A-Flex - First Night

And it's a great place to keep midnight snacks also, just don't keep moon pies in there, unless you enjoy moon pancakes if you roll over!

Rooster,

Wow. I feel for you. I am just catching up on posts after my vacation and you have been thru the ringer with this whole thing. It took me 1/2 an hour just to skim thru all this stuff.

I would be getting another opinion on the bipap issue. I can't imagine how with those kinds of numbers you wouldn't benefit from the pressure relief--especially with your history with aerophagia.

I think you should set your machine at a RANGE with 20 as max and the highest pressure you are comfy with as the starting point.

You also should be seeing an ent to check out all the possibilty of anything that can be done to make therapy more tolerable. Maybe you need stronger reflux meds, maybe you need your tonsils out (see my post about how getting mine out has reduced my pressure needs!). Maybe there is something they can do or find that can help your anatomy cope with therapy. Have you ever tried taking antihistimines or ibuprofin before bed to help reduce airway inflammation? I have found that 1 children's benadryl is very helpful to me to take before bed and has the added benefit of helping me fall asleep faster. It really has proven to help lower my pressure needs by 1 cm of water. If your stomache is screwed up already the ibuprofin might not be the best for you.

It seems like just a couple of months ago we were in pretty much the same boat--now we seem to be in different oceans. I hope the fog lifts soon and you find out what is really going on. You have been trying so hard to be compliant despite all the probs with aerophagia etc it doesn't seem fair that you still feel like crap and have to fight this battle now.

I really suspect, like others have said, maybe your reflux is more severe than you thought. Perhaps that is one reason why the aerophagia is so bad--your esophogus is probably having a hard time healing with all those apneas happening!

I'm glad it turned out that your APAP was telling the truth! This is why EVERYONE should have data compatible machines. You shouldn't have had to wait 20 months to find out you had the wrong damn pressure!

Jen

[quote="socknitster"].........
EVERYONE should have data compatible machines. You shouldn't have had to wait 20 months to find out you had the wrong damn pressure!

Jen

This continues to be a great thread. I also got an Aflex machine with reader and EP 1.8 recently, and I have been making adjustments to get the AHI down. Following the reasoning process here has been invaluable in understanding cause and effect. My original pre-CPAP AHI was 65, at the titration study it was 31, and with a loaner APAP it got down to 15. With the Aflex, I started at AHI 7-8, and have gradually gotten down to about 5. Still working on refinements, and I look forward to more discussions on this thread.

One question, can you point me to Snoredog's post on how to clear the display data on a Remstar/Aflex machine? I remember seeing it not too long ago, but could use a nudge in the right direction.

Thanks, George

linuxgrl wrote:Rosemary, that backpack idea is something I am definitely going to try tonight! I, like you, have a lot of REM apneas and the tennis ball trick never worked for me. Apparently when I'm asleep I don't mind a tennis ball poking me in the back.

Your name is linuxgrl; can I assume you wouldn't mind putting Windows on a laptop and rolling over on it in your sleep : ) I get this idea because my husband loves all that is Linux and nothing that is MS.

jasper wrote:One question, can you point me to Snoredog's post on how to clear the display data on a Remstar/Aflex machine? I remember seeing it not too long ago, but could use a nudge in the right direction.

Thanks, George

I typed this into a Google search:

clear data M snoredog site:cpaptalk.com

Went to the second item Google came up:

viewtopic.php?t=24129&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Where Snoredog posted these instructions:

==========Resetting LCD Display Data====================

To reset LCD Therapy data (does NOT erase any data from SmartCard):

1. Hold down the (<-) (->) buttons while plugging in the power on the back,
wait for 2 beeps or 5 seconds, release buttons.
2. Press the (->) key and navigate to Therapy screen.
3. Press and HOLD down the (-) minus key for 5 seconds and/or until therapy data is reset to Zero.
4. Press the (->) key to scroll back to main menu, press (+) key to enter Setup or
On/Off button to exit.


P.S. Google finds things better on this forum than does the forum's own search button. Just go to Google.com and type in what you want to find. Add these words to the end of what you're looking for:

site:cpaptalk.com

That tip is courtesy of blarg and College Girl. Neat trick.

RG--COOL TIP!!!!! thanks!

Jen

That's great Laura, thanks.. Once again RG comes through!

Also, I forgot to mention: the tip socknitster has listed regarding the card reader (lindychris's solution) worked just great. This forum is amazing!

