no insurance getting desperate.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 8 years ago,Unfortunately I never did anything about it.(the thought of sleeping with a mask)
Now it has caught up with me I can't do this anymore. I have been researching cpap machines for a while. I'm curious to know is there any harm in buying a cheap basic cpap? I have seen many for sale online and on craigslist. I don't have insurance and I don't want a hand out. I have found several models for sale. I found a Puritan Bennett for $50.00

Thanks

Without a Sleep Study it hard to know if you could find the right pressure without a data capable machine and software to read it. When you were diagnosed did they give you a copy of the sleep study and RX?

This was about 8 years ago ,When I was tested. I didn't take it any further with anymore testing or RX. I was young and blew it off.

From what have read it is illegal to buy one without a doctors prescription so I would be very leary of buying one with a paper trail.
You might also need 02 in order to get results and you can't know that without a sleep test.

Jason ` wrote:This was about 8 years ago ,When I was tested. I didn't take it any further with anymore testing or RX. I was young and blew it off.

Jason,

You may not be getting any helpful responses to your post because few if any of us want to recommend you try something to solve a problem the extent of which we and you do not know. The better question might be will buying a CPAP help you? The answer is if you need a CPAP and not an APAP or other type machine to effectively treat your OSA then at the least you might want to do is find one that allows you to adjust the pressure yourself and provides you with access to your results to enable you to monitor your treatment and its effectiveness. I do not know if the machine you are considering purchasing fits those basic requirements. Maybe you should be looking for a machine that auto adjusts to control any events (apneas, etc) and reports the results so you can monitor your treatment.

Brushy Hollow Bill wrote:From what have read it is illegal to buy one without a doctors prescription so I would be very leary of buying one with a paper trail.
You might also need 02 in order to get results and you can't know that without a sleep test.

It is not illegal to buy one without a prescription but it is illegal to sell you one without a prescription.

Jason, if I were going to do what you plan to do (and I did, back when I got started) here's a list of machines that provide more data than just hours of use:

My list of machines that record "full data" (AHI and leak info) and those that don't -- as of October 2008:
viewtopic.php?p=307168#p307168

If you are not going to be able to buy software, the ResMed machines that are listed as giving "full data" would be the most useful to you. You'd be able to see your nightly results in the little window on the machine itself...no software needed... and would see AHI, AI, HI, and Leak information. All of that could help you decide what pressure tweaking to do.

Good luck! Keep digging into this message board as if you were a medical student studying for the exam of your life.

KengEsq wrote:

Brushy Hollow Bill wrote:From what have read it is illegal to buy one without a doctors prescription so I would be very leary of buying one with a paper trail.
You might also need 02 in order to get results and you can't know that without a sleep test.

It is not illegal to buy one without a prescription but it is illegal to sell you one without a prescription.

[It is not illegal to buy one without a prescription but it is illegal to sell you one without a prescription]
I am going to have to get the old chalk board out and break that down so my brain can wrap itself around it. Sounds like Catch 22.

Jason,

You should have a sleep study and titration done. Your body's needs could have changed in the past 8 years enough that it would warrant an update. A PSG can also find out if you are having other sleep problems besides simple obsrtuctive sleep apnea.

Having said that, I understand where you are coming from, and that you are simply not in a position to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket. It is great that you are willing to get some treatment, and I hope that you are able to make it work.

Was your diagnosis 8 years ago based upon a sleep study? If so, you can go to the doctor who performed or prescribed the test and ask for the detailed report, which under HIPPA they must provide you with. This should give you an idea of what your pressure should be. If the doctor prescribed CPAP for you, get a copy of the prescription as well, it is very important and good for your lifetime. It is also required by most reputable online dealers. Some people have been burned on Craigslist, others have gotten machines that stink of cigarettes or pets. So you pays your money and takes your chance going that route.

If it were me, and I had simple obstructive sleep apnea and could not afford a doctor and sleep study, and I wanted to start therapy I would try very hard to get an auto adjusting CPAP. That would allow me to find an approximate pressure or range that worked best for me. You can search this site for more info on how to do it. The respironics M-series autos and the Resmed Autoset are examples of this type of machine.

If I could not get an auto, I would at least want to have a cpap with nightly data available so that I could try a certain pressure, monitor my data for a week and make incremental adjustments to see if that improved them. This means having a machine that provides your nightly leak rate, pressure, AI or apnea index, the number of apnea's per hour you are having, HI or Hypopnea Index, and AHI, the previous numbers combined. The resmed Elites and the Respironics M-series PRO (not Plus) are examples of this. Obviously this method could take some time.

