Overnight saturation monitoring results

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

I have just discovered these forums and am hoping somebody might be able to help me here.

I had an overnight saturation monitoring test done Monday night and yesterday I got my results. First of all let me just say that I normally do very well on this test and I just have it once a year to keep the doctor happy. I am normally a fairly healthy CFer if that's possible! Ok so I got my results and it says my saturation is mostly 88 to 92 and it dipped on 24 separate occasions down to as low as 76%. Ok I am freaking out a bit here because this has never happened to me before. The doctor asked if I have been having problems in the early morning so I mentioned I'd been getting headaches and feeling sick. Now he thinks I could be retaining CO2 and so he wants me to have a few more tests. I don't know what this will be because this situation hasn't cropped up before. Has this happened to you? The doctor is ringing back later today but I want to know what the next step might be.

Jenna x

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

I have just discovered these forums and am hoping somebody might be able to help me here.

I had an overnight saturation monitoring test done Monday night and yesterday I got my results. First of all let me just say that I normally do very well on this test and I just have it once a year to keep the doctor happy. I am normally a fairly healthy CFer if that's possible! Ok so I got my results and it says my saturation is mostly 88 to 92 and it dipped on 24 separate occasions down to as low as 76%. Ok I am freaking out a bit here because this has never happened to me before. The doctor asked if I have been having problems in the early morning so I mentioned I'd been getting headaches and feeling sick. Now he thinks I could be retaining CO2 and so he wants me to have a few more tests. I don't know what this will be because this situation hasn't cropped up before. Has this happened to you? The doctor is ringing back later today but I want to know what the next step might be.

Jenna x

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

I have just discovered these forums and am hoping somebody might be able to help me here.

I had an overnight saturation monitoring test done Monday night and yesterday I got my results. First of all let me just say that I normally do very well on this test and I just have it once a year to keep the doctor happy. I am normally a fairly healthy CFer if that's possible! Ok so I got my results and it says my saturation is mostly 88 to 92 and it dipped on 24 separate occasions down to as low as 76%. Ok I am freaking out a bit here because this has never happened to me before. The doctor asked if I have been having problems in the early morning so I mentioned I'd been getting headaches and feeling sick. Now he thinks I could be retaining CO2 and so he wants me to have a few more tests. I don't know what this will be because this situation hasn't cropped up before. Has this happened to you? The doctor is ringing back later today but I want to know what the next step might be.

Jenna x

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

I have just discovered these forums and am hoping somebody might be able to help me here.

I had an overnight saturation monitoring test done Monday night and yesterday I got my results. First of all let me just say that I normally do very well on this test and I just have it once a year to keep the doctor happy. I am normally a fairly healthy CFer if that's possible! Ok so I got my results and it says my saturation is mostly 88 to 92 and it dipped on 24 separate occasions down to as low as 76%. Ok I am freaking out a bit here because this has never happened to me before. The doctor asked if I have been having problems in the early morning so I mentioned I'd been getting headaches and feeling sick. Now he thinks I could be retaining CO2 and so he wants me to have a few more tests. I don't know what this will be because this situation hasn't cropped up before. Has this happened to you? The doctor is ringing back later today but I want to know what the next step might be.

Jenna x

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

I have just discovered these forums and am hoping somebody might be able to help me here.

I had an overnight saturation monitoring test done Monday night and yesterday I got my results. First of all let me just say that I normally do very well on this test and I just have it once a year to keep the doctor happy. I am normally a fairly healthy CFer if that's possible! Ok so I got my results and it says my saturation is mostly 88 to 92 and it dipped on 24 separate occasions down to as low as 76%. Ok I am freaking out a bit here because this has never happened to me before. The doctor asked if I have been having problems in the early morning so I mentioned I'd been getting headaches and feeling sick. Now he thinks I could be retaining CO2 and so he wants me to have a few more tests. I don't know what this will be because this situation hasn't cropped up before. Has this happened to you? The doctor is ringing back later today but I want to know what the next step might be.

Jenna x

lightNlife · Aug 22, 2007

Hi Jenna,
I'm glad you joined the group here at cysticfibrosis.com. I'm glad to hear that at this point you're only in the mild stage of CF. The longer you can hold onto that the better.

