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+--- Thread: Flow Limitation? (/Thread-Flow-Limitation--10672)
Flow Limitation? - Judi - 08-24-2015
Hi newbie here. Hoping someone can help me read my Sleepyhead graph. I was diagnosed with a AHI of 76.5 and started on my APAP about two weeks ago. Using a nasal mask my AHI went down to a 5 and 6 AHI range. Oh my goodness, I felt better immediately. However, the nasal mask was really hot so I switched over to the Swift FX nasal pillows last Friday. Looking at my results today, my AHI went down to .95 on Saturday and .87 on Sunday. I'm thinking WONDERFUL until I see that on my pie chart, almost 75% of it is FL = Flow Limitation on both days! It wasn't near that high with the nasal mask. Does this mean the pillows are not working for me? I don't think I can post a screenshot yet.
RE: Flow Limitation? - DariaVader - 08-24-2015
you need 8 posts for a screenshot, but you can fill out your machine and mask info in your profile... these make a difference in how results are reported, so anyone hoping to answer questions needs to know.
RE: Flow Limitation? - Judi - 08-24-2015
Thanks DariaVader, I just went back and updated it. Love your avatar!
RE: Flow Limitation? - trish6hundred - 08-24-2015
HI Judi,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you with your CPAP therapy.
RE: Flow Limitation? - Judi - 08-24-2015
I guess I need to update this to say that I've felt terrible all day vs. how energetic I started feeling the first week. Today, I've fought to stay awake at my desk.
RE: Flow Limitation? - kaiasgram - 08-24-2015
Judi, the pie chart confuses people sometimes. You might not be having more FLs than before, but if you have reduced your apnea/hypopnea events -- which you obviously have -- then they will be a smaller percent of the pie and the FLs will now fill up that circle more. It doesn't necessarily mean that you are having more FLs.
If you had no A or H events at all, and only one instance of FL the entire night, the entire pie would be colored with FLs. That still wouldn't necessarily mean you had more FL's, just that you had no other types of events.
To illustrate: In the early days I would look at my SleepyHead report and see that 75% of my events were centrals and think "OMG, I've got central apnea."
![[Image: piechart_zpsh7iujgvz.jpg]](http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o577/kaiasgram/piechart_zpsh7iujgvz.jpg)
But this pie chart represents a total of one hypopnea and three central events for the whole night. So while it's true that I had 75% centrals, the actual numbers are not significant as you can see from my AHI for the night, 0.47.
It's also possible that your FL's did actually increase if those A's and H's were not entirely eliminated but instead were merely "reduced" to FL's. In other words, those former events were treated to the point where there's not enough airway compromise to be scored as events anymore, but there's still some airway resistance. So now you have more FL's being scored and fewer A's and H's.
When you look not at the pie chart but at the numbers above it, have your FL numbers significantly increased?
In terms of the therapy, you're going in the right direction. You can still work on clearing some of those FL's with pressure tweaks if they're actually significant.
RE: Flow Limitation? - DariaVader - 08-24-2015
Thanks for liking my avatar
I'm a little proud of it... hehe(08-24-2015, 04:35 PM)Judi Wrote: I guess I need to update this to say that I've felt terrible all day vs. how energetic I started feeling the first week. Today, I've fought to stay awake at my desk.
Chances are pretty good that your therapy can be optimized better - however patience is also required, as the body takes some time to adjust. lots of folk seem to have a "honeymoon" when they first start and then a lot of troubles until they really adjust. timing is a very personal thing. I felt like a million bucks when I first woke, and wanted - badly - to go back to bed shortly after. I stayed awake a little longer every day. When I first started therapy I had very poor REM sleep, and as I got into 6 to 9 mo of therapy that began to improve.
Point is, you have been sleeping badly for a long time now. It takes your body a while to trust itself to fall asleep, deeply relax, and properly dream - all of which are required for restorative sleep.
RE: Flow Limitation? - Judi - 08-25-2015
Thanks everyone. I think I need to slow down a little and give it more time. I also need to learn to understand the sleepyhead program. It's great compared to what they gave me with the CPAP. SleepMapper? From what I can tell the only thing that you can get from it is your AHI. Probably better for newbies like me so we don't freak out. LOL! I'm sure I'll have more questions to come as I get more familiar with the program. Thanks for your help!