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Wow. You know a lot more than I do about this. Thanks for the technical explanation; I’ll have to reread it to digest it all.
I’m sure this “adventure” also comes with a cost to your mental health, as mine did.
I even went for a consult at Mayo Clinic, where I was told I do not have restrictive lung disease.
So those numbers I saw remain a mystery. I’ve taken the approach of no longer checking at home as this was really messing me up emotionally.
I am active, exercising and weight training, so I just ignore it.
If you can do half marathons then that’s very encouraging.
You mention a ventilation issue-you mean your lungs just can’t take in enough air at exertion?
Would that have to do with big lungs, normal pipes? Or is there something about the way you’re breathing that a coach could help you with? Perhaps a holistic practitioner? Have you been checked for things like exercise induced asthma?
I find it interesting that your cpap use doesn’t help the o2 levels. I also have sleep apnea, and it does make a difference. I spend much less time below 90 or 88-just minutes as I recall.
Please let me know how your visit in Denver goes.
I wish you the best, and keep on running.
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I may have discovered a fairly significant piece of what is going on with me. Between dissecting my CPET data and my CPAP data and then adding in one subtle symptom.
The PaC02 numbers for my elevation were slightly elevated... basically the amount of Co2 in my blood. I don't think this triggered too much of a concern because the standards for abnormal PaCo2 is really based on being at sea level and I am 5000 feet. Also, my PaCo2 levels went up and down relative to the states of the cpet they expect so it may not have triggered anything (alhtough my paco2 was higher than normal at rest, AT, and peak exercise).
2nd. LOoking at my cpap detailed data, my drops in 02 correlate specificly with shallow breathing (hypoventilation) that doesn't trigger any apnea or hypopnea events. So basically my cpap AHI's are less than 1 every night. But when you look at my cpap detailed data(you have to get an SD card and download the software) there is obviously dysfunciton breathing happening that the cpap can't fix. Bibap is what is required to control this.
3rd, and crucial to the whole story.... Co2 tolerance while awake actually awful. This is tested by performing the bolt test (look it up). Basically breathe out a normal breathe and see how long you can hold it. This tests your co2 tolerance. I found out I can hold it for about 10 seconds (my bolt score is 6-7). Considering my overall conditioning it should be like 30. This screams major co2 intolerance.
TL/DR: My paCo2 baseline levels are too high. High baseline Paco2 causes low baseline Pa02. Low baseline Pa02 at 5000 feet elevation means low baseline sp02 and big swings with exertion, sleep disorder breathing, etc.
Anyways, this is just a hypothesis at the moment. It is certainly possible that all of this data is actually an 'effect' of other issues rather than the 'cause' but this really aligns with my overall 02 patterns.
For example, if I take a few slow deep breaths before climbing stairs, my 02 doesn't drop. Yet, i still have air hunger. This is because even getting more air into my aveloi and fixing my desat issue, my chemoreseptors in my brain still sense the increase in paCo2 and create the need to breathe more. Which is why I always have an 02 spike after my o2 drops climbing a flight of stairs.