FL in SleepyHead Report

[DavidT1954]

This is my first post, but I would like to understand what my SH reports mean. After six weeks I found through this site mainly, that I was essentially doing little to help my problems due to fighting leaking masks (full face) on a nightly basis. Finally I have a good fit (nose only) mask. Now I have data that I can begin to understand... at least I hope so. My SH software has a piechart. I have one weak of what I think is now good data. The SH pie chart has a pretty large (30% to 50%) slice as FL. I hope that this is not related to me still having leak issues. I am not sure what this FL indicates.

[archangle]

Welcome to the board.

Please sign up for an ID and fill in your user profile with your equipment. It will help us answer your questions better.

"FL" is Flow Limitation. It has to do with limited airflow rates. It's based on the shape of the airflow waveform.

FL is less clearly understood and less well defined than apnea. In particular, it's less clear what the numbers mean on FL. It's probably generally less harmful than actual apnea.

[DavidT1954]

This may sound stupid, but I thought my ID was DavidT1954

[bwexler]

David it is but you have not filled in your profile. It allows you to tell us waht equipment and mask and software you have so we can actually answer your questions more accurately and specific to your equipment.

If you click on User control Panel near the top of each page you can find your profile and fill it in. Please don't choose the picture of the equipment to many models look the same but have very different abilities.

[archangle]

This may sound stupid, but I thought my ID was DavidT1954

You're either not logged in, or you haven't signed up for an ID. Up near the top, it should say something like "register" and "login" if you're not logged in. If you're registered, you can click login and sign in, and fill in your profile. If you're not registered, click the register button and register.

[DavidT1954]

OK thanks,,, I should now be logged in and registered. I selected my machine, but other than my mask is a nose one, I don't know the brand. Will check on such when I get back home.

[archangle]

OK thanks,,, I should now be logged in and registered. I selected my machine, but other than my mask is a nose one, I don't know the brand. Will check on such when I get back home.

Yes, your name is blue on your last post, so you're a real person now. Welcome.

[DavidT1954]

OK thanks,,, I should now be logged in and registered. I selected my machine, but other than my mask is a nose one, I don't know the brand. Will check on such when I get back home.

Yes, your name is blue on your last post, so you're a real person now. Welcome.

Thanks, I just put in my mask type as well... Wasted 2 months of early CPAP with face masks that were not fitting right
So if the FL on the SleepHead piechart dominates the charts.. is it important .. and how can I explore it ?

[Pugsy]

if the FL on the SleepHead piechart dominates the charts.. is it important

It depends on how many parts there are to that pie chart. That pie chart can be misleading..it's always a whole pie..no matter if you have 1 event or 100. Someone the other day got alarmed with the entire pie being centrals...but there was only 1 for the entire night.
Better thing to look at are the indexes or hourly averages shown for each event category.
How many FLs are you seeing on average per hour?

[DavidT1954]

if the FL on the SleepHead piechart dominates the charts.. is it important

It depends on how many parts there are to that pie chart. That pie chart can be misleading..it's always a whole pie..no matter if you have 1 event or 100. Someone the other day got alarmed with the entire pie being centrals...but there was only 1 for the entire night.
Better thing to look at are the indexes or hourly averages shown for each event category.
How many FLs are you seeing on average per hour?

averaging around a 2 on the FLI ( last night was lower as the CAI dominated the pie at 2.32 )

[Pugsy]

averaging around a 2 on the FLI ( last night was lower as the CAI dominated the pie at 2.32 )

2 FLs per hour average over the entire night isn't alarming. Any clustering of those FLs going on? Like a couple of hours with none and then a cluster of 4 or 5 close together shown on the events graph?

Personally...I turn off the pie chart myself. I don't find it useful.

[DavidT1954]

averaging around a 2 on the FLI ( last night was lower as the CAI dominated the pie at 2.32 )

2 FLs per hour average over the entire night isn't alarming. Any clustering of those FLs going on? Like a couple of hours with none and then a cluster of 4 or 5 close together shown on the events graph?

Personally...I turn off the pie chart myself. I don't find it useful.

They seem to be spaced randomly throughout the night with none clustering. I can't see any correlation between the FL events an any of the subsequent graphs, so I'll continue my analysis of my data, and pay little heed to the FL events for the moment.