New to Dreamstation - changes in settings

@Dog Slobber Thanks very much, I will look into it.

I would however like to say that if I had not used Sleepyhead, I would not have got the clear information on the differences between the two machines, highlighted. I was surprised to see it and it was very useful to me. If I had started OSCAR with the new machine, it would have been more difficult.
Thanks re screenshot. I know how to take one, I just find too much information getting used to these programs, flagset c. In any case my screenshots would be of no interest to anyone at the moment.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/x2w1V3Q
I put two screenshots up here in case it's of any interest. I think I changed the minimum pressure to 7 and the flex to C-Flex 3. Should be OK now.

zirbel77 wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 3:49 pm

https://postimg.cc/gallery/x2w1V3Q
I put two screenshots up here in case it's of any interest. I think I changed the minimum pressure to 7 and the flex to C-Flex 3. Should be OK now.

good job on the posting!

pls post another right here in this thread from what you generate from your new settings so we can see if'n it works.

zirbel77 wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 12:28 pm

Hi, is Oscar only Windows? I use Mac for Sleepyhead.

After Bob the sheep was murdered in his sleep by his creator (long, nasty very public paranoid psychotic meltdown where he accused everybody of 'being out to get him' (not Bob, the creator)), Sleepyhead was forked by a number of folks that had worked on SH over the years, and Oscar was born.

SH is dead, and outdated, and buggy, (sometimes with bugs that just affect the accuracy of the data display).

Get Oscar, migrate your profile, or create a new one that doesn't have your name in it, that way you don't have to be careful about what you screenshot, (as long as you screenshot the right charts, as described above).

@palerider As I said, it was good that Sleepyhead showed me both the old and the new machine and highlighted the changes. I knew it was out of date, I didn't know about Oscar, and I am glad I have not upgraded yet - of course I will.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/GLWRr49
Here are the latest, from Oscar - I would be very grateful if anyone tells me where I've gone wrong. I did sleep much better.

zirbel77 wrote: ↑

Mon May 22, 2023 2:32 pm

1. Pressure settings are described as Min 4 Max 20, previously Min 8 Max 20. This is something I was once recommended to change because the machine took ages to reach 8. However, now my average pressure is given as 8 so probably it is OK to leave it at 4.

The *default* settings for the machine are 4-20, which means whoever provided the machine didn't bother to set it up for you.
I'd set it back to 8, since 8 was working pretty well for you for quite a long time.

zirbel77 wrote: ↑

Mon May 22, 2023 2:32 pm

2. For Pressure Relief, the old machine had C-Flex + x3. The new machine has "None". Is that OK? Should there be some kind of pressure relief? Or do I just need to get used to the new feeling? I read somewhere that there are three possible settings for this setting.

cflex (or aflex) is something to make it more comfortable for you, you should experiment and find what you like best, there's no 'reason' to use any particular setting other than what *you* individually, like.

zirbel77 wrote: ↑

Wed May 24, 2023 3:35 am

https://postimg.cc/gallery/GLWRr49
Here are the latest, from Oscar - I would be very grateful if anyone tells me where I've gone wrong. I did sleep much better.

You didn't do anything wrong, whoever provided the machine for you is where the wrongness was.

Set the new machine to the same settings you had before, min 8, max 20, cflex (or try aflex) 3, and see if it doesn't feel pretty much the same. It should.

Here are a couple explanations of C-Flex and A-Flex
https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php/C-Flex
https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=A-Flex

As suggested give each a try and see which works better for you.

I could be incorrect, but I had thought C-Flex was intended more for a fixed pressure mode, where A-Flex was for an auto pressure mode.

Grumpy48 wrote: ↑

Wed May 24, 2023 3:18 pm

I could be incorrect, but I had thought C-Flex was intended more for a fixed pressure mode, where A-Flex was for an auto pressure mode.

