Good DME in Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina

[pam933]

Hi all, I guess this is a long shot, but can anyone give me a reccomendation for a good DME in the Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina? I'm returning the Resmed Escape to Lincare tomorrow, but they won't order me a data capable machine so I have to find a new DME. My health insurance gave me a list of 100 or so Medical Equipment companies, but they don't even all necessarily carry CPAPs and I can't call them all.

This is stressing me out...

[BonnieB]

I emailed my friend who lives in the Chaple Hill area a few weeks ago when I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and asked him for advice on DME's and machines. He has had 2 CPAPs, one he got in the Washington, D.C. area and the other in NC. He really like Lin Care in NC. Here' what he said.

On the second machine I had the opportunity to try many mask, in fact I took a couple home to try and returned one or two. That was not the case the first time. A guy came by the house looked at me took out the mask handed it to me and once it touched my skin it was not returnable. I never liked the mask or the first machine and believe that is one reason my first experience was so bad. The second when I went to the Lin Care facility [in Chaple Hill area] was totally different. I was in a room with a very helpful woman and had multiple mask options. She voiced her opinion but I could have tried as many as I wanted. I understand that my CPAP is the latest model and it is much quieter than the first. I am not aware of any other brands nor of any marketing firm other than Lin Care.

I hope this helps. Bonnie

[mattman]

Would Franklin be anywhere nearby? I know there was a very good company up there. How about Shelby or Goldsboro?

[roster]

Franklin is a 5-hour drive, Shelby 3 hours and Goldsboro 90 minutes. All one-way driving times.

[mattman]

Ah crap. Those were the best ones I knew of up there. Maybe the latter will still cover the area. I'll see if I can find out.

Thanks for the tips Rooster. I'm not at all familiar with the area so wasn't sure!

[roster]

Ah crap. Those were the best ones I knew of up there. Maybe the latter will still cover the area. I'll see if I can find out.

Thanks for the tips Rooster. I'm not at all familiar with the area so wasn't sure!

mattman, You sound like a European who is used to driving four hours and crossing three country borders.

We are no Texas, but from Murphy to Manteo is 9.5 hours 550 miles.

[pam933]

Thanks all - I appreciate it, but 90 mintes is way too far. I found a couple places- Active Healthcare and Pediatric Specialties- that are fairly close. And these's an Apria nearby. I just don't trust any of them now, so if someone knew of one that was good I'd go there.

There is one called Sheepless Nights (yes, it's Sheep not Sleep) that I wanted to go to just because I like the name, but it's to far away also

[GumbyCT]

Can you order right here - online too?

[JohnBFisher]

See PM that I sent ...

[pam933]

My insurance won't pay for online places unless they will file with the insurance company - so no online for me

[snoregirl]

As long as you have figured it out and decided that using insurance actually buys you something.....

[sleepyinstlouis]

Is that what they told you, that they can't order a data capable machine, or they won't? Or is it because of how your doctor wrote the prescription? You might want to ask your doctor to rewrite the prescription to mention data capable if it wasn't mentioned before.

I have a data capable machine, albeit bottom of the line, but it's good enough for my sleep doc when I go in to see him. I know that Lincare does have data capable machines because the RT I see every few months has a room full of different machines, and nearly all of them are data capable. I'd look up the corporate number on Lincare's website and give that a call, maybe light a few fires.