Picking up equipment today.

Hello all been reading through some posts and seems to be a lot of great info on here. I am going today to pick up all my stuff for my newly diagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea. My biggest concern is finding a mask that will work for me. I am a stomach sleeper and from what my doctor told me I will need a full mask. Does anyone have any recommendations on masks I should be looking at that could work best. I guess from what I was told I get to try out different masks, but am hoping to get pointed in the right direction.

Welcome to the forum.

Why were you told that you will need a full face mask? Do you have chronic nasal congestion issues that you can't clear up that force you to need to mouth breathe?
Or maybe you need higher pressures and they told you that with those pressure you have to use a full face mask?

I would suggest looking at this one when considering full face masks.. It's very new to the market. The Respironics DreamWear Full Face mask. It's about as minimal as a person can get on their face. It's the only one that I have ever been able to even sleep with.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... dgear.html

ResMed makes some nice masks too.
You can take a stroll through here and see what looks interesting.
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-masks/full-face-cpap-mask.php

She said I would need a full mask because I sleep with my mouth open.

I would suggest looking at this one when considering full face masks.. It's very new to the market. The Respironics DreamWear Full Face mask. It's about as minimal as a person can get on their face. It's the only one that I have ever been able to even sleep with.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... dgear.html


That one looks interesting. The less on my face the better I think it would be for me. I had no idea there were so many different masks available.

The DreamWear full face mask is going to stand the best chance of allowing you to sleep on your stomach without the mask and hose getting in the way so much. It can be done with the other masks but it's just a bit easier the less bulky stuff is on your face.

FWIW I also thought I slept with my mouth open but my nose is clear and come to find out that the mouth breathing I was doing was more from the apnea events causing me to gasp for air during the night and mouth breathing was an effort to move more air.

The nice thing about that DreamWear Full face mask....you can get it and use it and if at some time in the future you want to try a nasal option there are nasal options that fit on the DreamWear frame so you don't have to get a whole new mask...just new headgear and the nasal option of your choice...under the nose cushion or nasal pillows.
Something to think about down the road if it interests you.

And yeah, there are a lot of masks out there in all mask type categories. Different people have different preferences, needs and facial structure. When it comes to masks one man's treasure is another man's trash and you won't know if a mask is a treasure or trash until YOU actually try it and see how well it works for your needs. There are masks out there that some people just love and they can't understand why anyone would hate it...but it's just the way it is in the life of a mask. There is always going to be lovers and haters of every mask out there. We can give you our opinion but you are only getting what we experienced and it may or may not be what you experience with a mask.

Someone I know did a good review on the DreamWear full face mask. It might interest you to see it in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUwIa3xnsDQ

Have you not even had a sleep study with any mask to determine pressure needs?
Or are they going to just give you an apap (auto adjusting machine) and let the machine sort out the pressure needs?

Thanks so much for the replies. There is so much to think about and I am feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment. I am sure that is not uncommon. I have not had a 2nd study to determine pressure and I am actually not sure if it is an apap. The doctor did mention she is able to get info from the machine to monitor progress and adjust pressure from the office which would lead me to believe its not auto. Is it odd that I am not having a 2nd study done?

Apaps or auto adjusting machines can be adjusted from the doctor's offices just like fixed pressure machines.

Auto/apap just means that the machine can auto adjust the pressure as it senses the need. It's the most commonly dispensed machine when in your situation where there has been a sleep study to establish the diagnosis but the in lab sleep study (called a titration sleep study) with the mask and machine to determine pressure needs hasn't been done.

The doctor can adjust things based on what the machine is showing it is doing. It's not something that you just setup wide open and let the machine go wild. It works best with optimal parameters are set but sometimes it can take a few nights to figure out what those optimal parameters are.

When you get your machine come back here and tell us which brand and which model and if unsure there's a model number on the bottom.
We can then tell you what machine for sure you have and the options that it will have.

Apaps have 2 modes of operation...auto adjusting mode and fixed cpap mode.
Regular fixed cpap machines only have the one fixed cpap mode.
2 is always better than 1. same money because insurance will pay the same amount no matter which kind of cpap/apap machine you get.

There is no "perfect" mask. If there were, none others would be made!

The choice of masks is governed by the contours of your face and equally personal variables. If you don't like the one you get, don't settle for it, try another (and another, and another, if needed).

I have the Resmed F20. I like it, its comfortable. I sleep on my side most of the night. The only leak i get is the the lower left hand corner of the mask. It happens to move when i adjust my head. It's trial and error with these masks. Once you get past the first night (i had to take a xanax to calm down) you will be fine. Greatest invention since the slice bread. I wish i had this machine 10 years ago.

Got my equipment. The lady that helped me was really great explaining everything. I have the resmed 10 and decided to try the respironics dreamware after trying several masks. I found it the most comfortable. I can switch it out within 30 days if I dont like it though I imagine I will need to try if for a couple weeks at least. Well night one....I am hoping all goes well and I can get some sleep.

You say ResMed 10 .. what model did you get? The Autoset or the Elite ... ?

The autoset

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Resmed Air 10 it says on the bottom. I also downloaded the app which I guess will give me information about how things are going.

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If you look at the face of the machine and down on the right lower side below and to the right of the round knob you will see the model name.

See this image...it says AirSense 10 AutoSet for Her because that is model that I have.
There is also the regular AutoSet, the Elite and the CPAP model names.

Thanks the the visual aid! It is the airsense 10 autoset

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