Originally, many years ago, CFlex was the first option and yes it was for fixed pressure machines because that was pretty much all that there was available.
Then Respironics came out with the auto adjusting mode machine but even initially it only had C Flex exhale relief available. A Flex came a little later for auto mode. My very first machine back in 2009 was a M series Auto CPAP machine that had both fixed mode and auto adjusting mode available but it only had C Flex available for exhale relief in that was in both modes (fixed and auto adjusting). Then a little later Respironics came out with the M Series Auto/APAP model and it had A Flex available (it also had C Flex).

So C Flex came first...then A Flex came a little later. They are both forms of exhale relief but they aren't entirely the same thing in terms of how they function. Slight difference but A Flex was supposed to be the "new and improved" exhale relief. It's hard to describe the differences though. Some years ago there was a nice page at the Respironics website that explained the slight differences but that page got moved to never never land and I didn't think to copy the information.

The main difference is more of a timing thing though....timing of when the machine does the drop and how it does it.
Very subtle difference.

Back then I tried C Flex first because that is all I had and I used it in auto mode....honestly I couldn't tell it did a damn thing no matter what the setting so I just didn't use it.
Then I got the APAP M series that had both and I got to try A Flex and to my surprise I fell in love quickly with A Flex at the setting of 2. It seemed to mirror my own respiration pattern and felt much more like natural breathing to me.
I used it until I got my first ResMed and changed to EPR.

So....I always tell people to try both C Flex and A Flex (if available) and simply pick whatever setting, with either, is the most comfortable for a person. Personal preference is going to be the driving force for whatever choice of settings is made. It's a comfort setting and individual preference is going to vary among people....so each person needs to decide what is the most comfortable for them. So try both C and A Flex as well as each setting..1, 2 or 3... and choose the one that simply feels more natural/comfortable to them.

For the very small minority of people who have a problem using any exhale relief (like triggering centrals)...we cross that bridge if/when we come to it. It doesn't happen to everyone anyway...just a very small segment of people who use exhale relief in some fashion.

Thanks to all of you, I will read that and try the A-Flex and various numbers if I find time. At the moment the settings are working well. I just tried to adapt to the settings the old machine had. I have suddenly had a lot of things to sort out that have nothing to do with CPAP so I have concentrated on getting

I first got CPAP (fixed pressure) in Germany in about 2010, after going to a sleep hospital. I had put on a lot of weight after steroids for breast cancer treatment, I couldn't sleep, and I was lucky that one of the chemotherapy team knew about sleep apnoea. In Nuremberg we also had a users' group with talks from the various manufacturers mainl, lots of good advice on masks and how to make hospitals aware of the need to use the machine. I came back to the UK in 2013 and the system is completely different here and varies from place to place. I rely on forums like this one if I have a problem. Some of the technical details are just too much for me, thus I have never known about C-flex and A-Flex. It will be useful to know in future.

The hospital I go to, Barts in London, has a clinical engineering department and respiratory medicine doctors who I have a feeling aren't in this hospital all the time. The present group I have never seen. Before lockdown I used to come once a year, the device would go to the clinical engineering department, then I would go downstairs where the doctors/nurses would weigh me and tell me to lose weight. I could not believe no one ever read out the card so I used to take them a report printout, and they were always grateful because it allowed them to write my report. (In Germany the card was religiously read and if I had not complied with the device my medical insurance would probably not have paid for the treatment).

So now, after the pandemic, I was given an appointment and it turned out to be to see the young clinical engineering staff who gave me a machine and took the old one. They gave brief instructions. There were quite a queue of us. One of the women told us the new machine would be much easier because it was not fixed pressure but automatic. I told her the machine I had was already automatic, which surprised her. I asked her to remove the ramp, but she said she is not authorized to do that - it has to be a member of the medical staff - who are not there! One day I will get an appointment, although I think they will do it by Zoom as I've been going for ten years and they think, or the old team thought, I know what I'm doing.

I will work out who to write to about this, as I'm worried about some of the other patients who may not be aware of the situation. The fault doesn't lie with the clinical engineering staff but with whoever gave them their orders. Although I think they were very ignorant.

...concentrated on getting the settings similar to the old ones.