Need a cpap machine and mask

[kriminal]

Hi, I was diagnosed with OSA before my health insurance ran out, and instead of paying more insurance plus the studies and deductibles it is better for me short term to purchase a cpap machine and a mask. (I will get insurance later when possible)

I am wondering what are the most popular cpap machines and masks, of course it depends on the individual but my odds are better if it is a well rounded popular product

Price is also important of course, but I will shell out extra if needed

Thanks for your help

[Guest]

Hi, I was diagnosed with OSA before my health insurance ran out, and instead of paying more insurance plus the studies and deductibles it is better for me short term to purchase a cpap machine and a mask. (I will get insurance later when possible)

I am wondering what are the most popular cpap machines and masks, of course it depends on the individual but my odds are better if it is a well rounded popular product

Price is also important of course, but I will shell out extra if needed

Thanks for your help

Do you have a prescription for a machine?

Den

[Sergey45]

My suggestion – be reasonable, especially at the beginning. This is a long learning process – treating your sleep apnea. There are many very sophisticated machines on a market, but it doesn’t mean there are most helpful. I have recently bought Respironocs Bibap for $1200, still learning how to use it, but for the time been I am with simple straight CPAP from respironics - Rem Star Plus. I would saddest – go for Respironcs Pro version. It will allow you to monitor your sleep by downloading smart card result to your PC.

[Slinky]

The Respironics M Series Pro would be a relatively good choice - BUT - for not much more you could get the Respironics M Series Auto w/either C-Flex or A-Flex. The autoPAP can be used as a straight CPAP, but since you are winging this on your own, the autoPAP can auto-titrate the pressure you need.

MOST people using an xPAP, regardless of straight CPAP, autoPAP or a bi-level PAP, need a humidifer. Very few can get for long w/o one, especially come winter with the furnace drying the house out. There are some good "bundled" prices for the integrated humidifers built specifically for specific brand or class of xPAP. HOWEVER, compare the pricing with the "bundled" xPAP and integrated humidifier with purchasing the xPAP and a Fisher & Paykel HC 150 stand alone heated humidifier. If you can, that 150 really is quite the Cadillac of humidifiers and can be used w/ANY xPAP brand or model. The integrated humidifiers are better if you travel a lot. But that is their ONLY advantage over the F&P HC 150. Passover humidifiers are cheaper - but not too many do as well w/o the heat of a heated humidifier. The heated humidifiers can be run as a passover during really hot humid weather, but the passovers can't be used as a heated humidifier and thus can't provide as much humidity as the heated ones can.

Don't forget you are going to need a mask! AND you ARE going to need SOME doctor to write a script for any CPAP, regardless the make or model.

[CRMW]

If you gog to our host's site CPAP.COM, they allow you to sort the equipment by : Name, Price, Brand, Popularity, & user reviews.

The biggest problem you will have is with the mask, two people can be very similar in facial structure and require different masks.

Chris

[kriminal]

I don't have the prescription, but there are sites that sell w/o and have good reviews

It would just be too much money paying for insurance, then sleep study, then the doctor, then the machine, then the mask and wait for small deductibles.


Thanks for recommendations I will keep looking into them

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): Prescription

[papdaddy]

Kriminal you might want to try secondwindcpap.com great prices for used machines, no prescription asked for, that I can see.


Rich

[kriminal]

I found a good deal on this one
Respironics REMstar Plus with CFLEX

I could get it configured with the study from when I was diagnosed with OSA

Just would need a humidifier (assuming it can be added to this model?)
and a mask (recommendations appreciated)

Is this a good starter cpap? granted it is not the pro and won't be able to monitor sleep, but without prescription/insurance I can't be too picky

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): respironics, humidifier, cflex, CPAP, Prescription

[kriminal]

[quote="papdaddy"]Kriminal you might want to try secondwindcpap.com great prices for used machines, no prescription asked for, that I can see.


Unless someone here can vouch for that site, I am skeptical on buying from unknown sites located in the US where the law mandates prescription.
I don't see how they could last long selling used machines, unless there is some loophole I don't know about

[cflame1]

Kriminal... that Plus that you were talking about... won't give you any indication if anything is wrong. Only thing that it'll report is hours used.

Honestly... not a good choice, especially if you don't have insurance.

[jabberwock]

Kriminal,

I can offer my own experience, for what it's worth. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea 4 years ago, and was sold a REMStar Plus. I wasn't even aware that there were options at the time. I used it on and off for about 6 months, then gave up completely, out of sheer frustration. I didn't feel much better and had no idea whether the therapy was actually working.

In April of this year, I decided I had to try again because I was so tired all the time, and missing way too many days of work. I started back on the REMStar Plus, and then found this website. In June, I purchased a second-hand GoodKnight 420E autopap from a forum member, and have been 100% (okay, 98%) compliant since that time. Even though it is an autopap, I usually use it in straight CPAP mode. The difference for me has been the ability to read the data so that I know the AHI is kept down under 5/hour, and the ability to adjust the output to see what works best for me.
Now I can tell before I even read the data whether it was a good night or not, just by the way I feel in the morning.

I have found that having a data-compliant xpap has made all the difference in the world to me, and I would never be without it again. You could start a thread here asking if anyone has a second machine they would like to sell. I have also heard that some people have had success with "gently used" machines on their local craigslist website. There are many, many people out there who buy machines and the quit using them before there are many hours on them.

As to a mask, a lot depends on how you sleep. I would suggest that you do a lot of reading here to find out why people like one mask over another before you make your choice. You might also want to have a look at the "Mask Roulette" thread to see if you might be able to "trial" a mask you are interested in before you decide to purchase.

Good luck

Bonnie

[kriminal]

Thanks for the tips, I'll hold on buying it and try to find the respironics remstar pro so I can get data and get advice since people here seems helpful

[kriminal]

one last question, is there a big difference between the remstar pro c-flex and the remstar pro 2 c-flex? any recalls or bugs I should be concerned about?

Thanks

[Snoredog]

Forget the plain jane Plus machine, get the Autopap A-Flex machine, it will also have better resale value if it don't work out. It will titrate you every night. Your regular doctor can get you the script. Should read something like:

Dx: OSA
Rx: AFLEX 4-20
Rx: Humidifier & mask of choice.

When you get it, program it for 6-20 the first few nights, it will find your pressure automatically.

A safe inexpensive mask is probably the ComfortGel, if you start mouth breathing you can always use surgical tape for a while. Not a great mask but a decent one. Soyala is better but costs more.

Shop around you can probably get the machine and the mask for a pretty good price, if you take the Url (suggest printing the webpage to PDF) and put it in the "Comments" box when you order from CPAP.COM they will match the price once verified.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage-bundle ... undle.html

[Moby]

grab a ruler, mirror pen and paper and use this
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-mask-sizing.php
to shortlist some masks for yourself.