Newly diagnosed and need advice, please.

It seems as though I'm the only one amongst us that is awake at 5:00AM which is a good sign... I don't have a CPAP yet and it seems that everyone else does. I have recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea following two overnights at a Sleep Study clinic. I hope that your experiences were less comical and more professional than mine. Moe and Ron (MORONS), on two seperate occasions, rubbed the hide from my temples and behind my ears leaving sores from where they "swabbed" to stick on the sensors. Ron put the mask on so tightly that I was unable to breathe through my nose and had to be awakened 4 times to adjust (tighten!) the mask to avoid air leakage. He explained that the CPAP wouldn't work if it leaked. I left the next morning thinking " The hell with it! If it has to be that tight to work, I may as well not get one. I wouldn't have slept at all without a sleeping pill."
Now I see that the CPAP machines are less expensive than I expected and I'm willing to give it a try. What kind should I buy? I'll need a Bi-Level. I assume that my insurance will cover it. Can anyone advise a good one that won't scare my dog? Looks like he's the only person that will sleep with me from now on.

Your introductory post was fun to read, mtntexas. It's good you have a healthy sense of humor - you'll need it to hang in there for this kind of crazy therapy.

Kidding aside (and an unnecessarily bad mask-tightening experience at the sleep clinic aside, too!) hopefully you'll soon be on your way to better masks and better treatment. Best nasal mask (covers the nose) imho, is the Activa by ResMed. And the lightest, easiest to wear interfaces in a totally different type (nasal pillows masks) are the Breeze with nasal pillows or the Swift. One of those would definitely get your actual therapy started off a LOT more comfortably than whatever they were strapping down too tight on you at the clinic! If you can't breathe well through your nose and need to mouth-breathe, then my favorite is the ResMed Ultra Mirage FF (full face mask - but don't let the term bother you..."full face" masks cover only the nose and mouth, not the whole face.)

If you'll post your same message...same thing you wrote here in this Introductions forum... on the "CPAP and Sleep Apnea forum, I'm sure many people who visit that forum will relate to what you went through and will be eager to offer support and hints for making the rest of your journey into hosehead land more comfortable. A lot of people read that other forum and may not even know this Introductions forum exists.

(click cpaptalk.com Forum Index and then click "CPAP and Sleep Apnea")

Hi mtntexas!

Love your avatar!

Best I can tell you is that your through the hard part. Once you take control of your treatment things will be better. I had a similar journey to your's recently and all is well now.

I'll second rested gal's suggestion of the Mirage Activa. If you don't like tight straps, or leaks! this is the mask for you.

Did they tell you that you need a bipap? They are significantly more expensive than the fixed pressure or auto adjusting machines. The remstar machines have a feature called cflex that may achieve a similar result for you.

Good luck in your future treatment!