Devilbiss vs Resmed

Hello All, first off apologies if I posted in this in the wrong place or if this was asked 100x before but I am new to the CPAP world and was just diagnosed with OSA. I am near death apparently with the severity, my AHI is 40 and my SO2 went down to 66% at one point. While I am not thrilled about having to use a CPAP, I am really looking forward to making this therapy work. The hospital gave me a Devilbiss Model No DV54UK with a nasal pillow mask. I have several colleagues who have Resmed S9 Autosets and they rave about them. The pricing is about the same where I am. My questions are, first, is there anyone who has had experience with both machines and cam tell me their experiences with both? The second question is by reputation alone which is better, they both seem to have similar features? Thanks in advance for the help!

Did your machine also include this so you could use software to get the data collected by your machine?
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/devilb ... odule.html
Otherwise you are limited to smart code data only.
Do you know about the smart codes?

Resmed and Philips are the industry leaders and both companies make reliable equipment.

When your life is on the line, seems to me that you are better off going with one of the industry leaders. Personally, I use the Philips Respironics stuff but if my doctor were to prescribe a Resmed instead I would be perfectly happy with that, too.

You will, frankly, be just fine with either. The DeVilbiss is a fine, high quality machine that a lot of people use. Pros are it has a 5 year warranty and is made in the US, and is generally less expensive than the other brands, at retail. Likewise the ResMed models are also excellent machines that are widely prescribed as well. Plus ResMed just released its new S10 models. Some features are different between the machines so definitely compare them -- but you should rest well knowing that you will likely get just as good treatment from either auto or bipap machine, etc., you get from either company.

Thanks all for the replies. The Devilbiss is just a loaner and thus doesn't come with any accessories like the smartlink module (which seems very useful). As others stated the Resmed may be more costly and thus since my insurance will foot the bill 100% I think I will go with the Resmed and then maybe down the line pickup a Devilbiss as a travel/backup on the used market.

One question I had with this (last night was my first night), I seemed to have frequent situations where my mouth would open (using a nasal pillow mask) and then the backpressure would release and then my lips would start flapping like Barney's from the Simpsons when he belches. This of course woke me up nearly every time. I actually feel worse after my first night of therapy than before. Also I seem to somehow be getting air in my stomach to the point where I feel I need to belch to release the air, is this stuff all normal? Should I ask to switch to a full face mask? Man, I am confused by all of this. I really need for this therapy to work, I know its the only the first night but can easily see why people give up...

If you can learn to keep the mouth shut you can use the nasal pillow mask but the mouth has to stay shut (at least for the bulk of the night). What you are experiencing is the air going up the nose and instead of proceeding down the airway it is trying to exit through the path of least resistance the mouth...the trick is to use your tongue to block the doorway so the air can't enter the mouth and then it proceeds down the airway like it is supposed to.

Lots of practice with placing the tongue in the roof of the mouth (this position lets the tongue block that doorway) is sometimes needed. It's easy to do while awake but when asleep the tongue gets lazy and falls down on the job and opens the door. If much air escapes..you lose precious therapy pressure...even if not much escapes if it wakes you up then it is unwanted because it wakes you up and anything that wakes you up is something to try to fix.

Practice the tongue to the roof of the mouth trick...do it during the day whenever you think about it and there's a good chance it will go there out of habit when you are asleep.

You could of course just go to a full face mask if you wish but they come with their own issues too. Nothing is perfect.

Aerophagia...the belly discomfort...belching and farting...yeah it's common and there's some things you can do to limit or reduce that little annoyance.
wiki/index.php/Aerophagia

Actually I think that the S9 (since that's what you decided you want) offers a form of exhale relief called EPR that would probably help you a lot with the aerophagia because it can drop the pressure during exhale up to 3 cm and often that drop is enough to help keep the aerophagia monster away...it works like a bilevel pressure machine works. The Devilibiss doesn't offer that much exhale relief.

Thanks for the fast detailed reply Pugsy! Excellent information, not sure I can train my tongue during sleep but will give it a try. Like that EPR feature of the S9, maybe more justification for my decision. Speaking of full facemasks, what are the downsides of those?

I have both, and I find that both machines feel similar.
The DeVilbiss can be plugged directly into the power port of the car, so as long as I'm not driving, I can sleep.
It looks like there are more adjustments to the waveform, but I've never fooled with it.

Full face masks have more surface area touching the skin that needs to seal. More real estate to deal with.
Headgear is usually a bit more to have to deal with too.
All masks have pros and cons.
Mask preferences, needs and wants are highly personal. One man's treasure is another man's trash....it's just the way it is with any mask out there.

You will probably want to try more than one just as a matter of finding out which one you happen to prefer.
By all means try a full face mask if it interests you.

I think I'm gonna try a chin strap with the nasal mask as a first step. If that's a no go then the full face mask. If I use a nasal mask then I think I'm gonna have to find a way to keep my mouth shut since I tend to be a mouth breather.

Thanks for all the responses guys and gals

chunkyfrog wrote: The DeVilbiss can be plugged directly into the power port of the car, so as long as I'm not driving, I can sleep.

is there a lawyer tag(tm) on it that says "not to be used while operating a motor vehicle"?

SleepySeoul wrote:I think I'm gonna try a chin strap with the nasal mask as a first step. If that's a no go then the full face mask. If I use a nasal mask then I think I'm gonna have to find a way to keep my mouth shut since I tend to be a mouth breather.

Thanks for all the responses guys and gals

Sounds like a good idea.

I'm a mouth breather too and tried one of the nasal devices during the second night of the sleep study. I too found air escaping from my mouth but was able to somehow move my mouth and tongue around for it to stop. Later during the sleep study, the ridge of my nose became sore so they switched me to a full face mask. Only today (20 days into bipap) I tried a different full face mask and found that it was more comfortable than the first one.

I say all this to point out that you have many options and once you get it worked out you'll find the objections to being on cpap to be minimal.

Best of luck.

^ thanks, definitely a learning experience for me. I really hope I can get used to this thing, I need it to on so many levels.

SleepySeoul, many of us on this board find we need or want to monitor our own therapy. The better machines record a lot of data about how the therapy is working. There are some machines that record almost no data, and some that are almost like a limited sleep test every night. The GOOD ResMed and Philips Respironics PRS1 machines record a lot of data and many of us here are very familiar with them.

When it comes time to get your own machine, read the links in my signature line on how to navigate through the minefield.

Does the DeVilbiss line record air flow waveforms even if you have the smartlink module? I forget whether it's the DeVilbiss or F&P machines that lack that data.

I like the thought of getting a mini sleep study each night. I am an engineer by trade so data is a good thing, never can have too much.

I am getting used to me devilbiss nasal mask. If I get a Resmed S9 Autoset can I use the devilbiss mask with it or do I have to use a Resmed mask?