Dangers Oxygen Desaturation
Waking up with headaches in the morning can put a bad haze on your day. Especially if you wake up feeling tired, as if you didn’t receive enough rejuvenating sleep for a big day! It can definitely put a stick in all of the goals and plans that you intended to accomplish for the day.
We spend a major part of our lives sleeping. Most people sleep for 1/3 of their life! Many of those who have trouble sleeping or feeling well rested may be experiencing similar symptoms to those who have sleep disorders.
Some of the most common symptoms such as daytime fatigue, snoring throughout the night, issues focusing, teeth grinding, irritability, exhaustion, high blood pressure, mental health conditions, insomnia, gasping or choking during sleep, and even morning headaches can point towards a underlying health issue.
What is Oxygen Desaturation?
Oxygen Desaturation is when the blood does not have the correct percentage of oxygen. Any type of drop in oxygen of blood is called a desaturation. One way to find out if you may be experiencing oxygen desaturation is by taking a home sleep diagnostic test to see if you are having a lower oxygen saturation of the blood. If a person has oxygen desaturation it can lead to consequences in a person’s short and long-term health, and can lead to heart disease and dementia.
On the other hand, oxygen saturation is just the measurement of oxygen in the blood. A Normal blood oxygen saturation level would be 96-97%. Any kind of drop below a saturation level of 90% is mild desaturation. If a person’s desaturation goes down below 89% is it moderate desaturation, and anything below 80% is a severe desaturation of oxygen.
The Oxygen Desaturation Index is a type of measurement of inadequate oxygen in the blood when a person is asleep. This begins calculation which is the mean number of desaturation episodes per hour of sleep. The oxygen percentage levels can change especially when a person may be asleep. This occurs when a person drops from the baseline of oxygen multiple times per hour of sleep.
This index score can tell if the desaturations are frequent, infrequent, normal, mild, moderate, severe. However, this does not tell or identify why the desaturation is occurring. A doctor may be able to aid in finding the cause of desaturation by reviewing history of medical issues, examination, and may require you to perform tests pertaining to your oxygen levels along with saturation levels.
Your doctor would determine the cause of your desaturation by considering your medical history, physical examination, and possibly other diagnostic tests as well.
What causes desaturations?
Desaturations of oxygen can be caused by health conditions or illnesses while you are awake or asleep. Most of the oxygen desaturations occur when a person is asleep. This can be caused by the presence of an underlying health condition, such as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is the top cause for desaturation of oxygen during night.
How do I know if I have oxygen desaturations?
One way to find out if you may be experiencing oxygen desaturation is by taking a home sleep diagnostic test to see if you are having a lower oxygen saturation of the blood. You can also try an overnight oximeter or an in-lab polysomnogram.
If you are interested in trying any of the previously listed options, please reach out to your medical provider for more information.
Oxygen Desaturations and Sleep Apnea
The previously stated symptoms point towards Obstructive Sleep Apnea. If a person experiences those symptoms or similar symptoms, they may be at risk for a desaturation of oxygen. Sleep apnea occurs when the body does not breathe normally during sleep, causing the person to jolt awake just to gasp for a breath.
When a person experiences longer and deeper oxygen desaturations, it is commonly tied directly to sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea does affect your oxygen levels while you sleep. Sleep apnea is very closely related to the desaturations of oxygen in the blood due to the common findings in research on the two subjects. Obstructive sleep apnea is when the airways are blocked by relaxed tissues that support the structure of the airways. This causes a person to go into fight or flight mode and most often will wake up gasping or choking without being aware of the occurrence. When a person has a sleep diagnostic test done, the criteria that is monitored is oxygen levels, body position, heart rate, and apneas (there may be more or less depending on the type of device).
Looking at a sleep study report, many will see the AHI (Apnea-Hypopnea Index) but know that the AHI does not directly pertain to the oxygen desaturations. The AHI is the measurement of apneic events in which a person experiences cessation of breathing for 10 seconds or more. This does not cause desaturations of oxygen levels. There are other underlying medical problems that can also cause desaturations of oxygen in the blood. Untreated underlying medical conditions can substantially worsen oxygen desaturations. Your heart function, lung capacity, increased level of carbon dioxide, stress, bursts of cortisol, insulin resistance, diabetes, daytime somnolence, metabolism, obesity, and upper airway deficiency can cause your oxygen to desaturate fall faster and more severely than if it was just obstructive sleep apnea.
Another important role in obstructive sleep apnea is hypoxia. Hypoxia is the lack of oxygen in the tissues to sustain functions of the body. This can occur during the sleep cycles as the nocturnal hypoxemia causing sleep deficiency and defects. One of the most prominent points to obstructive sleep apnea was the nocturnal hypoxemia, the oxygen desaturation. Many people that suffer the symptom of daytime somnolence ended up with a longer period of sleep rather than those who do not have daytime fatigue as a symptom. However, the nocturnal desaturation of oxygen and sleep cycles were significantly worse in those who did not experience fatigue. Irregular hypoxemia is a risk for developing issues found in obstructive sleep apnea patients.
ODI Treatment
If a person has Obstructive sleep apnea, they have an opportunity to start continuous positive airway pressure therapy (on a CPAP machine), or other recommended therapies per their medical providers suggestions or recommendations.
By starting CPAP therapy, this can normalize breathing issues and lower the risks that are contributed by untreated sleep apnea.
If continuous positive airway pressure therapy does not work, there are other apneic treatments that people can partake in such as surgery. Speak with your medical provider to learn all of the options that can begin.
Starting with an overnight oximetry test may be a good idea for the finding of Obstructive sleep apnea in symptomatic patients. More conductive research in the findings of Oxygen Desaturation Index has begun for determining the risk for high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
More Information
Oxygen Desaturations in relation to serious health conditions - www.verywellhealth.com
Oxygen Desaturation Index - www.verywellhealth.com
Oxygen Desaturation in relation to Polysomnography - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Oxygen Desaturation in relation to other health concerns - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Research in Oxygen
Desaturation Index Differences in Sleep - jcsm.aasm.org
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