The machine you mention probably does not provide any useful information. It probably lacks the "comfort features" that help people adapt to using CPAP. You definetly need a humidifier, and many people find some form of exhalation relief (a drop in pressure when you exhale to make it easier) helpful. Lots of people use a ramp feature which gradually increases the pressure to allow them to get used to it as well.

If I could not get a machine with data, and had no other options and still wanted to start treatment, I would probably try a basic machine set at 10 cm, monitor my symptoms and how I felt at that pressure and make incremental adjustments up, then down, leaving the pressure the same for a week at a time at each setting until I found the one I felt best at and which I experianced the least OSA related symptoms. This would take lots of time and patience. I would also be setting aside $50 a paycheck until I could afford to do it right. This is a serious condition and needs proper treatment.

As I said before, going through a Dr. and getting a sleep study done is the best way to be treated. Its what I did and I'm glad I was able to go that route. I'm not advocating that you do anything else. I'm not a medical professional so you need to take anything I say with a grain of salt. But I think its awesome that you want to start treatment, it is an excellent decision and I commend you for it. It will lengthen and improve the quality of your life. Whatever way you choose feel free to come back and ask for advice. Good luck with your treatment.

Jason, another option you might think about is a teaching hospital, if there is one close by. An example is Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL. They have a sleep study center for teaching and for those unable to pay for the normal services. Many times, they will run the sleep study, hand you your mask at the end of the study and may have used machines for a very reasonable price. It is all above board, as it is overseen by an accredited MD and you can get your study info, Rx and equipment through them. I know that right now they have some Respironics M series setting idle, as they just finished a research program for Respironics on the accuracy of the machine information. Just a thought for you to consider.
Bob

It is not illegal (and you won't be prosecuted even in the remote instance that anyone actually ever finds out or cares) to buy one. It is illegal to sell one without having been given a prescription to sell it. Both however, are done a lot and I doubt very much that the Cpap police are going to show up on anyone's doorstep anytime soon.

If you contact a sleep clinic that is attached to a big hospital sometimes they have a social services department that will work with you on financial assistance or even small monthly payments to help pay for their services. I guess it all depends on where you live and what your income is. But it might be better to have a new test done and if you haven't had a physical in a long time, it might help to make sure that you don't have a heart condition or something like that that is making you tired all the time. Believe it or not there are still doctors out there that work on a sliding scale for people without insurance. Usually it's the same doctors that take Medicaid. I still think maybe a physical might help you out just to make sure you don't have anything else going on inside your body. I hope you get the CPAP equipment you need. I know it's horrible not having insurance. I hope you feel better.

Karla

Jason ` wrote:I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 8 years ago,Unfortunately I never did anything about it.(the thought of sleeping with a mask)
Now it has caught up with me I can't do this anymore. I have been researching cpap machines for a while. I'm curious to know is there any harm in buying a cheap basic cpap? I have seen many for sale online and on craigslist. I don't have insurance and I don't want a hand out. I have found several models for sale. I found a Puritan Bennett for $50.00

Thanks

One thing to consider is whether or not it includes a humidifier. I would have a very hard time using CPAP without one. I think most people on this board use a humidifier. Sometimes you can pick up a stand-alone humidifier that could be used with any machine pretty cheap.

Another thing to consider is how you will know whether or not the therapy is effective. You might look for an older machine that can record data. Here's an older machine, for example. Doesn't look like it includes a humidifier, but what do I know? Maybe someone here can comment on whether or not it can record data. It is a bi-pap machine, which is sometimes needed if you require higher pressure. I assume it could run in single-pressure mode.

Here's another one that does include a humidifier, but I don't think it records data. In that case, you'd have to use a different method.

Some other ways to determine whether or not the therapy is effective:
How do you feel? Which pressure makes you feel the best?
Do you still snore? (May need a bed partner to report)
Use a pulse oximeter. These are not cheap, and they won't uncover all sleep-disordered breathing problems, but it's a point of data.

Those aren't foolproof ways to determine whether or not the therapy is effective. But here's the deal. If you can't afford another study, then maybe some goodness is better than no goodness. You might be able to get a better match of therapy-to-problem with a sleep study, but this may be the best solution you can afford. And it's possible that an imperfect therapy is better than no therapy.

As for whether there would be any harm, I suppose it depends upon what other medical problems you might have. But in general I would say that if you don't have other medical problems, doing without CPAP therapy is probably way more harmful to you than the risk of harm of using a machine without a Dx/Rx.

Thanks for everyones replies. I have learned quite a bit, I didn't realize how important picking a good machine is. I thought all machines were pretty much the same (This is something I need to research)