Need Help. Why is my breath not sinusoidal? What does this shape mean?

[Norman2195]

Hi Everyone,

Please see attached screenshot of my breathing pattern at night. The shape of my breath is very rarely sinusodial and looks like the following:

Can someone please let me know what is going on here? How do i get to those nice rounded breathes?.

References is made to the following from the wiki: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...limitation

It looks like i might have some sort of flow limitation problems that EPR will fix??? Im so confused. Please help.

[Crimson Nape]

Yours appear like the 4th graph.


- Red

[Norman2195]

Whats interesting is that the machine isn't registering any flow limitation. Does that mean my pressure needs to increase if im still experiencing flow limitation? What about using EPR 1 as the apnea board wiki article suggests? I've seen other posts on this board as well as on the wiki suggesting that an EPR setting can help smooth out the graph. 

Cheers,
N.

[Crimson Nape]

Another member reported that their AS10 got stuck reporting no apneas.  It was resolved by totally removing the power for about 30-seconds then reapply the power.  The AirCurve 10 VAuto will not report flow limitations when it is set to the "S" mode.  This is the only model that I am aware of that does this, normally.

We prefer that you provide the complete Daily screenshot.  This provides the reader with valuable information and allows for a better response to your questions.  Please follow the steps I have listed below to create the shot.

1. Make sure that your display is set to the Standard view.  (View > Reset Graphs > Standard)
   
2. To take a screenshot of your Daily screen, select one of the following:
   • For Windows or Linux: Use the F12 key
     
   • For a Mac: Use the Fn+F12  key combination.
     

- Red

[Norman2195]

My apologies i meant when my breath looks like the above, the machine does not register this as flow limitation. So as per the screenshot you sent, if my breathing resembles the number 4, which is flow limited inspiration, then surely the machine would display flow limitation no?

[Apnea23]

All of my Resmed units are terrible at identifying early patterns of obvious flow limited breathing, and it let's it descend in to semi-hypopnea waxing/waning chaos that trashes entire sleep stages.

Garbage, in my opinion. This of course means we have to use fixed pressure and titrate ourselves throughout all sleep stages.

I do not know why this is, when everyone shouts the praises of the aggressiveness of Resmed units.

So we shall suffer hours of respiratory effort, borderline hyponeas and our natural systems over correcting and under correcting endlessly as our brain tries to deal with the limited respiratory flow while the Resmed does nothing.

Resmed APAP is the guy who shouts FIRE when your house is already smoking and glowing embers.

[Gideon]

ResMed algorithmically measures the slope of the breathform. We do not have access to what that specifically is. The FL graph is not a graph of actual flow limits but a 0-1 index of the slope as determined by that algorithm. You will see a good correlation between that chart and pressure increases. The 95% FL stat gives a pretty good representation of how bad your flow limits are. Unfortunately currently it is the manual eye that is best at seeing these events.

That said, there is no pap machine that recognizes flow limits accurately.

It is better than Philips which uses snores to indicate future upcoming obstructive events.

[Norman2195]

Thanks everyone, i really appreciate the responses.

But just going back to the oscar screenshot, do we agree that this is flow limited breathing? Should I mess around with my settings to try and get a better result?

Cheers,
N.

[staceyburke]

Your chart is only about 1 minute of time.  We have no idea if this is the same all night or just when you were turning over once.  I would suggest you put up the entire night with the left column to help see what is going on.  Then a few different close-ups of your breathing instead of just 1 minute of an entire night.