Blood Oxygen Monitor

[EwanJon]

Hi there,

When I was first diagnosed my hospital used a monitor device clipped to my finger to monitor how severe my apnea is.

I would like to buy one but have no idea what to get. As I understand it, one can monitor and use the data on a pc to chart how things are working (or not).

Can anyone recommend a good one that works with Macs?

Many thanks,

Ewan

[Fredxx]

It is a Pulse Oximeter. A few of the forum members have them and I recently got hold of one too.

The one I ( and a few others here) have is the Contec CMS50F, which is worn like a (bulky) wristwatch, with a short lead to the sensor on your finger. It monitors the pulse rate and Blood Oxygen saturation through the night, and you can download it onto you computer to look at with the software they supply. Should cost a little over £60 off ebay and gets shipped from China, so there may be a few days wait for it to arrive!

No idea if they do software for a Mac though

[EwanJon]

Hi Fred,
Thanks for the reply.
I can't seem to find anywhere selling that one ? Ebay don't have any either.
I don't suppose you happen to know of any other recommended brands do you?
Thanks,
Ewan

[EwanJon]

Just found one on Amazon. £132.

Sorry, and now on Ebay. Not sure about ordering from China. Don't we get stung for import duty? Issues with returns / faults etc. Hmmm....

Thanks,
Ewan

[Fredxx]

Just checked on Ebay, using the search "Pulse Oximeter Wrist" I get 4 items ranging from £66.46 through to £149.99 - the expensive one is someone UK based cashing in on people worried about ordering from China or Hong Kong!

As for getting stung with import duty - didn't cost me anything and was delivered in less than a week (they quote up to 4 weeks). I think medical equipment like this, and round this price is exempt anyway.

They tend to put up new ones regularly, so if it is over £70 including delivery, wait a few days and look again

[countyDownMum]

Hi,

My son bought me a fingertip pulse-oximeter at christmas, to help me monitor my sleep apnoea.

The device is a Contec CMS-50E, from clinicalguard.com. It can connect to the computer using the supplied USB cable, or via a Bluetooth wireless link. It can be used as a real-time monitor, during exercise (not watersports!), or can be set to make an overnight recording, for later analysis.

As far as I know the reporting software is only available for windows. It produces detailed reports and identifies any sleep-apnoea events.

The best price currently, seems to be from lambdasport (UK £ 73.87)
[link: http://is.gd/l3R7r5 ]

We use macs in this household, but have set up an XP system using parallels desktop so that we can use windows applcations where necessary.

countyDownMum

[EwanJon]

OK cool. Thanks. I'll have another look when I get back from Wales next week.

[ElleCee]

Brought myself an oximeter from China and it arrived a few days ago, much quicker than I expected. It is a CMS50F as suggested by Symmit and cost £61.01 I am well impressed.
However, I used it last night for the 1st time and have got no idea what the readings mean!
I can see I had some aponeas but where should I draw the line for the machine to pick up events, should the oxigen level be set at under 90 or lower or higher?
How long should I put in for the events tolast, 10 seconds or lower or higher?
The instruction book is great, tells you how to set it all up and record and everything but it doesn't tell you how to read the data!!
Any clever clogs out there want to help poor little 'ol me?

Lorraine x

[symmit]

I leave mine at default - best thing to do is print the results and interpret them by hand. Look for a drop in saturation that's followed by a climb in pulse, that's normally a sign of an apnoea.

[ElleCee]

Hi Symmit,
I did this test without using the cpap.
My SP02 level only dropped below 88 about 31 times over the whole night 22.30 to 9.30am (I had a lay in!) The majority being around 5am then again at around 8am
My O2 started off at 90 -95 until and my pulse rate was around 70 but it dipped to below 50 for most of the night.
Except of course when the 02 level went down the pulse went up too.
Now I suppose I should do the test again using the cpap and see what happens.
To my mind it is looking good, am I right?
Thanks
Lorraine

[Tigers Fan]

"Except of course when the 02 level went down the pulse went up too." were probably apnoeas.

You seem to be jumping head first into the newbie trap and ignoring what you know by now! One night's data tells you diddly until it is shown to be typical by another three night's data. We can all have a good night or a bad night or anywhere in between!

Compare four night's data, see where you are at. Then another four night's data with the CPAP. Conpare the with amd the without data and you can see the differences CPAP makes for you.

Why are you still in doubt about needing CPAP? Four nights without will tell you if you do or do not. Read the summary page - it tells you how many events you had. An event roughly, sorta, kinda equates to an apnoea for the purpose you are using it for.

TF

[symmit]

Hi Symmit,
I did this test without using the cpap.
My SP02 level only dropped below 88 about 31 times over the whole night 22.30 to 9.30am (I had a lay in!) The majority being around 5am then again at around 8am

Firstly... I am not a doctor

What was the time below 88? 31 drops below 88 isn't a huge number across ten hours, however I'd be concerned as to how much time it's low.

I don't check mine every night but last time I looked it dropped 3 times below 88 in the night...

My O2 started off at 90 -95 until and my pulse rate was around 70 but it dipped to below 50 for most of the night.
Except of course when the 02 level went down the pulse went up too.
Now I suppose I should do the test again using the cpap and see what happens.
To my mind it is looking good, am I right?
Thanks
Lorraine

Pulse sounds good, but O2 drops and pulse rises is one of the signs of an apnoea. You're right, you need to try again with the cpap and compare. I expect you'll be pleasantly (or unpleasantly if you're wanting to quit cpap) surprised.

[ElleCee]

Hi TF,
I don't appear to have a summary report. All I have is a 4 page print out. I can't find where to save it let alone get any more info out of it. Neither is there anywhere that I can see on how to read the thing.
The dips vary between 3 and 40 seconds but most are around 30 seconds
There are little blocks on the print out of varying sizes and I have not a clue at to what they are.
The booklet only gives directions on how to use it not on how to read it
You are right of course about doing it for a few nights and I will do, I was just excited about having done one and getting the thing to work!
Lorraine

[symmit]

When you go to print you have a choice of full, summary or analysis reports.

If you get yourself a pdf printer (I use primopdf, it's free) you can make PDF files and post them here

[ElleCee]

Thanks,
I just found out how to get the full reports !!
Is there any particular part I should be looking at?
Is there a bit that says what my AHI is? (what ever that means!)

Lorraine