Trying out C-Flex

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tetragon
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Trying out C-Flex

Post by tetragon » Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:40 am

I have had my first night using the older C-Flex (level 2) instead of C-Flex+ or off. When I used C-Flex+, it felt like my machine was cutting off my air supply while I was still inhaling, and the vast majority of the logged apneas were categorized as clear airway. Flex off was more comfortable, but some nights, exhaling felt weird and not right. As for logged events, all logged apneas were categorized as obstructive. As a result, I decided to try the older C-Flex, which is supposed to kick in later than C-Flex+.

For how it felt, a level of 3 felt like all my air was going away, which isn't very comfortable. A level of one felt insufficient; for some reason, no Flex was more comfortable than that very slight change. Level 2, however, was comfortable. As for my sample of one night, it's logged events fell into the no Flex pattern. I don't know why C-Flex+ resulted in the difference in categorization; it's not like there looks to be a significant difference in the number of pressure pulses (machine going "I think this might be an apnea; now is it obstructive or not?") between the different settings.

I didn't notice any difference in how I slept with this setting change. It was just as bad as usual. But it was more comfortable when I was awake.

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xm41907
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by xm41907 » Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:51 am

I'm very interested in your situation. I'm on basically the same setup as you, just not the "for her" version. What pressure are you using? I was prescribed a 6, but I'm having a ton of unbostructives. I didn't even think to change the C-flex. I believe I'm on C-Flex+ right now. Did you have centrals in your sleep study, or just since going on the cpap?

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tetragon
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by tetragon » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:20 pm

xm41907 wrote:I'm very interested in your situation. I'm on basically the same setup as you, just not the "for her" version. What pressure are you using? I was prescribed a 6, but I'm having a ton of unbostructives. I didn't even think to change the C-flex. I believe I'm on C-Flex+ right now. Did you have centrals in your sleep study, or just since going on the cpap?
I'm at my prescribed pressure of 7, with a titration that ended at 8. I don't know if my study showed any centrals, and a machine logging an event as clear airway does not imply that it is a central apnea. It can suggest it, but the machine cannot tell if an event qualifies as a central (these machines do not have enough information to do that). I may also have a significant difference in VSnore2, but that's difficult to tell without exporting my data (as SleepyHead does not include that data in its overview (jedimark, if you're reading this, this is a feature request)).

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Gaga58
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by Gaga58 » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:49 am

I have the same machine as both of you and love the c flex+...I'm wondering if your pressures are too low? I started out with 7, but didn't see a lot of improvement until I started upping my pressure settings. I'm now at 12 and I have no problems with the c flex. It takes about two breaths and then I can exhale fine...actually very comfortable and so much easier than the M series I was trialing before getting my new machine.

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tetragon
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by tetragon » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:00 am

Night 2:

Not much out of the usual. As is common for me, I woke up at 4am for no apparent reason. The closest "loud" noise that got recorded was some girls stomping up the hall or stairs, chatting at 3am. I do remember having dreamt a few more times than usual (although for quite a while, "usual" would be not remembering at all). Still no logged clear airway events, even when I tried to trigger one (in a manner that had, in my C-Flex+ days, resulted in increasing the clear airway tally), all I got for my troubles was another obstructive (which matches what I saw with Flex disabled).

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xm41907
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by xm41907 » Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:25 am

After your comment I decided to change mine from C-Flex+ to C-Flex with a setting of two. I also have been testing the water with changes in pressure. I was prescribed 6, but for two nights, I upped it to 8 and saw no difference in unobstructives, higher obstructives, and lower Vsnore2. Last night, I dropped it down to a 4 and also changed to the C-flex at 2. My obstructives were still a bit higher (5.38 per hour), and the Vsnore2 went up to 5 per hour. interestingly, my unobstructives dropped to 10.2 per hour. Before last night, the lowest I've gotten for them was in the 30s. Tonight I'm going to try turning off the C-Flex and see how it goes. Tomorrow I'm having a bipap titration because of the high unobstructives. I'll be taking in the reports for the last few nights for the tech to reference.

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tetragon
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by tetragon » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:08 am

Gaga58 wrote:I have the same machine as both of you and love the c flex+...I'm wondering if your pressures are too low? I started out with 7, but didn't see a lot of improvement until I started upping my pressure settings. I'm now at 12 and I have no problems with the c flex. It takes about two breaths and then I can exhale fine...actually very comfortable and so much easier than the M series I was trialing before getting my new machine.
My main problem with C-Flex+ wasn't how it felt while I was exhaling; it was that C-Flex+ decided that I was about to exhale earlier than I really was. That is not a nice feeling.

I don't want to poke at my pressure settings at this point, less than a month to another follow up. But I am considering temporarily switching back to C-Flex+ in a few days to see if I start getting nights with VSnore2 in the thirties for half the night and having clear airway up in the three to five range (instead of zero). I'm hoping that by adjusting conditions back to what the DME set, I can record some snoring, if I do, in fact, snore when VSnore2 is in that state.

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Gaga58
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Re: Trying out C-Flex

Post by Gaga58 » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:46 am

And see, I can tell no difference as to when to exhale or that it's exhaling before me...I did notice that somewhat when trying out an apap and I didn't find that it was near as comfortable as my c flex+, for me the c flex seemed to be so much smoother in exhale and inhale than the apap...but I'm sure it just depends on the person and what they get used to or can tolerate.

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Additional Comments: Software: Encore 2.4.....SleepWeaver as backup/comfort mask...Pur-sleep starter pak...now using Sleepyhead software