I recently had the overnight o2 study done. The range you mentioned, 88 to 92 is considered a "safe" range, even with CF. The dipping may or may not be significant depending on whether: 1) it dipped low and stayed low 2) how long it was at the lower levels.

When you say it dipped on 24 separate occasions, do you mean there were only 24 numbers that were lower than the safe zone? What did it dip down to? Sometimes the dip is merely the result of the probe getting pinched (perhaps if you closed your fingers around it tightly in your sleep) or by if at any point your fingertip was higher than your heart and was somehow not getting direct bloodflow to the area.

Try not to freak out. It can be scary to think about our bodies not getting the proper amounts of oxygen, but it's not time to worry yet. The next step will likely be to repeat the study and see if the same things happen. There are a lot of things that could cause numbers to jump a bit. If you've been having headaches and feeling sick in the mornings, you may be at the start of a sinus infection.

Although 76 is a disconcerting number, you only have to worry if it stayed at that level for an extended period of time. I have had numbers like that on my pulse-oximeter at times just from the unit re-setting itself after I've moved around a lot. It usually shows 76 for several seconds, then corrects itself and shows 93 (or higher.)

Like I said, don't freak out <img src=""> In addition to re-doing the overnight study, something else they might do next by way of testing is to have you do a rest and exercise test. I just did a quick calculation assuming that you got 8 hours of sleep during the test. If that's the case and if you only had 24 separate 1-time readings that were low, then 95% of the time your O2 sats were fine. In order for the doc to be able to tell if you're only dropping low when you are deeply asleep or if you dip down on other occasions during the day, you'll probably be asked to do a rest and exercise test.

That may or may not be done with an arterial blood gas test, which is a blood test which can detect if there is a CO2 buildup. I did the rest and exercise test when my doctor wanted to get a better idea of whether I needed to be on oxygen. Another thing they might do is conduct a full-scale pulmonary function test. Basically that's the more complicated version of spirometry--the kind where you have to do the short, panting breaths in that enclosure thing (I call it the phone booth.)

I hope it all goes well for you. I'm willing to bet that you have nothing to worry about and that you might not even need supplemental night-time oxygen.

lightNlife · Aug 22, 2007

Hi Jenna,
I'm glad you joined the group here at cysticfibrosis.com. I'm glad to hear that at this point you're only in the mild stage of CF. The longer you can hold onto that the better.

I recently had the overnight o2 study done. The range you mentioned, 88 to 92 is considered a "safe" range, even with CF. The dipping may or may not be significant depending on whether: 1) it dipped low and stayed low 2) how long it was at the lower levels.

When you say it dipped on 24 separate occasions, do you mean there were only 24 numbers that were lower than the safe zone? What did it dip down to? Sometimes the dip is merely the result of the probe getting pinched (perhaps if you closed your fingers around it tightly in your sleep) or by if at any point your fingertip was higher than your heart and was somehow not getting direct bloodflow to the area.

Try not to freak out. It can be scary to think about our bodies not getting the proper amounts of oxygen, but it's not time to worry yet. The next step will likely be to repeat the study and see if the same things happen. There are a lot of things that could cause numbers to jump a bit. If you've been having headaches and feeling sick in the mornings, you may be at the start of a sinus infection.

Although 76 is a disconcerting number, you only have to worry if it stayed at that level for an extended period of time. I have had numbers like that on my pulse-oximeter at times just from the unit re-setting itself after I've moved around a lot. It usually shows 76 for several seconds, then corrects itself and shows 93 (or higher.)

Like I said, don't freak out <img src=""> In addition to re-doing the overnight study, something else they might do next by way of testing is to have you do a rest and exercise test. I just did a quick calculation assuming that you got 8 hours of sleep during the test. If that's the case and if you only had 24 separate 1-time readings that were low, then 95% of the time your O2 sats were fine. In order for the doc to be able to tell if you're only dropping low when you are deeply asleep or if you dip down on other occasions during the day, you'll probably be asked to do a rest and exercise test.

That may or may not be done with an arterial blood gas test, which is a blood test which can detect if there is a CO2 buildup. I did the rest and exercise test when my doctor wanted to get a better idea of whether I needed to be on oxygen. Another thing they might do is conduct a full-scale pulmonary function test. Basically that's the more complicated version of spirometry--the kind where you have to do the short, panting breaths in that enclosure thing (I call it the phone booth.)

