Flow Limit

Thumper1947 · Post by **Thumper1947** » Sun Aug 29, 2021 11:05 am

The definition," Partial closure of the upper airway, which impedes the flow of air into the lungs." I definitely have to deal with a narrow nose, allergies, and flow limitations. Can someone tell me how I can get useful information off the attached Flow Limit chart from Oscar. Does the Y axis always use a zero to one scale? Is something on this chart that would be considered normal? The flow limits don't seem to correlate to a reduced flow on the flow chart, but they do seem to correlate to the machine increasing the pressure. Is there any way to use this information? Thanks
Thumper

Miss Emerita · Post by **Miss Emerita** » Sun Aug 29, 2021 11:24 am

Hello, Thumper. Sorry to create more work, but could you also post the entire chart this graph is taken from? That will provide a lot of useful information for context.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:40 pm

Don't be confused by "upper airway'" thinking a blocked nose is keeping your airway closed... that occurs farther down, whatever your nasal issues might be.

jimbud · Post by **jimbud** » Sun Aug 29, 2021 1:26 pm

by Pugsy » Fri Jul 30, 2021 1:04 pm

And while your FL graph is ugly...I have seen much worse.

I don't do FL numbers as guides. I go by the big picture which includes overall activity AND subjective findings in terms of sleep and how we feel. FL numbers are too easily screwed with from nasal issues that aren't apnea issues which makes for FL graph evaluation being less than accurate. Why worry about something that has a high probability of being related to something you can't fix with pressure changes anyway.

Just helping Pugsy while she is recovering.

JPB

Thumper1947 · Post by **Thumper1947** » Sun Aug 29, 2021 2:53 pm

Thanks all,
I've been sleeping as well as I ever have on CPAP(over 5 yrs). My AHI numbers are excellent(.31 avg for the past week), so I'm in a good spot as far as that goes. I'm just a curious person trying to understand as much about Oscar as I can. I don't know what a good or bad flow limit chart looks like. I switched to Resmed Air Sense 10 and have been much better than with the Dreamstation.
Thumper

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:58 am

Thumper1947 wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 29, 2021 11:05 am
The flow limits don't seem to correlate to a reduced flow on the flow chart,

Yes, they do, if you know what to look at. (zoom in to see individual breath shapes, the FL breaths have flattened tops.

Thumper1947 wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 29, 2021 11:05 am
but they do seem to correlate to the machine increasing the pressure. Is there any way to use this information? Thanks
Thumper

because the machine increases pressure to reduce flow limitations.

The chart really goes from "fine" to "flattened" but Oscar just represents that as 0-1

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 2:01 am

Julie wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:40 pm
Don't be confused by "upper airway'" thinking a blocked nose is keeping your airway closed... that occurs farther down, whatever your nasal issues might be.

Not necessarily, a blocked nose can create flow limitations.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:07 am

Oh, Ok.

musculus · Post by **musculus** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:13 pm

How do you feel of the sleep quality? the flow limitation looks worrisome to me.

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:38 pm

Experiencing any sort of nasal congestion going on at night???

jimbud · Post by **jimbud** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:44 pm

musculus wrote: ↑
Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:13 pm
the flow limitation looks worrisome to me.

Thumper1947 wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 29, 2021 2:53 pm
I've been sleeping as well as I ever have on CPAP(over 5 yrs).

My allergies have been bothering me the last few days. My flow limits look as bad/worse than OP.
Has happened in the past, when the allergies go down the flow limits go down.
Worry about something else.

JPB

Miss Emerita · Post by **Miss Emerita** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:48 pm

Yes, allergies and colds could certainly increase FLs. Another possible culprit is tucking the chin down toward the chest.

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