C-Flex vs EPR Technology

[Mitch40]

Hello everyone,
This has been a great forum for me to reference to. And very knowledgeable members. I was first diagnosed with OSA from my initial sleep study on 10/28. My AHI was 53 considered severe. O2 Sat levels were below 80% some of the time. Had something like 225 events happen through the night. Slept ok but didn't attain full REM sleep. My titration study went pretty good a couple weeks later. Here was my report with settings (brief) "Pressure to be set at 9cm/H2O with C-Flex of 3"
Now I know C=Flex is proprietary to Phillips Respironics. So my sleep doc was going to write the Rx for the PRS1. I did some homework and chose the Resmed S9. He didn't want me to get the S9 Autoset ,but wrote the Rx for the S9 Elite, which I've been very happy with.
Now my question is this: If the C-Flex was for 3, then what should the EPR be set at? Should it be 3 also? Are they the same even though different companies?
If there was a post about this in the forums, I couldn't find it.
I currently have the EPR set at 2 (middle of the road, if you will) and have been using my machine since 12/2.
Thanks for your help and looking forward to getting all the info I can about this (new to me ) technology.

[Lizistired]

Hi Mitch,
The thing to understand about comfort features, ie. exhale relief, humidity, and ramp, is they are designed to make you compliant. If you won't use the machine because the pressure makes you uncomfortable, you don't get therapy, and most importantly, your DME doesn't get paid for the machine because most insurance requires >4 hours for the first 30 days. Then the DME has a used machine to get rid of and the stats on cpap therapy success look dismal. Additionaly, you still feel like crap and go back to your dr searching for other causes.
It's really individual. Some people need it some don't. It seems most docs and DMEs start you out at 3 to help you adjust to the machine.
If you look at my avatar, where the the red graph(AHI) drops off is where I finally turned the EPR off after screwing with my pressure for 6 weeks.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it or If you want, experiment with it. At 9cmh20 I don't think you will find it that important. But you may have other lung issues that make it difficult to exhale against the pressure.
If you want to try other settings, I would try dropping it first rather than raising it. Just try them all and see what is comfortable for you. That's all it is, comfort.
If you aren't happy with your therapy, I think the more variables you can eliminate the better.
Just my 2 cents.

[Mitch40]

Thank you, Liz.
I now have the EPR set at 2. I have been experimenting with the EPR a bit. I have been 100% compliant since Dec 2. My DME hooked me up with a sweet mask that is very comfortable and I have nasal pillows for a back up mask. My AHI's have ranged from 2.2 down to 0.1, so the pressure settings and mask, EPR, etc all seem to work just fine. I'm still getting used to wearing a mask in bed at night, but it's getting better. I do feel better and my blood pressure has gone WAY DOWN since my treat ment. Just turned 44 last week. I really like the S9 and use both the Resmed softare and SleepyHead. Very interesting to look at the graphs and results.

[Lizistired]

Those are good numbers. It takes awhile for your body and BRAIN to fully adjust. If you think things could be better, exhaust your options with the comfort features before you mess with the pressure. Yes, I love having access to the data. Without it I don't know if I would still be using mine, or had the success I have.

[Pugsy]

EPR and Respironics various Flex terms for their exhale relief are 2 different animals.

Both are forms of exhale relief but they each go about it in entirely different methods. So don't worry about trying to mimic CFlex of 3 with any EPR setting. Just use whichever feels best for you and gives you the desired results.

Respironics Flex settings of 1, 2 and 3 do not offer the same per cm drop in pressure that ResMed EPR offers.
There is some drop in pressure with Flex but not as dramatic and the amount of drop is based on flow.
If you are curious..the different Flexes are explained here.
http://flexfamily.respironics.com/

[Mitch40]

Both are forms of exhale relief but they each go about it in entirely different methods. So don't worry about trying to mimic CFlex of 3 with any EPR setting. Just use whichever feels best for you and gives you the desired results.

Thank you Pugsy, I'll just leave it at setting of 2 for now. I couldn't really tell the diff between the 2 or 3 settings.

Yes, Liz, I like being able to track my results. It gives us something to do and look forward to using CPAP as we make sure we are getting the right treatment.

[rested gal]

Welcome to the forum, Mitch.

Pugsy's right about how ResMed's EPR and Philips Respironics' "flexes" go about what they do quite differently from each other.

Here's a discussion about the two:

viewtopic.php?p=436054#p436054

[Mitch40]

Thank you, rested gal, I will check that topic out. I need all the information I can get and this forum is a great place for that.