Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.
Login or Create an Account
01-19-2023, 03:42 PM (This post was last modified: 01-19-2023, 03:43 PM by TexasDon.)
Question about flow rate graph
Hi, attached a pic of my flow rate, expanded for inspection. It looks to me like my inhale is ragged. I would think the upward curve should be smooth but it almost looks like a double step. Should I interpret this to be something amiss with my inhale? Kinda weird to me. Looks like a slow longish double inhale then a sudden exhale?
Mx = 12
Mn = 5
Epr = 2
Another few days and I'll be going to min of 7 and epr of 3 but learning and watching how data changes as I make setting changes.
Leak rate is like 0. Flow limits are less than 0.20. I expected to see my flow rate to look like a series of hills, reflecting a slowing increasing pressure followed by a slowly decreasing pressure. Instead, I see the double peaks in the graph during inhale and can't explain why.
Additional EPR may smooth out some of the respiration, but this flow chart does not look bad. We don't know what kind of pressure you received at this snapshot. Your minimum should be 6.0 with EPR 2, or 7.0 with EPR 3 in order to benefit from the the full pressure relief. This chart shows a relatively long-flat peak inspiratory flow, but it's not possible to infer that it is flow limited and appears in the normal spectrum. As far as being ragged, the flow rate consists of many individual data points and when looking at this resolution, it may not appear smooth. We also often see cardioballistic artifacts and other irregularities in flow charts at this resolution. Nothing unusual here.
A zoomed graph is much more useful to see the full suite of data, especially when including mask pressure.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
Raising the min pressure made a huge difference. The flow rate didn't smooth out but most everything improved, e.g. flow limits, snore, etc. Feel good and I think my TMJ approves of the change too.