I hope it all goes well for you. I'm willing to bet that you have nothing to worry about and that you might not even need supplemental night-time oxygen.

lightNlife · Aug 22, 2007

Hi Jenna,
I'm glad you joined the group here at cysticfibrosis.com. I'm glad to hear that at this point you're only in the mild stage of CF. The longer you can hold onto that the better.

I recently had the overnight o2 study done. The range you mentioned, 88 to 92 is considered a "safe" range, even with CF. The dipping may or may not be significant depending on whether: 1) it dipped low and stayed low 2) how long it was at the lower levels.

When you say it dipped on 24 separate occasions, do you mean there were only 24 numbers that were lower than the safe zone? What did it dip down to? Sometimes the dip is merely the result of the probe getting pinched (perhaps if you closed your fingers around it tightly in your sleep) or by if at any point your fingertip was higher than your heart and was somehow not getting direct bloodflow to the area.

Try not to freak out. It can be scary to think about our bodies not getting the proper amounts of oxygen, but it's not time to worry yet. The next step will likely be to repeat the study and see if the same things happen. There are a lot of things that could cause numbers to jump a bit. If you've been having headaches and feeling sick in the mornings, you may be at the start of a sinus infection.

Although 76 is a disconcerting number, you only have to worry if it stayed at that level for an extended period of time. I have had numbers like that on my pulse-oximeter at times just from the unit re-setting itself after I've moved around a lot. It usually shows 76 for several seconds, then corrects itself and shows 93 (or higher.)

Like I said, don't freak out <img src=""> In addition to re-doing the overnight study, something else they might do next by way of testing is to have you do a rest and exercise test. I just did a quick calculation assuming that you got 8 hours of sleep during the test. If that's the case and if you only had 24 separate 1-time readings that were low, then 95% of the time your O2 sats were fine. In order for the doc to be able to tell if you're only dropping low when you are deeply asleep or if you dip down on other occasions during the day, you'll probably be asked to do a rest and exercise test.

That may or may not be done with an arterial blood gas test, which is a blood test which can detect if there is a CO2 buildup. I did the rest and exercise test when my doctor wanted to get a better idea of whether I needed to be on oxygen. Another thing they might do is conduct a full-scale pulmonary function test. Basically that's the more complicated version of spirometry--the kind where you have to do the short, panting breaths in that enclosure thing (I call it the phone booth.)

I hope it all goes well for you. I'm willing to bet that you have nothing to worry about and that you might not even need supplemental night-time oxygen.

lightNlife · Aug 22, 2007

Hi Jenna,
I'm glad you joined the group here at cysticfibrosis.com. I'm glad to hear that at this point you're only in the mild stage of CF. The longer you can hold onto that the better.

I recently had the overnight o2 study done. The range you mentioned, 88 to 92 is considered a "safe" range, even with CF. The dipping may or may not be significant depending on whether: 1) it dipped low and stayed low 2) how long it was at the lower levels.

When you say it dipped on 24 separate occasions, do you mean there were only 24 numbers that were lower than the safe zone? What did it dip down to? Sometimes the dip is merely the result of the probe getting pinched (perhaps if you closed your fingers around it tightly in your sleep) or by if at any point your fingertip was higher than your heart and was somehow not getting direct bloodflow to the area.

Try not to freak out. It can be scary to think about our bodies not getting the proper amounts of oxygen, but it's not time to worry yet. The next step will likely be to repeat the study and see if the same things happen. There are a lot of things that could cause numbers to jump a bit. If you've been having headaches and feeling sick in the mornings, you may be at the start of a sinus infection.

Although 76 is a disconcerting number, you only have to worry if it stayed at that level for an extended period of time. I have had numbers like that on my pulse-oximeter at times just from the unit re-setting itself after I've moved around a lot. It usually shows 76 for several seconds, then corrects itself and shows 93 (or higher.)

Like I said, don't freak out <img src=""> In addition to re-doing the overnight study, something else they might do next by way of testing is to have you do a rest and exercise test. I just did a quick calculation assuming that you got 8 hours of sleep during the test. If that's the case and if you only had 24 separate 1-time readings that were low, then 95% of the time your O2 sats were fine. In order for the doc to be able to tell if you're only dropping low when you are deeply asleep or if you dip down on other occasions during the day, you'll probably be asked to do a rest and exercise test.

