[CPAP] Help Me Understand Flow Limitations!

[usernameissleepy2396]

Hello,

On the whole my sleep seems much better than it was vs not using CPAP, however everytime i look at my Oscar data my Flow Limitations look really high. What does this mean (ELI5 please!) and is there a way to try and improve this?  Two screenshots attached, both the same day (last night) but one zoomed into a particular cluster of FLs. This is a standard night of FLs.

I'm using a Lowenstein prisma, Min 7, max 20, EPR (called softPAP on this machine)  is 1.

Thanks in advance! 


       

[staceyburke]

I can't be much help with the machine you are using.  But I will try to answer your question.  To start with FL are apnea they are to short in duration (at least 10 seconds) to be counted in the AHI but they do disrupt sleep and may wake you up.  On a resmed we turn up the EPR to control them but with these I think they are positional in nature.  So what that means is they are happening because of the position you are sleeping in.  Many people get these when sleeping on their backs.  It is also known as chin tucking when your chin drops down to your sternum - cutting down the flow of air.  If you can't stop them then you could use a collar and I have collars linked in my signature at the bottom of this post.  A collar keeps the chin up and by doing that stops FL.

[Jay51]

Here is a wiki article from ApneaBoard about your machine:  Lowenstein PrismaLine optimization