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I’ve Been Suffering This Year With Symptoms Including Rapid Weight
Question: I’ve been suffering this year with symptoms including rapid weight gain, thinning hair, headaches, easy bruising, decreased exercise tolerance, and crushing exhaustion. Had a few tests done and so far haven’t had any luck.
I bought myself a sleep tracker and found my oxygen levels are falling as low as 72% during the night. How significant is this?
I’m 31, female, a few lbs overweight but otherwise have no known illnesses.
I bought myself a sleep tracker and found my oxygen levels are falling as low as 72% during the night. How significant is this?
I’m 31, female, a few lbs overweight but otherwise have no known illnesses.
Brief Answer:
investigation is required
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
welcome to the 'Ask a Doctor' service.
I don't see any connection between most of your symptoms and low oxygen during the night besides exhaustion. I can't say whether the SpO2 values are accurate but if they are 72% is very low and a mean value of 89% is too low as well.
Very low SpO2 values during the night and exhaustion during the day may indicate sleep apnea. A sleep study is indicated in such cases. You should first be examined by an ENT specialist and a pulmonologist to exclude other potential causes.
Sleep apnea means that a patient may stop breathing for many seconds during the night. This disorder may occur numerous times and disrupts normal sleep. The patient wakes up exhausted and may feel sleepy right after awakening. Other disorders may also occur like arterial and pulmonary hypertension, etc.
Sometimes cheap sensors may fail to measure the SpO2 accurately, therefore a proper further investigation is required to confirm or exclude it.
I hope I've answered your query. Let me know if you need further assistance.
Kind Regards!
investigation is required
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
welcome to the 'Ask a Doctor' service.
I don't see any connection between most of your symptoms and low oxygen during the night besides exhaustion. I can't say whether the SpO2 values are accurate but if they are 72% is very low and a mean value of 89% is too low as well.
Very low SpO2 values during the night and exhaustion during the day may indicate sleep apnea. A sleep study is indicated in such cases. You should first be examined by an ENT specialist and a pulmonologist to exclude other potential causes.
Sleep apnea means that a patient may stop breathing for many seconds during the night. This disorder may occur numerous times and disrupts normal sleep. The patient wakes up exhausted and may feel sleepy right after awakening. Other disorders may also occur like arterial and pulmonary hypertension, etc.
Sometimes cheap sensors may fail to measure the SpO2 accurately, therefore a proper further investigation is required to confirm or exclude it.
I hope I've answered your query. Let me know if you need further assistance.
Kind Regards!
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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