Therapy or Aflex Mode

[coolbranch]

I have been using therapy mode on my PR System One with A-Flex. I have pressure set to operate between low and high settings.

How would using the A-flex mode work? I have never tried it.

Thanks,

[palerider]

read this: http://aflex.respironics.com/

[ChicagoGranny]

A-flex mode

Some swear by it. I did not like it. The only way you can know is to experiment.

[DreamDragonZzZ]

You have to experiment. I like A-Flex of 1. # seems to drop the pressure in-between breaths. But, I've been on CPAP for years.

[coolbranch]

Thanks folks. I'll give it a try tonight. In the morning I can compare A-Flex waveform graph with what I usually see on Sleepyhead.

[calusa]

I recently experimented with the A-flex setting for the first time. It was pre-set on 2; I decided to try it on 3.

All I can say is, what took me so long???

I don't really understand it, but now I can exhale much more easily.

I can't detect any difference in my therapy, either in how I feel during the day or my stats in Sleepyhead, but it was an extremely noticeable improvement while I'm falling asleep, or when I occasionally wake up during the night.

[Tatooed Lady]

I like it. I'm another newbie to therapy. Haven't tried many options though. Like the old saying goes..."If it ain't broke, don't go grabbing the hammer, we're outta duct tape."

[Pugsy]

I recently experimented with the A-flex setting for the first time. It was pre-set on 2; I decided to try it on 3.

All I can say is, what took me so long???

I don't really understand it, but now I can exhale much more easily.

You know I happened to have one of the M series machines that had only CFlex available in APAP mode (that was my very first machine) and I didn't care for CFlex. I couldn't tell it did anything one way or the other. Then I got a second M Series APAP machine that was a little newer and it had AFlex available and once I tried AFlex there was no going back at all. Totally spoiled with my preferred AFlex setting. It made exhaling seem so natural and not forced at all.
It's in the timing of the exhale and each person just needs to find the setting that mimics the timing of their own respiration pattern. I suggest that people who have AFlex available and want to try it...try all the settings that are available and use the setting that "feels" the best to them and not worry about what the number is. It's just a number and the numbers really don't mean all that much...it's all about what feels good.

[Captain_Midnight]

How would using the A-flex mode work? I have never tried it.

Everyone is different; however, I have been using AFLEX 2, with success, for over 6 years.

(If it helps, my overall AHI is 0.2, and last night, it was 0.0.)

Good luck in your investigation.


.

[Midnight Strangler]

I haven't tried A-Flex in years. What I remember when I first got a machine with A-Flex, I had to raise my minimum pressure by 1, 2 or 3 cm to compensate for a 1, 2 or 3, respectively, A-Flex setting. If I did not raise my minimum pressure, my AHI would go up.

So it made no sense to use A-Flex. I believe my airway was collapsing on exhale.

A little jealous of people who can use A-Flex setting 3 and get good therapy,

[Pugsy]

I had to raise my minimum pressure by 1, 2 or 3 cm to compensate for a 1, 2 or 3, respectively, A-Flex setting. If I did not raise my minimum pressure, my AHI would go up.

Actually the settings 1 through 3 don't correspond to a 1 through 3 drop in pressure like it does with the ResMed machines.
Instead the actual amount of reduction is based partly on the setting and partly on the force of a person's own breathing or flow rate.
So a setting of 3 for me might cause a different cm reduction for someone else using a setting of 3 if their own air flow was different than my air flow.
Amount of reduction is flow based....and the MOST it will ever reduce is 2 cm at a setting of 3. It can't do 3 cm reduction... EVER...the most it can ever offer is 2 cm reduction during exhale and that is not a given because the air flow is also a factor.

I had no change in AHI with AFlex set to any of the settings and even with AFlex turned off. Didn't make one bit of difference in AHI but made a world of difference in comfort and sleep quality but even if I did have to use a little more pressure to get the same results...the difference in comfort made for much better breathing in general and would have been well worth it.

[Midnight Strangler]

Actually the settings 1 through 3 don't correspond to a 1 through 3 drop in pressure like it does with the ResMed machines.

I never said they do Pugsy. I just posted how it was for me.

People were so excited about A-Flex when I got a new machine, I spent a lot of time experimenting and that was my results. What the machine was exactly doing was less important than what my body was doing with breathing and sleeping.

Amount of reduction is flow based

This is logic coming in the back door. CPAP works by creating a pressure that splints the airway. Sensors near the airfeed in the machine measure flow which is converted by a formula to estimate (fairly accurately) the pressure. If you argue things are "flow based", you could say that to speak of a "10 cm pressure setting", for example, is incorrect because the machine is delivering a flow.

[Pugsy]

If you argue things are "flow based",

I don't argue it...Respironics says that is what they do. I just say what they say. If you don't like the way they say it then take it up with them.
http://aflex.respironics.com/

A-Flex provides flow-based pressure relief at the beginning of exhalation

I never said they do Pugsy. I just posted how it was for me.

Actually what you said did imply that is what it did and I wanted to correct that implication just in case another newbie was thinking it was a 1 per cm reduction correlation per setting like it is with ResMed machines.

I had to raise my minimum pressure by 1, 2 or 3 cm to compensate for a 1, 2 or 3, respectively,

this sure looks like you think that a setting of 3 gives 3 cm reduction....if I misunderstood..so sorry but if I misunderstood then a newbie will surely misunderstand. It's a common error in thinking...people think it works like ResMed's EPR and it simply doesn't. Totally different other than they are exhale relief but go about it in different ways.

BTW...anyone who cares to read about or doubts my "up to 2 cm reduction"....it's in the manual. I doubted it too until I read it for myself.

Edit:....and yes...sometimes with any exhale relief use the AHi might go up and a pressure adjustment might be needed..but it is not always the case. It isn't an absolute given that using exhale relief will dramatically change AHI at all...yes, it can but it doesn't always.

[palerider]

Amount of reduction is flow based

This is logic coming in the back door. CPAP works by creating a pressure that splints the airway. Sensors near the airfeed in the machine measure flow which is converted by a formula to estimate (fairly accurately) the pressure. If you argue things are "flow based", you could say that to speak of a "10 cm pressure setting", for example, is incorrect because the machine is delivering a flow.[/quote]

if you spend even a few moments actually learning how the feature is designed, instead of what you assume, you'll learn that the *flex options of PRes ARE flow based, while resmeds EPR is a fixed amount, the PRes *flex offers varying amounts of FLOW shaping which is based on the FLOW of the air into and out of your lungs. if you have small FLOW, then you get a smaller amount of relief than if you have large FLOW.

like the picture shows:



and, to your second blunt point, the machine is delivering a flow, to a target pressure against varying leaks.

[Chevie]

the machine is delivering a flow,

No, CPAP machines deliver pressure.

If you don't believe it, try holding your breath and holding your fingers over the mask exhaust vent. There is no flow but there is a pressure ... delivered by the machine.