a prescription to proceed to purchase with insurance coverage.  To start a trial, I need to make an appointment with the sleep lab to rent and get the instruction.   I call them to make an appointment right away, however, I had to wait for more than 1 month to start the trial.

(To be continue)  

Sharing my "sleep apnea" experience ~ Because of my aging / just lack of sleep!?

Sleep Apnea Experience

About a months ago, I was told that I had "Sleep apnea".   After that I started a blog to share my experience in a blog in Japanese and I saw many access from other countries other than Japan.   So, I also decided to write my experience in English as well.   The contents might not be the same, but I will share my experience and some improvement plan in this blog.

I have some typical symptom!
Before I was told the result of diagnosis, I had typical symptoms for sleep apnea.  However I had never thought I had sleep apnea.  The symptom is that I was getting very sleep after lunch and I also felt I was very tired after waking up in the morning.  However I though they were due to aging or lack of sleeping since the symptom started a few years ago and I was getting fifty years old.

Background  to find sleep apnea
The reason it was found was to see a doctor for different reason which was a chest pain.  Actually, it is probably not a pain.  I would say I had some strange feeling on my left chest.  It happens rarely, but getting more often since late last year.  Since it was only on the left chest / back, I wondered if I have some heart related issue.  That was the reason why I saw a doctor.

After visiting a doctor I had done blood testings, cardiac diagnostics including some stress type testing.  All result showed no issues.  The doctor gave me a query to look for some other possibilities.  One thing what my wife told me that she thought my breathing stopped some time during sleeping.  But it was long time ago and it was not happening the time I had the symptom.  So I thought it was nothing related for the symptom I was facing.  But the doctor suggested to see a specialist in sleep disorder dept just in case and I had a sleep study at home.  Finally, the doctor found I had mild sleep apena.  My case is mild sleep apena, but the doctor suggested to start some treatment since it may become some serious result if I do not do anything now.

After my internet research, I found out it might be getting really serious result as well.  This is how sleep apnea is found in my case.

(To be continue)