Resprionics and Respironics

I've read that you need a Respironics xpap to use a Respironics mask. In that case, I would be OK to try that interesting new Comfortlite 2.
Does anyone use a Comfortlite 2 and C flex combo? How do you like it?

Love the CL2 with Remstar Auto with cflex set at 3

I started two weeks ago with the Remstar Auto CPAP with heated humidifier and the Comfortlite2 interface. I did not like the nasal pillows so I switched to the simple cushion with the extra strap that Rested Gal talks about. It works very well and is reasonably comfortable. One other thing I have been doing is pulling my hair back into a ponytail at the nape of my neck. My hair is not very long, but by putting the headgear strap below the ponytail I don't have as much trouble with it slipping up as I was before.

The machine is so quiet I hardly know it's running. Love the way it starts by itself with just a couple of breaths. I'm new to all this, but I don't understand why you couldn't use any brand of mask you wanted to as long as the hoses were the same size or with an adapter. There are so many people on this forum using the Respironics line of machines and I just can't believe all of them are using Respironics masks!!!

Don't know if you are a mouth breather or not, but I've been using the Poligrip Strips to keep my mouth closed and it is wonderful compared to using a chin strap! I never tried the taping and don't plan to after using these strips. It is so easy to do and to wash off.

Good luck with getting your equipment.

neverbetter wrote:I've read that you need a Respironics xpap to use a Respironics mask.

Actually, people on the message boards report mixing/matching different manufacturers machines and masks with no problem at all. I don't think you really need a Respironics machine if you want to use a Respironics mask. Or a ResMed machine for a ResMed mask, or a Puritan Bennett machine for.... you get the idea.

I believe you can use most manufacturers' masks with any other manufacturer's machine and get the same treatment as if you had matched them together.

I'm not a doctor...just my opinion as a three year "mixer" of many machines and masks.

Does anyone use a Comfortlite 2 and C flex combo? How do you like it?

I have both, and love 'em! I use the Simple Cushion of the CL2; both have added greatly to my compliance.

I believe you can use most manufacturers' masks with any other manufacturer's machine and get the same treatment as if you had matched them together.

DITTO

You said "xpap" and if the X is C, I do not think it matters. But that machine might be in APAP mode (C-Flex is available on both CPAP and APAP mode with Respironics) and thus a problem might be created.

If you are using APAP, the machine supposedly depends on looking at the shape of the breath curve and the sounds made by your breathing to decide whether or not to change your pressure. Maybe other stuff, some of it depends on the machine, some depends on how inventive the brochure writers are, I'm sure .

Now there is some claim that, for, say, the Respironics APAP, that the mask has to be approved for use with that APAP so that the automated real time adjustments will work. It is certainly questionable whether the maker of the APAP would test other maker's masks against their device - or admit that they did work, but then again, we have had people report that the mask makes a difference to their pressures, settings, etc., on APAP.

But, anyway, that would be the only reason you needed to use a particular manufacturer's mask, and maybe just a subset of those masks. If you use straight single pressure CPAP, I just do not think it matters - although some masks will treat some people better than others based on how they feel after treatment - and I've come to believe that how someone feels is perhaps as important as anything else - that Canadian study that seems to show that people can do as good of a job setting their own pressures based on how they feel as the sleep lab can makes an interesting point.

One thing for sure - all masks do not work for all people, and some masks work very poorly for some people - and those same masks work so well for other people that it is not clear that they are both the same species