Does the fitbit show sleep apnea?

[luv2pugs]

I've been to a sleep clinic and was diagnosed with mild and occasional apnea. I do not see any breaks in my sleep patterns on my fitbit that support that diagnosis. Would it show disruptions in my sleep pattern?

[Dominique]

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[TheWoods]

Good morning Fitbit community! I was able to find this thread through the search feature. I was going to start a new thread, but I thought I would start by jumping on to this one. 

First, I'd like to start by saying that I know Fitbit does not diagnose sleep apnea or even record apnea events. Can anyone using a CPAP and a Fitbit tell me if you are able to see any difference in how well you sleep (according to the Fitbit sleep log) while you are using your CPAP vs when you are not? Does the Fitbit record you being in a light or deep sleep any longer with the CPAP?

Thanks!

[SanAngelo]

I have severe sleep apnea. I can tell the moment I rip off the mask in my sleep at night because I will have so many little red ticks of when I stop breathing and wake up. These ticks seem to not influence the new sleep score at all so the sleep score for me is useless. What I’m looking at are the little red tick marks indicating I was awake. Without a mask on, my sleep will be completely filled with them. When the mask is on, I show normal sleep with very few red marks. Hope this helps

[TheWoods]

@SanAngelo, thanks for the quick reply! That is exactly what I was wondering. I have tons of red ticks and am always exhausted. That being said, I know I have sleep apnea because I was diagnosed years ago. I tried surgery at the advice of my ENT at the time, but the snoring never stopped. I've noticed lately that I'm waking up a lot more, and my red ticks have gone up a lot too. I'm hoping a new dx will result in a CPAP that will better my sleep.

[dgilluly]

Part of me is wondering if the more modern Fitbits are more sensitive at detecting movement episodes triggered by sleep apnea, because I suspect that I have it. Just because I have a history of never having restful sleep, loud snoring, morning headaches and dry throat, and have occasionally woke up while gasping for air. The constant red ticks that show up throughout my sleep cycle is one of the reasons why I made an appointment with my primary care physician to see if I can be referred for a sleep study and have my insurance pay for it. Those started when I upgraded to my Charge 3, and never appeared with my Charge HR and 2. Maybe I can bookmark this thread and report back on my Dr.'s thoughts and if a sleep study is done what the outcome of that is.

Still, I probably wouldn't base a medical diagnosis based solely on Fitbit data alone, unless they start putting blood oxygen sensors in them, but the data could be helpful to present to your physician to see about having a medical sleep study done, which is what I'm using it for.