Now with a reduced Flex setting

[tetragon]

Last night I finally changed my Flex setting down from 3 to 1. 1 felt a bit stiff, but nicer than 3, which felt like it was about to wobble off a loose hinge. I spent a little time trying 2, but I decided that I preferred 1. So far, the difference that I see in any data is what got recorded as the setting. The biggest difference I noticed (other than how the air felt) was how much my ribs ached for the first couple hours after getting up. I didn't get that when I started back in October.

[jamiswolf]

Hi Tetra,
Good for you. I'm not much of a believer in comfort features. Even if it's a small amount, pressure drops do steal a little from treatment.

It does seem unlikely that your rib discomfort is directly related. Perhaps the drop in flex encouraged you to breath deeper...thus causing a little stretching in chest wall muscles.

Hang in there and report back after you've acclimated.
Jamis

[rested gal]

I'm not much of a believer in comfort features. Even if it's a small amount, pressure drops do steal a little from treatment.

Not necessarily so with C-Flex, specifically.

all "comfort" features are not created equal.

-- and explained why. Just my opinion, of course.
viewtopic.php?p=663679#p663679

[tetragon]

Just for some clarification, I was at C-Flex+ at 3. And it was cutting in near the tail end of inhilation, but before I started exhaling.

[Lizistired]

Chest discomfort is pretty common but should only last a couple of days.

[rested gal]

Just for some clarification, I was at C-Flex+ at 3. And it was cutting in near the tail end of inhilation, but before I started exhaling.

Yes. I may be wrong, but I think C-Flex+ does more or less "round out" the transitions, and if so, then I can well imagine it seeming to cut off the tail end of inhalations as it tries to smooth out the expected exhalation....as well as the way the regular pressure comes back in during exhalation. Probably less of an abrupt "bringing the pressure in again" with C-Flex+. That can work well for some, and not for others.

That's why I say all the "comfort" features are different from each other. They work differently from each other. Takes a good bit of trial and error (just like you're doing, tetragon) to find what (if any) "comfort feature" works well for you. For some, that means turning any kind of exhalation pressure relief off. For others, one brand's type (or where they set) the level of pressure reduction for exhaling feels fine and lets them get perfectly effective therapy, while another "comfort" setting does not. Even C-Flex and C-Flex+ don't do "their thing" in quite the same way as each other.

[tetragon]

Night Two:

Still using C-Flex+ at 1. The airflow didn't feel nearly as stiff as it did the first night. Hardly any chest discomfort this time. But either my intestinal flora were working overtime or I had another run-in with aerophagia. Still, not nearly enough nights to suggest at any relation between my settings and being woken up by my intestines.

[tetragon]

Night 3:

Still at 1, and I don't really notice it now. I learned that burping while pressurised feels weird. Woke up feeling exhausted. I wobbled about my apartment to get the lights on and to see if my guess of worse-than-average numbers is correct. It wasn't. Two nights in a row of better-than-average. Still, it's a struggle to stay upright and awake. I was less sleepy when I went to bed than I was for the first few hours awake.

I poked at the Flex demo option to see what 3 felt like after three nights at 1. How I was able to sleep at that setting is unknown to me.

[jamiswolf]

Hi Tetra,
Glad you're hanging in there. Maybe you should have gone from Cflex+ 3 to 2 and then to 1. To give your body a chance to slowly adapt.

Perhaps, and I'm referring to Rested Gal's information, once you get fully acclimated to CFlex+ 1, you might switch it over to straight CFlex and see what setting provides comfortable breathing and good numbers...thus optimizing therapy.

You might also track down a thread by Robysue referring to a DeltaDave comment regarding aerophagia. Current thinking (and research) relates aerophagia to GERD...among other things.
J

[tetragon]

You might also track down a thread by Robysue referring to a DeltaDave comment regarding aerophagia. Current thinking (and research) relates aerophagia to GERD...among other things.

Oh, sure, try to blame it on the one number that titration didn't improve: my arousal index (well, that and REM percentage got worse, but who's counting).

[jamiswolf]

Oh, sure, try to blame it on the one number that titration didn't improve: my arousal index (well, that and REM percentage got worse, but who's counting).

Sorry Tetra, didn't mean to pick on you when you were down...

Give it time and it will all work out.
J

[tetragon]

Oh, sure, try to blame it on the one number that titration didn't improve: my arousal index (well, that and REM percentage got worse, but who's counting).

Sorry Tetra, didn't mean to pick on you when you were down...

Don't you just love how well tone is transferred through a textual medium?

[tetragon]

Night four:

Still at C-Flex+ 1.

I am writing this with a deep mark next to my eye. I woke up part of the way through the night, turned off the machine, yanked off my mask, then realized that it was only 1am. When I put it back on, I had twisted part of the headgear, and slept on the twisted part.

Within minutes of putting everything on in the evening, I started feeling kind of sick and started to do more, small, pressurized burps. It's annoying. But at least it's not as nasty feeling as what happens after I drink a little too much liquid like bubble tea. Then I sometimes get burps that carry up what I was drinking, and bubble tea in the nose is a bit uncomfortable. I can still get to sleep and my leak line was still good.

I wake up feeling considerably better than I did last night. When comparing the numbers from those two nights, they were the same if you exclude the clear airway component (which is most of the machine AHI). Including it, night 4 was worse than night 3. Why does it seem that on nights with a "high" clear airway event list and a "high" pressure pulse count, I feel better in the morning? I should probably track that to see if there is any relation.

[deltadave]

Why does it seem that on nights with a "high" clear airway event list and a "high" pressure pulse count, I feel better in the morning? I should probably track that to see if there is any relation.

How "high" is "high"?

[tetragon]

Why does it seem that on nights with a "high" clear airway event list and a "high" pressure pulse count, I feel better in the morning? I should probably track that to see if there is any relation.

How "high" is "high"?

The reason for the quotation marks is that in the numbers are actually quite low in the grand scheme of things. This morning, my machine's SD card told me:
AHI: 4.03
Hypopnea: 0.30, 2 events
Obstructive: 0.15, 1 event
Clear Airway: 3.58, 24 events
And a mere 257 pressure pulses to give my SleepyHead flow rate graph a festive red garland.

My observations, which totally neglect the intermediate days, are that right now I seem to do better on days where the clear airway number approximates over 3 and the pressure pulses get past 200 per night.