That may or may not be done with an arterial blood gas test, which is a blood test which can detect if there is a CO2 buildup. I did the rest and exercise test when my doctor wanted to get a better idea of whether I needed to be on oxygen. Another thing they might do is conduct a full-scale pulmonary function test. Basically that's the more complicated version of spirometry--the kind where you have to do the short, panting breaths in that enclosure thing (I call it the phone booth.)

I hope it all goes well for you. I'm willing to bet that you have nothing to worry about and that you might not even need supplemental night-time oxygen.

lightNlife · Aug 22, 2007

Hi Jenna,
I'm glad you joined the group here at cysticfibrosis.com. I'm glad to hear that at this point you're only in the mild stage of CF. The longer you can hold onto that the better.

I recently had the overnight o2 study done. The range you mentioned, 88 to 92 is considered a "safe" range, even with CF. The dipping may or may not be significant depending on whether: 1) it dipped low and stayed low 2) how long it was at the lower levels.

When you say it dipped on 24 separate occasions, do you mean there were only 24 numbers that were lower than the safe zone? What did it dip down to? Sometimes the dip is merely the result of the probe getting pinched (perhaps if you closed your fingers around it tightly in your sleep) or by if at any point your fingertip was higher than your heart and was somehow not getting direct bloodflow to the area.

Try not to freak out. It can be scary to think about our bodies not getting the proper amounts of oxygen, but it's not time to worry yet. The next step will likely be to repeat the study and see if the same things happen. There are a lot of things that could cause numbers to jump a bit. If you've been having headaches and feeling sick in the mornings, you may be at the start of a sinus infection.

Although 76 is a disconcerting number, you only have to worry if it stayed at that level for an extended period of time. I have had numbers like that on my pulse-oximeter at times just from the unit re-setting itself after I've moved around a lot. It usually shows 76 for several seconds, then corrects itself and shows 93 (or higher.)

Like I said, don't freak out <img src=""> In addition to re-doing the overnight study, something else they might do next by way of testing is to have you do a rest and exercise test. I just did a quick calculation assuming that you got 8 hours of sleep during the test. If that's the case and if you only had 24 separate 1-time readings that were low, then 95% of the time your O2 sats were fine. In order for the doc to be able to tell if you're only dropping low when you are deeply asleep or if you dip down on other occasions during the day, you'll probably be asked to do a rest and exercise test.

That may or may not be done with an arterial blood gas test, which is a blood test which can detect if there is a CO2 buildup. I did the rest and exercise test when my doctor wanted to get a better idea of whether I needed to be on oxygen. Another thing they might do is conduct a full-scale pulmonary function test. Basically that's the more complicated version of spirometry--the kind where you have to do the short, panting breaths in that enclosure thing (I call it the phone booth.)

I hope it all goes well for you. I'm willing to bet that you have nothing to worry about and that you might not even need supplemental night-time oxygen.

kayleesgrandma · Aug 22, 2007

I second what Lauren said--I wouldn't worry about anything yet. Actually all of us have our POX go down at night as we breathe slower and we go into deep sleep. I work in a hospital and we have average POX in that range, most people are 92 and above but we also get people that are in the 88-92 range alot. Like Lauren said, you should only be concerned if you had sustained levels below 86 for long periods of time. Hope everything is ok for you.

By the way, welcome to the site. Hope you discover that you can have great support and learning experiences here! Look forward to hearing from you more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

kayleesgrandma · Aug 22, 2007

I second what Lauren said--I wouldn't worry about anything yet. Actually all of us have our POX go down at night as we breathe slower and we go into deep sleep. I work in a hospital and we have average POX in that range, most people are 92 and above but we also get people that are in the 88-92 range alot. Like Lauren said, you should only be concerned if you had sustained levels below 86 for long periods of time. Hope everything is ok for you.

By the way, welcome to the site. Hope you discover that you can have great support and learning experiences here! Look forward to hearing from you more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

kayleesgrandma · Aug 22, 2007

I second what Lauren said--I wouldn't worry about anything yet. Actually all of us have our POX go down at night as we breathe slower and we go into deep sleep. I work in a hospital and we have average POX in that range, most people are 92 and above but we also get people that are in the 88-92 range alot. Like Lauren said, you should only be concerned if you had sustained levels below 86 for long periods of time. Hope everything is ok for you.

