Can anyone understand an oximeter print-out?

[ElleCee]

I have been given copies of my first and my most recent print-outs but don't know where to begin to understand what it all means.
Does anyone know how to read them?

Regards
Lorraine

[Tigers Fan]

The real answer ......

Hi Lorraine

........ to your question is - James.

But as he is still away, give us some numbers and get some opinions and informed-ish guesses.

TF

[Tricia]

Just guesssing here after seeing my print outs at the hospital...

How long you wore your mask for each night;
How often you stopped breathing, if at all (shown by little red lollipops!);
How much air pressure you were getting.

Hope this helps.

[Alleycat]

Looking at the trace.. if it is normal then it should be fairly flat with not too many spikes and should sit around 97% If you look at the numbers then the number of 4% dips is called your oxygen desaturation index and is a bit like AHI - so up to 5/hour is normal. If there are periods where the trace goes down and stays down for a period rather than bouncing up and down then this suggest something called hypoventilation- ie you are not breathing adequately. The bouncing up and down is due to apnoeas/hypopnoeas, so as soon as it ends the level comes back to baseline. The other 2 things to look at in all the numbers on an oximetry print out is the average saturation and the time spent below 90%.
Hope this helps
AC
xxx