new to PAP - need advice/help

Hello all. I found this board yesterday. I am totally new to this sleep apnea/PAP thing. I am just 31 and have been suffering for about 8 years with exhaustion. Doctors have tested me for everything - lupus, mono, lyme disease, RA. They send me to counseling and tried Prozac. Nothing worked. I finally talked them into sending me to a sleep clinic a few weeks ago. I was diagnosed with mild SA. I have been telling them all this time that I didn't sleep well... argh.

I didn't get a good look at my report when walking it down the hall from my primary doctor to my ent, but they are sending me a copy. What I did discover is that I have mild apnea. I slept without an episode for the first 110 minutes and then had almost 50 episodes after that. My RDI is 15. While at the clinic, they never tried any masks or PAP machines. I was told later by the clinic that since it is mild that I might not need one. My doctor disagrees. I am pregnant and she wants to make sure I am getting enough O2. I can't have surgery to fix my deviated septum since I am pregnant.

Now I am waiting for the call from what seems here to be the evil DME person. My insurance pays 100% if I use the preferred provider/DME, so I am going to go ahead and meet with him or her for the first mask/machine. The problem is, after reading here and talking to my insurance co, I know that I am stuck with whatever mask they bring to me for at least 6 months. After that I will buy my own from a cheaper place than the DME since I have to pay for it myself.

Since I was never given the opportunity to try any at the clinic, I want to know what to try/suggest/demand when the DME person arrives. I am a side sleeper with a deviated septum and constant sinus infections. I might as well not even try to breathe out my nose, because it is so stuffy all of the time. I also have asthma. Just having the nasal cannula in my nose when a patient in the hospital for a few weeks several years ago and at the clinic a few weeks ago was torture. I scratch at my face trying (and often succeeding) to pull it out because it is so irritating. I have extremely sensitive skin that breaks out in hives with even a plastic watch band or one of those plastic bracelets that they put on you at an amusement park!

Does anyone have a mask recommendation for me????

Oh... I thought I was signed in. The OP is from me - sleepy-Kelly