By the way, welcome to the site. Hope you discover that you can have great support and learning experiences here! Look forward to hearing from you more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

kayleesgrandma · Aug 22, 2007

I second what Lauren said--I wouldn't worry about anything yet. Actually all of us have our POX go down at night as we breathe slower and we go into deep sleep. I work in a hospital and we have average POX in that range, most people are 92 and above but we also get people that are in the 88-92 range alot. Like Lauren said, you should only be concerned if you had sustained levels below 86 for long periods of time. Hope everything is ok for you.

By the way, welcome to the site. Hope you discover that you can have great support and learning experiences here! Look forward to hearing from you more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

kayleesgrandma · Aug 22, 2007

I second what Lauren said--I wouldn't worry about anything yet. Actually all of us have our POX go down at night as we breathe slower and we go into deep sleep. I work in a hospital and we have average POX in that range, most people are 92 and above but we also get people that are in the 88-92 range alot. Like Lauren said, you should only be concerned if you had sustained levels below 86 for long periods of time. Hope everything is ok for you.

By the way, welcome to the site. Hope you discover that you can have great support and learning experiences here! Look forward to hearing from you more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

Thanks for your replies. Pesky dr never did get back to me with some more info. I asked for a complete breakdown of episodes etc - well as much info as they can give anyway. Looks like I will have to start pestering him tomorrow! Thing is I asked his secretary to explain that I was very worried and would really appreciate a call - I hate it the way doctors can play with your emotions like that - I know its not intentional. Maybe I didn't get my point across very well about how worried I was. I feel really down tonight like this is the beginning of a downhill spiral and for someone who has always dfelt they got away with more than most other CFers that takes a bit of getting used to. Hopefully it isn't a downward trend...

thanks for listening to me drone on!

Jx

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

Thanks for your replies. Pesky dr never did get back to me with some more info. I asked for a complete breakdown of episodes etc - well as much info as they can give anyway. Looks like I will have to start pestering him tomorrow! Thing is I asked his secretary to explain that I was very worried and would really appreciate a call - I hate it the way doctors can play with your emotions like that - I know its not intentional. Maybe I didn't get my point across very well about how worried I was. I feel really down tonight like this is the beginning of a downhill spiral and for someone who has always dfelt they got away with more than most other CFers that takes a bit of getting used to. Hopefully it isn't a downward trend...

thanks for listening to me drone on!

Jx

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

Thanks for your replies. Pesky dr never did get back to me with some more info. I asked for a complete breakdown of episodes etc - well as much info as they can give anyway. Looks like I will have to start pestering him tomorrow! Thing is I asked his secretary to explain that I was very worried and would really appreciate a call - I hate it the way doctors can play with your emotions like that - I know its not intentional. Maybe I didn't get my point across very well about how worried I was. I feel really down tonight like this is the beginning of a downhill spiral and for someone who has always dfelt they got away with more than most other CFers that takes a bit of getting used to. Hopefully it isn't a downward trend...

thanks for listening to me drone on!

Jx

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

Thanks for your replies. Pesky dr never did get back to me with some more info. I asked for a complete breakdown of episodes etc - well as much info as they can give anyway. Looks like I will have to start pestering him tomorrow! Thing is I asked his secretary to explain that I was very worried and would really appreciate a call - I hate it the way doctors can play with your emotions like that - I know its not intentional. Maybe I didn't get my point across very well about how worried I was. I feel really down tonight like this is the beginning of a downhill spiral and for someone who has always dfelt they got away with more than most other CFers that takes a bit of getting used to. Hopefully it isn't a downward trend...

thanks for listening to me drone on!

Jx

jennastroitzel · Aug 22, 2007

Thanks for your replies. Pesky dr never did get back to me with some more info. I asked for a complete breakdown of episodes etc - well as much info as they can give anyway. Looks like I will have to start pestering him tomorrow! Thing is I asked his secretary to explain that I was very worried and would really appreciate a call - I hate it the way doctors can play with your emotions like that - I know its not intentional. Maybe I didn't get my point across very well about how worried I was. I feel really down tonight like this is the beginning of a downhill spiral and for someone who has always dfelt they got away with more than most other CFers that takes a bit of getting used to. Hopefully it isn't a downward trend...

thanks for listening to me drone on!

Jx

Overnight saturation monitoring results

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