sleep oximetry

I haven’t posted in a while as I’ve been doing Dan Neuffer’s ANS Rewire program and decided to focus on just doing that rather than providing updates on my progress. He even suggests not blogging about the illness as part of the program and I’ve been following his advice.

However, something significant happened part-way through the program: I did a sleep study in hospital during November last year and the results showed that I have severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The sleep specialist believes this would explain why I’m tired all the time.

I had put off doing a comprehensive sleep study because an overnight sleep oximetry test I did at home shortly after falling ill over 10 years ago showed no abnormality in my blood oxygen level. The test involved sleeping with a machine which measures blood oxygen via a sensor clipped on my finger. In someone with sleep apnea, you would normally expect their blood oxygen level to dip significantly each time they experience a blocking of their airway, called an apnea. In my case the result was sufficiently normal that my doctor at the time didn’t recommend any further action.

I’m also not in a high risk group for sleep apnea since I’m not overweight, I don’t drink and don’t smoke. However I have noticed that when I lie on my back I wake up choking, and a partner recently noticed that I wake up in the middle of the night wheezing. On this basis, the sleep specialist I saw in November suggested doing a full sleep study. (more…)