CPAP Supply Costs

[tazmania]

My first post on this forum. I'm so appreciative to have a community to talk to. I look forward to everyone's great advice.

I'm a 52 year old male living in the Midwest of the USA. I've been a long time (around 6 years) CPAP user having moderate sleep apnea. SInce I was diagnosed with sleep apnea I've been using a Resporonic CPAP machine with a nasal pillow mask.

I recently visited my local sleep institute as I've been struggling getting enough sleep with my machine. I normally wake up after getting about 4 or 5 hours of sleep with an extremely dry mouth. The Dr. is having me play around with the machine's pressures. His theory is that I'm having trouble pushing back enough through my sinuses and thus I begin to breathe out my mouth where there is no resistence. Once I'm awaken to the dry mouth or an apnea occurence I take the mask off and sleep without the machine. It's hard for me to get back to sleep using the machine so I normally just shut it off. I'll continue to work with the Dr until this is resolved. So far I've had little luck with a pressure change.

My question is related to the supplies needed for a CPAP.

While at the sleep institute I took home some new supplies including a new nasal pillow mask and headgear. THEN I GOT THE BILL!!! After insurance I have about $300 that I have to pay just for the supplies. The one trip is costing me nearly $500 out of pocket. There is no way these supplies should cost as much as they do. I understand one shouldn't put a price on their health but knowing I have to continually purchase new supplies I cringe due to the expense. Hence I tend to use the set of supplies I have far longer than what's recommended.

Does anyone have any advice regarding supply purchases? Is it cheaper to simply buy supplies out of pocket instead of going through an insurance company?

[OkyDoky]

While at the sleep institute I took home some new supplies including a new nasal pillow mask and headgear. THEN I GOT THE BILL!!! After insurance I have about $300 that I have to pay just for the supplies. The one trip is costing me nearly $500 out of pocket. There is no way these supplies should cost as much as they do. I understand one shouldn't put a price on their health but knowing I have to continually purchase new supplies I cringe due to the expense. Hence I tend to use the set of supplies I have far longer than what's recommended.

Does anyone have any advice regarding supply purchases? Is it cheaper to simply buy supplies out of pocket instead of going through an insurance company?

Have a backup of one or two of everything and then only order your supplies as needed. My nasal pillow mask has lasted 1 1/2 years now. Everyone will have different needs but things last longer than the DME company wants you to believe. Things like machine filters can be obtained in quanity cheaply at Amazon or Ebay.You can buy mask parts on Ebay and sometimes whole masks on Amazon. Our forum host probably has things cheaper than you came away with at your DME.

Now for the question you didn't ask. Can you tell us the number on the bottom of your blower? That will help us identify whicvh machine you have. Just be sure and take out the water before turning over. If you have a full data capable machine you can get computer software to read your SD card and see if you have leaks and how you are doing with the pressure changes. There may be better solutions for leaks than pressure changes that do not prevent apneas.
Let us know and we will help.

[Bigburd2008]

Insurance costs are twice what you can purchase out of pocket. Insurance pays then they charge you almost what you could have purchased the supplies for. Big rip-off, money in someones pocket, racket on supplies. Insurance necessary for hands on doctoring, tests, etc, sucks on supplies.

[bwexler]

If you have had your M series machine for 6 years, that suggests to me that you got an older model since the 250 & 450 models were already available. I believe the Pro is what we call a brick. It provides no useful data to determine whether your therapy is working or not.
It might be time to get a new sleep doc, new DME and a new machine.

If you were to get a new Philips Reperonics Series 1 560 Auto (for less than $500 out of pocket) it would allow you to collect data you could view on your computer using free Sleepyhead software to monitor how effective your therapy is and make appropriate adjustments to fine tune it.

As to your original question, just look at our hosts site and price out exactly what you brought home. That will answer your question better than anyone here can, since we don't know what you got.

[tazmania]

Thanks for all the replies.

To answer some of the questions.

