C-Flex Affects

[Linus]

About a week ago I accidentally pressed the c-flex button when I tried to turn off my Respironics CPAP. I changed the setting from 3 to 1. I did this without knowing that I had done it. Days passed and I noticed that my AHI and snores dropped to a number between 0 and 0.3. My AHI was about 1 on average, however the number is lower. One other thing that I noticed is that the chances that I wake up with aerophagia have dropped to nothing. Before I would occasionally wake up with air in my stomach. Not now...

I only noticed that C-flex was set to 1 after I opened up Encore Analyzer.
It has been only a week, but I am going to leave it on 1 for a while to see what happens. Has this happened to others?

Linus

[Goofproof]

C-Flex is a comfort setting, it has little to do with your overall treatment. If you find it rocked your world, consider that a added bonus. Odds are other factors made the change, but except any victory they are hard to come by. Jim

[TheDreamer]

Its too early to tell...but I made this change Friday night, and I think I'm doing better.

At least until last night....where I couldn't sleep on account that I wasn't tired. (but I didn't want to take anything, because that usually makes for a worse Monday).

The Dreamer.

[DoriC]

My husband turned off both A&CFlex after about a month because he said they altered his breathing pattern making him inhale before he had finished his exhale, and also made him feel gassy. He does fine now at 12.5 pressure, no flex.

[Michele1234]

My husband turned off both A&CFlex after about a month because he said they altered his breathing pattern making him inhale before he had finished his exhale, and also made him feel gassy. He does fine now at 12.5 pressure, no flex.

I did the same thing. I hated C-Flex it was confusing and I tossed and turned I turned it off and I'm sleeping much better without it.

[elader]

I dropped it from 3 to one and seem to have less events. Only a weeks worth of data at the new setting, but seems to be holding.

[Linus]

Obstructive Apnea: Two Events (0.3) and Hyponea: 1 Even (0.1) last night at C-Flex 1. I find it odd but I am not complaining. I like the lower numbers, and I feel better when I wake up too.

[WillSucceed]

Ahhhhh, the much-loved C-Flex. Although C-Flex is designed to improve comfort, such is not the case for everyone. Do a search on this site for: "breath-stacking."

Consider taking a look at turning off C-Flex if:
You find yourself waking during the night, and/or in the morning, panting.
You find yourself feeling as though you are starting to inhale before you have finished exhaling.
You find yourself swallowing air, belching, having distended stomach.

These symptoms could be attributed to different things, C-Flex being one of them.

C-Flex is a good thing for many folk, but certainly not everybody.

[dsm]

Just to add to WillSucceeds helpful list - the infamous 'mouth-pops' where your mouth pops open (if using a nasal mask) and a bubble of air escapes.

To understand why these types of things happen, just think about what C-Flex is trying to do. At a C-Flex setting of 3 and if you are up around the 12-16 + CMs pressure setting (cpap or Auto), you ...

> breath-in (C-Flex doing nothing)
> start to breath-out - C-Flex detects this & drops the pressure - nice, helps you get your breathing out going
- then C-Flex ends about 1/3 way into breathing out &
- whilst you are breathing out, the pressure ramps right back up to normal very very quickly, typically by halfway into breathe-out cycle.
That ramping up, so rapidly, and at higher pressures, can cause all the problems mentioned, plus add to AHI score & can even trigger hyperventilation.

People on pressures below about 12 are less likely to be affected. Also it is likely to have a worse impact for those of us with GERD as our weak stomach valve is easily breached by the C-Flex when it rapidly increases pressure during our breathing out part of the exhale cycle (the ramping up pressure takes the least path of resistance - which can mean some goes to the stomach).

C-Flex set to say 1 or perhaps 2 (depending on the current pressure) makes quite a difference.

DSM

[3schnauzers]

I started out on 3 also, after increased AHI I changed gradually to 1 - after reading the posts tonight I am going to try sleeping without cflex and see how my night is. Thanks to all!
Colleen

[DoriC]

WillSucceed, you described exactly all 3 things that my husband experienced on flex. It's funny, we were so happy that we were able to get a machine with all the "bells and whistles" and now we use just straight Cpap pressure, no auto, no ramp, no flex, no nothing!

[WillSucceed]

Well DoriC... a little over 4 years ago, shortly after I started using a Respironics Remstar with C-FLEX, I posted about difficulties that I had with breath-stacking which I believed were triggered by C-FLEX. Saying something negative about C-FLEX was generally not well received on this this forum. At the time, C-FLEX was pretty much the only comfort feature (relative to exhalation) that was available on a CPAP machine and many on this forum talked about how wonderful it was and that everyone should get this machine; more than one person on this forum seemed to think C-FLEX would be the answer to all of their CPAP difficulties. In fairness, C-FLEX is great for many users, but for those who don't like it, it's a dismal failure.

I wish people would trial as many machines as possible BEFORE they cough up their hard-earned cash on the "bells and whistles" of C-FLEX (or any other 'must-have' feature); trial the machine (even if it costs you a bit of money to rent one) before you buy. This goes with the auto-PAP machines as well. While they are all good, the algorithm in any particular machine might not suit you and if that happens to be the machine you purchase, based on the recommendation of others or because it has bells & whistles, you could end up with a very expensive doorstop.

I'm glad that your husband has figured out that C-FLEX is not for him and hopefully, is getting good treatment.

[dsm]

<snip>
Saying something negative about C-FLEX was generally not well received on this this forum. At the time, C-FLEX was pretty much the only comfort feature (relative to exhalation) that was available on a CPAP machine and many on this forum talked about how wonderful it was and that everyone should get this machine; more than one person on this forum seemed to think C-FLEX would be the answer to all of their CPAP difficulties.

<snip>

WillSucceed,

Agree - and at least one of the champions of C-Flex who repeatedly squashed any criticism, is still with us & still selling it in the same way

DSM

[Daffney_Gillfin]

I'm another who does better without the C-flex or the A-flex. I bought an A-flex APAP as a backup. I slept with it about three months. My numbers didn't change much, but I never felt rested until I turned off the flex features altogether. I went back to my 420E without any exhale relief. I felt even better, and the software is much friendlier. Oh yeah... it also has a functioning clock. So, the A-flex machine sits idle as a backup.

[DoriC]

I must say that one of my mentors(and champions) here who uses cflex himself and does suggest different flex settings to newbies was the one who recommended that we turn off flex completely as it didn't seem to agree with hubby. Things got better after that. It's important to keep an open mind with this therapy, there are so many variables.