Coming Back to Therapy - Need guidance/Support

Greetings all,

A few years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, got my machine used it for about a year and fell off the wagon if you will. I am making a commitment to myself to get healthy in all aspects of my life, this is one of them. Last week I had a sleep consultation and a new sleep study. This morning I had my results review session and obviously need to get back on the machine, this time with a bipap auto.

My original machine was a Resmed S9 Elite, which was pretty great, nice and quiet, relatively small, easy to maintain. In talking with the doctor his preference is the Respironics. A note, he also sells the Respironics in their practice. I think based on my reading and prior experience, I would prefer the Resmed AirCurve BiPap Auto.

Looking for general feelings/thoughts about this, would you go with your own research? Anything I might not be thinking about that I should take into consideration when making this decision? Is it me or is weird that the doctor also sells the equipment? Wouldn't they be incentivized to sell their own equipment?


*** Note all equipment in signature is my old stuff that is being replaced as indicated above ***

The doc may just prefer Respironics way of doing things.
It might also prefer to sell what he has on hand that he got a nice cushy deal on.

Check with your insurance company and find out who else you can use and then call them up and tell them what you want.
You might also tell the doc your wishes and why and be honest about your concerns with him.

You don't have to buy from him if don't want to.

When calling around for machines..make sure to use the correct model name in your request.
ResMed...Aircurve 10 VAuto
http://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/pr ... vauto.html
The term Bipap is actually a marketing term by Respironics and while we sort have come to use it as a generic term for bilevel...when talking model names it really refers to a Respironics machine. Could potentially confuse someone at a DME office and you end up with Respironics offered again.

I'm confused. I thought bi-level machines were only needed in special cases, like needing pressure over 20, and cost much more?

You had an S9 Escape before. Has something changed to require a bi-level machine now? Are you paying out of pocket. Insurance won't pay for bi-level machines unless special requirements are met.

I hope that you can get a good data-capable auto machine that's compatible with sleepyhead software this time. It makes it much easier to get things working well.

So I wound up going with a 3rd party DME and getting the ResMed AirCurve™ 10 Auto at my preference. I pick up the machine on Wednesday, I can not wait.

yaconsult wrote:I'm confused. I thought bi-level machines were only needed in special cases, like needing pressure over 20, and cost much more?

You had an S9 Escape before. Has something changed to require a bi-level machine now? Are you paying out of pocket. Insurance won't pay for bi-level machines unless special requirements are met.

I hope that you can get a good data-capable auto machine that's compatible with sleepyhead software this time. It makes it much easier to get things working well.

Yes, I went in for an additional sleep study after years of not using my device (yes bad Greg) and now they want me on a bi-pap.

Nice new setup you have there! I hope that it goes more easily for you this time. The machines and masks do get better with each generation, I think. I just started using the P10 myself a couple of weeks ago and it seems to work very well.

Have you got the wonderful free sleepyhead software installed yet? http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread ... Discussion

Let us know if issues or problems crop up - odds are that someone here has dealt with them before and will have suggestions. Excessive leaks are a common one.

I'm curious about why you quit using your equipment the first time? What kind of issues were you having or was it just too much damn trouble? Once we figure it out and get used to it, most of us would never even consider sleeping without our equipment and many of us have a backup machine or two or three - just in case!

i stared my treatment about 18 months ago and i found out though my personal expereancs that regarles how i feel about how ucomtabel this machine feels i will not be with out for one night if i can help its a matter of life and breath. if you cant breath how can you sleep and heal please keep using the machine its your choice what machine but do not stop using it thank you