C-Flex Affects

Well, when a newbie is told that the force-gale winds blowing up their nose is "no big deal and you'll get used to it," C- or A-Flex is a blessing. It helps with that initial stage of "getting used to everything."

As I've "gotten used to everything," I've been able to change A-Flex from 3 to 2 and noted that my AHI went down. Now that I have another computer with an OS that EncoreViewer likes and can read my nightly reports again, I anticipate going to 1 and then trying no A-Flex in the next couple of weeks. I'll see what the data says.

Even if I eventually don't end up using them, I'm glad I spent the bucks on all the bells and whistles.

It's all about having the options available people!

Lisa (Texan)

I'm one who did not care for the CFLEX either. Perhaps I never gave it a fair trial having tried AFLEX first, the CFLEX was inferior to me. However I use NOFLEX now and have adjusted to treatment without any exhalation relief just fine.

LoneStar wrote:Well, when a newbie is told that the force-gale winds blowing up their nose is "no big deal and you'll get used to it," C- or A-Flex is a blessing. It helps with that initial stage of "getting used to everything."

As I've "gotten used to everything," I've been able to change A-Flex from 3 to 2 and noted that my AHI went down. Now that I have another computer with an OS that EncoreViewer likes and can read my nightly reports again, I anticipate going to 1 and then trying no A-Flex in the next couple of weeks. I'll see what the data says.

Even if I eventually don't end up using them, I'm glad I spent the bucks on all the bells and whistles.

It's all about having the options available people!

Lisa (Texan)

Lisa,

You have made the best case for why C-Flex is a help. When getting started it *does* help greatly. As we acclimatise to the use of a cpap or auto, the C-Flex side effects get more noticeable & we can lower or turn off the C-Flex setting.

C-Flex was somewhat revolutionary when it came out. It was a great idea added by Respironics and they deserve lots of kudos for thinking it up. But today, bilevel machines are now close to the same price as an Auto & I am in little doubt that bilevel therapy is vastly superior to single pressure therapy for the majority of cpap users. The superiority is in the simple fact that breathe out pressure drops for the entire breathe-out cycle which greatly reduces aerophagia etc: and significantly improves mask management (the bane of cpap use).

To cap it off, the two big vendors offer bilevels with auto capability so the machines are very variable & capable of satisfying almost any requirement for exhale relief.

DSM

dsm wrote:
WillSucceed,

Agree - and at least one of the champions of C-Flex who repeatedly squashed any criticism, is still with us & still selling it in the same way

DSM

whoa, new avatar dude? I didn't recognize you.

Don't misunderstand, we were glad we were able to experiment with Aflex/Cflex when we started, it made all the difference in just getting used to breathing with the FF mask, and the Auto settings were key in zeroing in on hubby's optimal pressure. It was only after a process of elimination that we figured out what were the best settings for him. We were fortunate that our Dr wrote the RX for the APAP and that Medicare approved it.

elader wrote:

dsm wrote:
WillSucceed,

Agree - and at least one of the champions of C-Flex who repeatedly squashed any criticism, is still with us & still selling it in the same way

DSM

whoa, new avatar dude? I didn't recognize you.

Hmmm,

I thought I looked even more distinguished ? - is it the hairdo ? did I part it on the wrong side -

DSM

Well, the first week of no-CFlex results are in....I'm mostly feeling better during the day....though the nights could go better.

I now have trouble falling asleep, because I don't feel tired enough....

Also interesting....AHI is down, and OA has pretty much disappeared....


Full Report

The Dreamer

Dreamer, that's a great report, glad to see you doing so well. The same thing is happening with my hubby, pre-cpap he could barely make it to 9-9:30PM and couldn't wait to get to bed, now he stays up until about 11pm and it makes our life much better.

dsm wrote:...C-Flex was somewhat revolutionary when it came out. It was a great idea added by Respironics and they deserve lots of kudos for thinking it up. But today, bilevel machines are now close to the same price as an Auto & I am in little doubt that bilevel therapy is vastly superior to single pressure therapy for the majority of cpap users. The superiority is in the simple fact that breathe out pressure drops for the entire breathe-out cycle which greatly reduces aerophagia etc: and significantly improves mask management (the bane of cpap use).

To cap it off, the two big vendors offer bilevels with auto capability so the machines are very variable & capable of satisfying almost any requirement for exhale relief.

DSM

DSM, Are there any 'small' vendor's product worth considering? Just as Aflex and Cflex, bilevels may have limited effect on very low pressures? I use 4-6 auto, but without any cflex at all, I feel uncomfortable once the pressure goes >=5. Even cflex-1 is sufficient relief for me.

Just like some of the others here, I find aflex quite uncomfortable. It appears to force me to start inhale before I finish exhale. However with cflex I do not have this feeling, unlike the one or two in this thread who feel that way with cflex too.

The only other machine of note (US market) that I can recall having exhale relief, was the Polaris models - These were sold via Invacare but seem to have faded into the background these past few years. They had SoftX but I never heard a report on it by anyone who had used it so have no idea how good it was.

http://www.invacare.com/cgi-bin/imhqprd ... ID=ISP3000

Of course there is EPR on the Resmeds & I use that on my travel machine. EPR is closer to a bilevel in the way it works except there are no fine tuning settings we can fiddle with to alter rise time etc:.

But there are the Weinmann Somno range of machines out of Germany & these are top quality but I doubt you will get good support in the US. The SOMNObalance e offers exhale relief (SoftPap) and I would expect this machine to rank amongst the best on the market for quality & effectiveness. This is one Auto that claims it can recognise central from obstructive events.

http://www.weinmann.de/en/home_homecare ... balance_e/


DSM