I'm at work so I'll have to look up the model # of my machine and update my signature.

The machine is data capable. I brought it with me to my last visit and based on the data the Dr. pulled from the SD card he determined the machine is working very well for me ... when I am wearing it. The issue I am having is I am averaging only about 4.25 hours of quality sleep with it per night (based on the last 370 days or so pulled from the data card.). I do wear it every night but every night, eventually, I remove it and sleep the remainder without it.

Doc's advice is to play with some lower pressures, ask my spouse to monitor my sleep habits (snoring again, etc) and if I can't find a setting that makes a difference he wants me back in. He said next steps would probably be a new sleep study and determination if I should be equipped with a bi-pap instead of cpap.

I'm open to hearing other's opinion about the Dr.'s action plan. FYI I go to the Minnesota Sleep Institute which, to me, seems to be a very competent institute. We have very good healthcare in my area of the country.

Thanks for the feedback on the insurance vs out-of-pocket information. I am an avid Amazon and Ebay shopper so I'll dig into those sites to see if I can minimize my out of pocket expenses.

[chunkyfrog]

The forum's sponsor is reliable, and only sells new equipment and supplies.
Cpap.com

[OkyDoky]

Doc's advice is to play with some lower pressures, ask my spouse to monitor my sleep habits (snoring again, etc) and if I can't find a setting that makes a difference he wants me back in. He said next steps would probably be a new sleep study and determination if I should be equipped with a bi-pap instead of cpap

A better idea would be to monitor with computer software. Sometimes people have apnea without snoring. Sleepyhead is free and reads the info off your SD card. This link will tell you how to get it. https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

[tazmania]

I'll have to pull the card in my machine. From what I recall it isn't truly an SD card. It's much larger than today's SD cards. I wouldn't even know how to interface to a laptop/desktop.

[Wulfman...]

I'll have to pull the card in my machine. From what I recall it isn't truly an SD card. It's much larger than today's SD cards. I wouldn't even know how to interface to a laptop/desktop.

From your profile (M Series machine), you would need a Mako/Infineer DT-3500 card reader and a version of Encore software (Pro, Basic or Viewer).
That's the only card reader and software that will read these "smart cards" ( I use that setup, too with my Legacy machines. )

Check out https://www.cpap.com. Some people on the forum have versions of Encore.

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-software/cpap ... odules.php

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-software/cpap ... ftware.php


Den

.

[tazmania]

I did some quick checking on Amazon for pricing.

I am a Amazon Prime member

Replacement Device Nose Pillow, mask and Headgear (funny you can't take the mask and headgear apart yet I see them as two line items on the insurance claim) Looks to be similar a P10 nasal pillow but I have no way of knowing for certain.
After Ins: $29.19 + $40.84 + $120.86 = $190.89 (Ahem, give me a break)
Amazon: AirFit P10 $79 (includes everything I need)

CPAP Device Tubing
After Ins: $42.14
Amazon: 1xCPAP 6' Tubing $6.20 Prime

The only saving grace, the Device Filters (overpriced at $39, $26 and $13) were ($0.00, $0.00 and $9.42 respectively). I don't recall receiving 3 sets of filters. Not sure what the 3rd filter is they thought I took.

I could have saved myself over $100 had I purchased these from Amazon.

[OkyDoky]

I recently visited my local sleep institute as I've been struggling getting enough sleep with my machine. I normally wake up after getting about 4 or 5 hours of sleep with an extremely dry mouth. The Dr. is having me play around with the machine's pressures. His theory is that I'm having trouble pushing back enough through my sinuses and thus I begin to breathe out my mouth where there is no resistence. Once I'm awaken to the dry mouth or an apnea occurence I take the mask off and sleep without the machine. It's hard for me to get back to sleep using the machine so I normally just shut it off.

