Update on - what do you make of these graphs of FLs?

I may have missed this, but: what is the definition for the FLs that we see on the Sleepyhead graphs? It seems to me that there are various ways of judging, in particular 1. the percent of restriction 2. the time in the event & 3. shape of the inspiratory curve. It also seems to me that the ResMed Autoset 10 for Her and the Respironics 560 each judge differently. If this is true, just what do FLs mean as shown on the Sleepyhead graphs?

jagzoo wrote:I may have missed this, but: what is the definition for the FLs that we see on the Sleepyhead graphs? It seems to me that there are various ways of judging, in particular 1. the percent of restriction 2. the time in the event & 3. shape of the inspiratory curve. It also seems to me that the ResMed Autoset 10 for Her and the Respironics 560 each judge differently. If this is true, just what do FLs mean as shown on the Sleepyhead graphs?

Sleepyhead reports what the machine defines so with your Resmed Autoset it looks like breath wave forms.
This is from the manual.
Flow limitation
As the upper airway begins to collapse, the shape of the inspiratory flow-time curve changes. The
AirSense 10 recognizes and treats traditional as well as less common flow-limited breath wave
forms.
Here is a link where Resmed explains the difference in Autoset and Autoset for her.
http://www.resmed.com/us/en/healthcare- ... ology.html

This is how the Respironice 560 states their detection.
Flow Limitation
Detection
The device looks for relative changes in the peak, flatness, roundness, or shape (skewness) of the inspiratory portion of the airflow waveform. These changes are observed both over a short period of time (groups of 4 breaths) and over a long period of time (several minutes). Statistical measures are used to help minimize false event detection while allowing the device to be sensitive to even small changes.

Jagzoo, I don't know if the answers you seek are here, but there's some discussion, and references on this page:
http://www.resmed.com/int/clinicians/co ... nc=dealers

as I understand it, a normal inspiration is bell curve shaped, the flatter the curve, the more flow limitation, and the higher the line on the resmed graph (either sleepyhead or resscan).

there's also discussion, and a few diagrams in this file: http://www.apneaboard.com/ResScan_Inter ... -Guide.pdf

OK, An update on the results of increasing my max pressure from 12 to 20 starting on Sat. 1/30::
Sat 1/30 AHI 0.48; Med. Pressure: 10.86; 95% :11.5; Max Pressure:11.68; no snores
1/31 AHI 0.81; Med Pressure: 10.96; 95%: 12.98; Max pressure: 13.68; no snores
2/1 AHI 2.36; Med Pressure:11.26; 95% Pressure: 13.44; Max Pressure: 13.98; 1 snore
FLs all nights were frequent and rather ugly and flat looking but quite not as much as on 1/28. Leaks OK.
Anyway - increasing the upper limit did not have as much effect as I had anticipated. Even during times of multiple FLs my pressure maxed out at less than 14. I was wondering if the algorithm "for Her" kept the machine from running the pressures up, but it according to the manual it seems that is only true for apneas. I am going to leave the settings as they are and just let the machine choose the pressures and figure it knows what it is doing. I've been sleeping pretty good except for 2/1 when I was overtired to start with.

In the clinical manual it states:
"The AutoSet for Her is similar to ResMed’s AutoSet algorithm with the following modifications:
 Reduced rate of pressure increments designed to help prevent arousals.
 Slower pressure decays.
 Treats apneas up to 12 cm H2O and continues to respond to flow limitation and snore up to 20 cm H2O."

Thanks again for all the helpful and informative comments.