Your name is linuxgrl; can I assume you wouldn't mind putting Windows on a laptop and rolling over on it in your sleep : ) I get this idea because my husband loves all that is Linux and nothing that is MS.

Yep. I loathe windows as well But seriously, the backpack trick worked like a dream ! my AHI was 2.9 last night (it's usually 6ish) and my 90% pressure was 5.5! It was averaging 11-13 before. And it was actually very comfortable although I think I did wake up a few times during the night. I'll be sticking with it!

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): AHI

linuxgrl wrote:

Your name is linuxgrl; can I assume you wouldn't mind putting Windows on a laptop and rolling over on it in your sleep : ) I get this idea because my husband loves all that is Linux and nothing that is MS.

Yep. I loathe windows as well But seriously, the backpack trick worked like a dream ! my AHI was 2.9 last night (it's usually 6ish) and my 90% pressure was 5.5! It was averaging 11-13 before. And it was actually very comfortable although I think I did wake up a few times during the night. I'll be sticking with it!

Anonymous wrote:That's great Laura, thanks.. Once again RG comes through!

Also, I forgot to mention: the tip socknitster has listed regarding the card reader (lindychris's solution) worked just great. This forum is amazing!

Glad to help Jasper. It is a topic that just comes up over and over so I decided to put a public service announcement at the bottom of my posts. Hopefully I'm active enough here that it is helping lots of folks.

Jen

My boss really had a tough time at lunch today

After the latest titration I had these results:

October 2
Mask F&P432
Pressure 17 - 19
A-Flex setting 3
AVG Leak 54
AHI 10
Total time in apnea 29 minutes

Then the sleep doc read the reports and said to change the pressure to 15 – 20. Results:

October 3
Mask Quattro
Pressure 15 - 20
A-Flex setting 3
Avg Leak 50
AHI 15
Total time in apnea 40 minutes


The bridge of my nose was quite irritated after the first night despite having a piece of moleskin and bandaid protecting it from the mask. The second night I used a bandaid and a ball of cotton and the nose became even worse.

Tonight I will try the Hybrid and change the pressure range to 18 – 20.

Oh, my boss. This is a new job. He took me to lunch today to talk business. We are both the kind who look people dead in the eyes when we talk. He kept averting his eyes over and over. I finally realized what was going through his head, “Don’t look at Rooster’s nose? Don’t look at Rooster’s nose. What the hell is wrong with Rooster’s nose? Don’t look at it. Damn, does he look like Rudolph? Don’t look at his nose. Did I hire another W.C. Fields? Don’t look at his nose. etc., etc.,”

Yeah I looked like Rudolph. Fortunately I did not see any customers today.

Back to the Hybrid tonight. I readjusted everything and am praying it will hold the pressure tonight. Go Hybrid! Defense! Defense!

BTW, a visit to an otolaryngologist who specializes in sleep apnea patients is scheduled for 10/24. They don’t keep a cancellation list but I told the scheduler I would sure as hell be calling her every afternoon to see if they have any cancellations.

Now let’s see that's three weeks until the consultation appointment and if he decides to do a nasal/airway endoscopy, that’s what, another three or four weeks? So maybe seven weeks from referral to procedure? And the government is going to take it over and do better than that?

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): Titration, AHI

Sounds like the Mel Gibson movie "What Women Want"; "Don't look at his..... don't look at his..... Oh no, I looked at his ....."

Oh no, I looked at Rooster's nose!!!

linuxgrl wrote:

Your name is linuxgrl; can I assume you wouldn't mind putting Windows on a laptop and rolling over on it in your sleep : ) I get this idea because my husband loves all that is Linux and nothing that is MS.

Yep. I loathe windows as well But seriously, the backpack trick worked like a dream ! my AHI was 2.9 last night (it's usually 6ish) and my 90% pressure was 5.5! It was averaging 11-13 before. And it was actually very comfortable although I think I did wake up a few times during the night. I'll be sticking with it!

gasp wrote:

linuxgrl wrote:

Your name is linuxgrl; can I assume you wouldn't mind putting Windows on a laptop and rolling over on it in your sleep : ) I get this idea because my husband loves all that is Linux and nothing that is MS.

Yep. I loathe windows as well But seriously, the backpack trick worked like a dream ! my AHI was 2.9 last night (it's usually 6ish) and my 90% pressure was 5.5! It was averaging 11-13 before. And it was actually very comfortable although I think I did wake up a few times during the night. I'll be sticking with it!