tcher49,

Yes, you almost certainly are opening your mouth. Mine tends to pop open every 90 minutes or so when I have a REM sleep cycle. Frustrating problem.

How's this for a helpful piece of advice? I had exactly the problem you describe after my first five nights of downloaded data. Then I changed something and it works fine now. But I can't remember what I changed to fix it! Darn, I hate it when that happens. It was only a few weeks ago, too...

tomjax, Do you by chance live in a cool and/or dry part of the world? Around here, anything that is left with water in it or on it for more than a few days will grow fungus. I'm allergic to many types of fungus therefore I don't really want to leave anything sitting around wet. Would it kill me if m...

Kathleen, I compromise on that issue. My complete cleanings (with detergent and everything) are every four days. I do the cleaning with warm tap water and just a drop or two of unscented dish detergent. Then I rinse thoroughly with plenty of plain tap water. As a final step, after getting all the ta...

Exactly. The predominant payor is employer-prepaid medical coverage (not really insurance at all) and it is mostly the price that particular payor is willing to pay that gets set as the selling price. So their interest in making the price lower is not as great as it would be if the employer (funder)...

Even in a monopoly, price is set by what someone is willing to pay. It will typically be higher than in a market with multiple sellers but a sale transaction still requires a buyer and a seller who agree on a price. And Mucky is right about the masks. The marginal cost of production of pieces that m...

I'm pretty sure DSM has shown that the two machines in question have different hardware. Either way, it doesn't matter. You buy the machine with the capability you need. The only person who cares what's inside is the guy who builds it and the guy who repairs it (and maybe DSM who is an incredibly cu...

AI is the number of events identified as apneas, expressed as a rate per hour. HI is the number of events identified as hypopneas, expressed as a rate per hour. AHI is simply the sum of AI and HI to give the total rate of respiratory events (and is in my opinion most comparable to "RDI" in a PSG stu...

The argument about moderated vs. unmoderated forums is older than the Internet. It will never be decided one way or another because there will always be people who strongly prefer each option. Options are a good thing and being too quick to disparage those with different preferences to your own is I...

My doctor prescribed APAP 7-12 as my initial treatment. The DME would have provided one and billed it to my insurance under the CPAP code until such time as my doctor determined that CPAP would suffice instead of APAP. Then they would have swapped out their APAP for a CPAP that I would own. The part...

Tom Swift, Nice work, that's for the report. One caution regarding your doctors interpreation (not that I think he's wrong). With an APAP the higher pressures can be in response to the occurance of (obstructive) apenas rather than the cause. So what he says is certainly a likely interpretation but w...

I know some people think an MD degree is a license to steal money by defrauding those gullible suckers who actually go to a doctor expecting some kind of professional diagnosis and treatment that will help cure disease and improve quality of life. Those people can stop reading here, this message is ...

My brand new ResMed S8 Autoset Vantage has a filter only about 1" X 1.5". Most machines use disposable filters that should be replaced every 4-6 months, depending on environment. many also have washable foam ones available. Bottom line: Check your owners manual! I like my S8 Vantage but I must say ...

The debate was ugly but if it served no other purpose, it raised my interest enough to try a little Vaseline on my nares instead of Ayr Gel. The petrolatum works much better, the gradual leakage that was creeping into my Swift toward morning no longer occurs. My nose is not the ideal shape for the S...

ThStoddart,

Boy, aren't you glad to know all those hospitals and doctors were all wrong? Lucky you aren't dead by now from naso-vaselino-itis or something.