its been a while, need help for a friend

It has been a while since I have been here.
My apnea is under control. My wife has started cpap and is doing well.
I was in Alaska for 3 years helping my daughter (long sad story) and lost track of my stock of old masks.

But I have a friend with bad apnea (90+ events per hour) he has started cpap but is still at 30+ events per hour with a lot of leaks.

He has a beard..... and moustache and is unwilling to shave it off. He will trim the mustache,

he does not like things up his nose and wipes them off in his sleep.

His insurance is being a pain about trying different masks.

I think that he needs one that covers his mouth, but want to try different masks

He needs time to try and sleep with it, fitting him in a chair has not worked out very well so far.

he is using a respironics amara view size L


He is a large man so he may need an xl
Does anyone have other masks that we can test?

My address is

Ted Wilson
3603 Forsythia Dr
Wylie TX 75098

The fuzz is a problem, but then a number of people say the Amara is leaky, and what else is important for FF masks is that he try them on lying down - faces change a lot then relative to nasal masks, and sitting in a chair won't help anything. Cpap.com (forum sponsor) does lets you try diff. masks for a small insce fee for a short time - look at the site or call them to find out the specs. But do try to get him to shave... life is more important with his stats than being in style for five minutes!

I will look into the site and see what the options are.

Shaving is not an option..... stubborn man......

Insurance will only pay for whatever the mask replacement allowance is. No way around that.

The DME is being the pain because they could allow for multiple mask trials IF they just would because all mask manufacturers offer a 30 day mask return policy and DMEs can use that to let people try different masks and not lose money. It does mean a bit of extra paper work on their part though which they are just too lazy to do.
Then they blame the insurance..."oh, your insurance won't pay"....kind of thing. It's the DME not being helpful though....has nothing to do with insurance.

cpap.com now has free return insurance on all masks. Be sure to read the return policy though...there are some time limits.

I was blessed to get my son and one of my daughters on cpap without the help of a doctor. I just got one of my other daughter on the machine. She was a challenge for me. She put the mask on, took it off and said "I can't do this". She has worn the mask for a week now and says she feels great. In my opinion, a person with 90+ events per hour doesn't have much choice when it comes to success or not. If he's unwilling, give him a shovel and tell him to start digging his grave in the back yard. I have had success with a beard on my Resmed F20 full face mask. Tell him to try the F20 (large) with the beard and if it doesn't work, then off with the beard. I'm thinking that if he really wants to keep the beard, he'll try real hard to make it work. My goodness.... vanities oh' vanities.....!

Sheriff

I talked to cpap folks and they also recommended the F20 as the mask with the fewest returns.

My script for them has expired, so I have a new script printed that we need to get to his DR. Then we will order an F20.

I will try to get this updated but it will be a whoile before we can get the new script,

I like the idea of the shovel..... we have an old one with a very poor handle, lots of splinters..... I think I will give that one to him.

i was looking online and see 2 f20s

airfit (silicone)

Airtouch F20 (memory foam) At least one u tube reviewer likes the memory foam one.......

Anyone have experience using both of them with a beard?