Increased AHI with C-Flex +

[Sleepster]

Is there a correlation between the exhale relief and higher AHI? I am trying to decide whether to turn the C-Flex back off or increase the pressure to 10.5 as the next step. Any thoughts?

Is the increase in AHI due to additional CA's or OA's?

[Rritch]

Is there a correlation between the exhale relief and higher AHI? I am trying to decide whether to turn the C-Flex back off or increase the pressure to 10.5 as the next step. Any thoughts?

Is the increase in AHI due to additional CA's or OA's?

Mostly OA's

[TheDreamer]

Personally, I'm better with C-Flex off. Something I couldn't do until I found a manual for my machine....annoys me that a comfort feature has to be prescribed and controlled from the clinician menu (when its on, the user can change the level 1-3.. but can't turn it off...)

Can the PRS1 tell the difference between OA's and CA's? Thought that would require it to at least be an auto?

I know with my M-Series CPAP...EncoreViewer would show a CA's line on the graph, but never anything it it....EncorePro wouldn't show the line, because it wasn't applicable to my machine. Was told that Viewer is generic, it shows everything whether it applies to the machine or not. Which appears to be true, when I later put in a friends card from a Plus.

[zimlich]

I agree with SuperSleeper. The effect of decreasing exhalation pressure with flex or EPR does carry over into the beginning of inhalation. If you do not need the flex I would turn it off, I would not increase the pressure to compensate. Good luck.

[cbramsey]

Or could be something else is going on to raise the AHI. And an AHI is still good. Great, even.

Try your experiment longer than 4 nights. Go for 2 weeks or so. Give her body time to get used to it.

I agree with Paula. One data point does NOT a trend make. You need to give it some time to properly interpret what is or is not happening.

[SuperSleeper]

I agree with SuperSleeper.

I agree with Paula.

I agree with everyone. (I'm so agreeable today).

But seriously, Paula is correct that when you're assessing these things, you have to have a long enough testing time period before you can draw any solid conclusions about anything.

As cbramsey pointed out - one (or even 2-3) data points don't make a trend. When we all adjust our pressures and settings, it really needs to be done in small increments over a larger period of time.

[Sleepster]

Is the increase in AHI due to additional CA's or OA's?

Mostly OA's

Then I would tend to believe that these might be caused by the C-Flex. (I say this because when I switched from a CPAP to a BiPAP my OA's went way up. Had to lower the pressure to fix this.)

But it's important to wait and see if maybe it's a temporary effect that'll go away. It may be a sign that the pressure is too high. I would definitely discuss it with my doc and DME, if it persists.

The other thing to look at is the length of those OA's. If they last for only 10 seconds or so it's of far less concern than if they last significantly longer.

[Chuck]

So I've shut off C-Flex for two nights now, pressure is 13.
I felt a bit better yesterday, and considerably more rested today.
AHI was 0.5 two night ago; only 0.1 last night; more dreaming.
One central at about 5 am (they almost always are during that time).
I'm also swallowing less air, despite the increased pressure.
I guess I won't be using C-Flex anymore.
I suspect with the centrals and higher pressure a BiPAP might be useful, not certain.
How does one look at the length of events in Sleepyhead? Is it possible?

[JudgeMental]

Chuck. In the lower lefthand corner of the daily page in Sleepyhead, you'll see some
tabs..>> Details..Events..Notes..Bookmarks<< just click on the ""Events"" tab and then click on the (+) to expand. The numbers at the end in parantheses are the length in seconds of that event.

I don;t use the flex either,, it just didn't fit my breathing cycle comfortably..

[Sleepster]

How does one look at the length of events in Sleepyhead? Is it possible?

I like to zoom in on the waveform (the graph of flow rate versus time) and see just how long it was that I stopped breathing. If it's not an apnea, but a hypopnea, I like to look at those too to see both how long they last and how shallow my breathing got.