Dry mouth can be caused by mouth breathing but also some users just get dry mouth. Your data should show if your are having large leaks with mouth breathing. Is a FF mask or taping a possibility? Also play with your humidity levels. If the dry mouth is not due to mouth breathing, you can try what I use, Orajel for Dry Mouth before bed and this usually helps me prevent dry mouth all night. Another one is Biotene Spray which I keep at the bedside and use if I wake up with my mouth dry. A nasal mask makes that easier.
It's a bad habit to break when you sleep without your mask. Your brain will resist as long as you allow it.

I'll have to pull the card in my machine. From what I recall it isn't truly an SD card. It's much larger than today's SD cards. I wouldn't even know how to interface to a laptop/desktop.

Sounds like your machine uses the credit card size SmartCard which requires a special card reader. The readers used to be available but I'm not sure if they still are. Sounds like you are needing a newer machine to monitor your therapy. If you do get a newer one make sure it is full data capable. If you do get a bilevel they are all data capable but if otherwise checkout this link and avoid ones that have a red NO. https://sleep.tnet.com/cmd

I see Wulfman gave you specific info before I got back.

[tazmania]

Thanks Wulfman,

I'll check that out. I'd be nice to monitor myself now that I'm fiddling with the pressure setting.

[ChicagoGranny]

normally wake up after getting about 4 or 5 hours of sleep with an extremely dry mouth. The Dr. is having me play around with the machine's pressures. His theory is that I'm having trouble pushing back enough through my sinuses and thus I begin to breathe out my mouth where there is no resistence. Once I'm awaken to the dry mouth or an apnea occurence I take the mask off and sleep without the machine. It's hard for me to get back to sleep using the machine so I normally just shut it off.

It's possible that you have one major problem - mouthbreathing while using a nasal-only interface. The therapeutic CPAP pressure is lost out the mouth, and you are having apneas. After four or five hours of sleep, your body is filled with cortisol due to the apnea. Then the cortisol makes it hard to fall back to sleep using the machine. If this is the case, it's unlikely you will solve the problem with changes in machine settings. The exception would be if your settings are much higher than a therapeutic level.

I'd be nice to monitor myself

Given your situation, this is more than a nicety. You are unlikely to get your therapy straightened out without data.

Amazon: AirFit P10 $79 (includes everything I need)

I like to start my comparison shopping at cpaptalk.com (forum's host) and work down from there.

After insurance I have about $300 that I have to pay just for the supplies.

Sounds like you were badly ripped. Always understand what your portion of the costs will be before taking delivery of any items.

[palerider]

Doc's advice is to play with some lower pressures, ask my spouse to monitor my sleep habits (snoring again, etc) and if I can't find a setting that makes a difference he wants me back in. He said next steps would probably be a new sleep study and determination if I should be equipped with a bi-pap instead of cpap

A better idea would be to monitor with computer software. Sometimes people have apnea without snoring. Sleepyhead is free and reads the info off your SD card. This link will tell you how to get it. https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

sleepyhead doesn't work with the respir m machines, you need a particular smart card reader, and encore.

[OkyDoky]

I'll have to pull the card in my machine. From what I recall it isn't truly an SD card. It's much larger than today's SD cards. I wouldn't even know how to interface to a laptop/desktop.

Doc's advice is to play with some lower pressures, ask my spouse to monitor my sleep habits (snoring again, etc) and if I can't find a setting that makes a difference he wants me back in. He said next steps would probably be a new sleep study and determination if I should be equipped with a bi-pap instead of cpap

A better idea would be to monitor with computer software. Sometimes people have apnea without snoring. Sleepyhead is free and reads the info off your SD card. This link will tell you how to get it. https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

sleepyhead doesn't work with the respir m machines, you need a particular smart card reader, and encore.

I wasn't sure where the SmartCard was involved since op originally said SD card. But I knew when they said this -

I'll have to pull the card in my machine. From what I recall it isn't truly an SD card. It's much larger than today's SD cards. I wouldn't even know how to interface to a laptop/desktop.