Machine recommendations/feature importance?

[edgerunner]

Ok - so I had my follow up appt with the pulmonary specialist who gave me my 1st sleep study results. "Severe apnea" He said that I had 52 apnea events in a 1 hour period which I guess is pretty bad since that means I am basically being woken up once every minute or so in order to breathe.

So, I had started my research on here last week and now I an scheduled to have my follow up study this Friday night for "titration" (?) where they will determine how much pressure my machine needs to be set for. (Does that sound right?)

I have seen that a LOT of folks here seem to feel that the "Cflex" option is pretty critical to getting comfortable with CPAP, but I am not sure how that relates to Auto or Bi PAP. ?? Also, I am really hoping to get a pap machine that is as small as possible, and allows for battery use for backup and camping purposes. But it seems that the models that look really good for that (the new Everest Aura Travel CPAP - integrated battery, no Cflex; and the new Repironics M series cflex but no integrated battery) don't have all the features/bells & whistles (software to self monitor).

So, for someone new to this how important are each of these features? I probably can't afford to get two . . . one for travel and one for home use. What priority should I be giving each of these in my search?
- small
- battery usage
- ability to access data w/software
- cflex

Chuck (feeling confused and anxious to get this figured out and get on with a hopefully well rested life!!!)

[Moogy]

Ok - so I had my follow up appt with the pulmonary specialist who gave me my 1st sleep study results. "Severe apnea" He said that I had 52 apnea events in a 1 hour period which I guess is pretty bad since that means I am basically being woken up once every minute or so in order to breathe.

So, I had started my research on here last week and now I an scheduled to have my follow up study this Friday night for "titration" (?) where they will determine how much pressure my machine needs to be set for. (Does that sound right?)

Yes, this sounds right. SOME folks have a one-night split study, so they get titrated the same night they get the diagnosis. My lab didn't do that, so I got two nights plugged up to all that equipment, sleeping in a strange bed...

I have seen that a LOT of folks here seem to feel that the "Cflex" option is pretty critical to getting comfortable with CPAP, but I am not sure how that relates to Auto or Bi PAP. ??

Cflex is the term used by the Respironics company for their way of slightly, briefly, lowering the pressure when you exhale, to make it easier to breathe. The ResMed company has a similar system (don't remember the name). Some other CPAP manufacturers have no provisions for this comfort measure.

An AutoPAP can measure what your breathing is doing and respond to it by raising or lowering pressure. Regular CPAPs keep the same pressure all the time. Clfex is available in both Auto and regular CPAPs. Read the specificiations carefully on https://www.cpap.com. They have great descriptions of many different products.

BiPAP is a different type of machine, primarily prescribed for people who need higher pressure, and who can't exhale against the high pressure. It provides a lot more exhale relief, more than most people even need. Respironics now makes an auto-bipap with biflex, which is similar to cflex.

BTW, having severe apnea does NOT mean you will need high pressure. The amount of pressure you need depends on your throat physiology, and probably other factors, and you can't necessarily say that a high AHI (number of apneas and hypopneas per hour) means a high pressure need.

Also, I am really hoping to get a pap machine that is as small as possible, and allows for battery use for backup and camping purposes. But it seems that the models that look really good for that (the new Everest Aura Travel CPAP - integrated battery, no Cflex; and the new Repironics M series cflex but no integrated battery) don't have all the features/bells & whistles (software to self monitor).

So, for someone new to this how important are each of these features? I probably can't afford to get two . . . one for travel and one for home use. What priority should I be giving each of these in my search?
- small
- battery usage
- ability to access data w/software
- cflex

My votes are as follows:

Small is not critical unless you are backpacking while camping, or need to pack really light for other reasons.

Battery use is pretty critical if you will be camping away from electricity. If you are backpacking, you need to think about how many batteries you will need and how often they will need recharging...
If you just car-camp, then a long extension cord would probably take care of the problem!

Software: As a relative newbie myself, I am finding the software REALLY helpful.

Clex: Depends on how much pressure you need and how much it bothers you to exhale. You will know more about this after your titration study.

Let us know what your pressure needs are--that could make a difference in what units will work for you.

Just my own opinions....hope they help!

Moogy

[NightHawkeye]

Hi Chuck,

If I were going to get just one unit for home and travel, I'd get the PB420E. It's small, lightweight, automatic, and comes with humidifier and software. It doesn't have c-flex, but you don't even know yet if you would benefit from using c-flex so that shouldn't be the most important factor in choosing a machine.

And a couple of other thoughts for you: If you want an automatic machine and c-flex, then the only machine which does both is the Remstar-auto. You can forget about lightweight, battery power, etc. The competitive ResMed machine has no flex capability in auto mode. Now, while some folks rave about c-flex, many more have successful therapy without c-flex. Some of us even have c-flex machines but don't use c-flex because it doesn't suit us. Again, c-flex shouldn't be the single most important deciding factor in choosing a machine.

I happen to have the Remstar auto. It's a good machine and I've traveled with it, but would prefer something smaller and lighter, hence my leaning toward getting the PB420E.

Regards,
Bill

[edgerunner]

Thank you both for your input. I'll wait to see what my pressure settings will need to be and figure it out from there.

Cheers!
Chuck

[edgerunner]

I had my follow up titration study and just got back from getting the results from the Dr. Apparently he is prescribing a BiFlex machine with settings of 14/9. He was just at an Apnea seminar this last weekend where he talked to the Respironics folks and said he was convinced that the Flex makes a difference based on their studies.

He said he would be sending in the prescription and that the vendor (DME) would be contacting me in a few days to arrange things.

So - my question is this. Do I have any room to ask for specific machines with the DME and if so, given what I described of my test results above what Respironics machine should I ask for?

During the titration study I seemed to do best with the Nasal Pillow (Mirage Swift) so I'll work with that for the get go.

I have since decided that the small battery integrated model from AEIOmed that I was hoping for (to make camping easier) won't work since it isn't a bipap and that's what I need. So I'll just have to figure out how to put together a battery pack for the Respironics model I end up with.

Thanks for any advice any can offer.

[NightHawkeye]

So - my question is this. Do I have any room to ask for specific machines with the DME and if so, given what I described of my test results above what Respironics machine should I ask for?

Looks like you only have 2 choices for BiPAP with C-flex (actually Bi-flex for a BiPAP), the BiPAP Pro 2 and the BiPAP-auto. I have the BiPAP-auto and think it is a good machine. Everyone else here who has talked about their BiPAP-auto on this forum has spoken favorably about it. On CPAP.com it's even a few dollars cheaper than the Pro 2, so I doubt that your DME is likely to steer you in another direction, except perhaps to another vendor, but then you wouldn't get C-flex.

FWIW, on CPAP.com the BiPAP-auto is listed as not having a CPAP mode, while the Pro 2 does, but I can attest to the fact that the BiPAP-auto has a CPAP mode because I've used it for a good many nights. It's just not called CPAP, instead if you want CPAP of 10 cm, then you'd simply set IPAP=10 and EPAP=10 which gives you 10 cm continuous CPAP. Except for this small matter, the machines seem to have the same features, except that the auto provides an automatic function as well. (I'll also state that I have no first-hand knowledge of the Pro 2 so my opinion is biased just a little. )

Regards,
Bill