On 17 Mar 2007 23:22:51 GMT, wrote:

John F. Eldredge wrote:

A few weeks ago, I posted a message about having to visit the lung
doctor again, because my sleep apnea had gotten worse. As it turned
out, I didn't have to go through a full sleep study, but instead wore
a blood-oxygen sensor clipped to my finger all one night, recording my
oxygen levels in a portable device. I then mailed the recorder back
to the doctor. The end result was that they had to increase the air
pressure setting in my CPAP machine, but this was sufficient to bring
my blood oxygen levels back up to normal. I am back to feeling fully
rested, not half-asleep, when I get up in the morning.

That is great news! I wondered if that was the problem. As the
condition progresses (which happens as you get older and the tissues
become softer), you'll probably need occasional adjustments to the
pressure.

I think I might need another sleep study, or at least, something like
what you had. I usually wake up feeling poorly rested, even if I sleep
10 hours.

Glad you're feeling better!

Ask your doctor if he or she has a measuring device like the one that
was used to test me. I think it was called an oxymeter, or something
like that. It has a piece that clips onto one of your fingers and
shines a red light down into the fingernail; analyzing the reflected
light measures your blood oxygen level. This sensor is attached by a
wire to a gadget about the size of a paperback book, which keeps a log
of your pulse and blood oxygen level from the time it is turned on
until the time it is turned off. You put the clip on your finger at
bedtime, wear it all night, then turn the meter off in the morning and
return it to the doctor's office (my doctor supplied a postage-paid
Federal Express shipping envelope). Under normal conditions, your
blood oxygen level should stay around 95% or above all night long. If
it goes much below normal, a sleep study is advisable.

A preliminary test like this is considerably cheaper than a
full-fledged sleep study, where (to tell those who haven't gone
through one) you sleep all night under observation, and with EEG wires
on your skull, and also in my case EKG wires on my chest, so that they
can record what physiological states you are going through.

If you are poorly rested for some reason other than apnea, the
oxygen-level test may not reveal it, and a full sleep study would be
needed.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria