Hi, you've come to the right place for help!
First of all:
Four years ago, when I was 50lbs lighter, I didn't snore at all, and I don't remember being so tired all the time
Losing weight can be helpful for alot of conditions, including sleep apnea. I'm not sure if it would entirely solve the problem though, because even people who are not overweight still have sleep apnea. Only time and a discussion with your doctor could tell whether or not you'd be able to stop using xPAP.
Either way though, making healthy lifestyle changes is always a good idea. A healthy, balanced diet and exercise are a great addition to your health care regimen (be sure to discuss your diet and exercise plans with your doctor and all that, yadda yadda... )
Eventually, once you get used to the mask and machine, you'll start getting a better night's sleep (sounds like that already happened during your study), which means that slowly, you should have more energy to put into your healthy lifestyle changes. Personally, I've only been on the hose for about a month, and while I'm still too tired to put alot of time into planning and cooking healthy meals, at least I'm starting to go to the gym again.
You were smart research the different DME's first before picking one. From what I've gathered on this forum, smaller, locally owned companies are often a little friendlier to work with than the huge, national corporations like Apria. Just for curiousity's sake, you might want to visit billmyinsurance.com (there should be a link somewhere on this page) and get a quote from them. They supply CPAP equipment through our sponsor, cpap.com, who I've read good things about, as far as I can remember. You also might want to look up the various DMEs on your list with the Better Business Bureau:
http://lookup.bbb.org/
This page will help you find the site for your local office. There might not be any info, but it can't hurt to look.
For the machines, you could browse through the info on cpap.com and see which ones seem good. Print out the pages for the ones you're interested in, and take them when you talk to your doctor. When you and your doctor decide on a machine, have him/her write out the prescription for
the exact machine you have decided on! Hopefully, this will make it harder if the DME wants to screw you around and give you something other than what you want.
By all means, indulge the geek boy here. Research extensively, then try to get the very best machine possible. Your health is priceless.
If you haven't already, click on the yellow light bulb, and there's a ton of helpful information from people who are alot smarter than me.
That should give you a good start!
Welcome to the club!
