exhalation pressure adjustment on c-flex max?

[johnspartanII]

Hey cpap-ers. Short version: is 3 really the 'max' amount of exhalation pressure 'relief' i can get out of the m-plus series w/ cflex unit? I feel like I want it to reduce pressure even more than it does now.

?

thx, J!


Longer version:

I posted here a few weeks ago as a super-newbie (now I'm just a near-super-newbie : ) ; I was uncertain what to do about the results of my polysomnograph as they didn't indicate much apnea at all, no snoring, and nearly all hypopneas only during rem. I've really never had much of a problem falling asleep; my problem has been staying asleep, in general. Various doctors have had varying opinions on whether the problem is relating to depression/anxiety or osa, or both. So based on your guys' input, I decided to do the titration and see what happened.

The titration evening was pretty miserable... I think I slept about 2 hours that night, but I understand that you know, they have to figure out what might work for you, or not, so I wasn't expecting anything miraculous to occur in the sleep lab.

Anyway, after the titration I started off using the devilbiss unit that was CPAP only with the nasal face mask, and after a few weeks of that, I was still unable to fall asleep at all with the CPAP going. I didn't feel like I was suffocating or anything, but basically just lying there, breathing decently, but unable to fall asleep. My hunch has been that the amount of force it feels like I have to use to exhale has been keeping me awake, just based on what it feels like. As some other posters have mentioned, it feels like every couple of breaths I have to open my mouth to get enough air out of my lungs when it's turned on. This was with the pressure set to 8.0.

So I went back and exchanged it for the M-Plus with the C-flex, and I have to say that while it feels like a huge improvement, I still feel like I can't fall asleep, for the same reason! The Flex setting is maxed? I think at 3, and as far as I can see there's no way to let it reduce the pressure further than that for the exhaling.

[jules]

you need to ask about getting a bilevel machine - that might mean another titration - your insurance and doc will determine that of course