Newbie saying Hi!

Hello! My name is Beth and I'm a Newbie here from Richmond, VA. I have been viewing the forums and just wanted to stop in and say "hi" and also say thank you for all of the information!! I had my sleep study about 10 days ago and I will be receiving my machine on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to this site, I had informed questions to ask, and I have been able to learn a little from my doc. Here's what I know: I will be receiving either a Respironics M Series Machine or a Fisher-Paykal. Is there a great difference between the two? Is there a preference amongst those on the Forum for either machine? As far as my sleep study, all I know right now is that (a) I stopped breathing or had trouble breathing approx. 35 times per hour. and (b) I'm not getting enough REM sleep. I had a split study, and was started on CPAP at level 4 and upped to 14 when I woke up uncomfortable. The discomfort was my nose being cold and cold air blowing (leaking) on my arm from the hose. My doc has assured me that a heated humidifier is part of my machine, and I'm hoping that this will eliminate the nasal discomfort. Sounds silly, but that will definitely keep me awake!
Sorry that this is so long. Thank you for listening!! I'll let you know how things go. Thanks for all of the info-esp. regarding which questions to ask my Tech. when I pick up my machine! God Bless!!

Hi,

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on getting diagnosed. All of us were newbies once. I am very grateful that there is a treatment available for this condition, but at the same time, I feel a bit foolish for letting it go on for years too long before going to see the sleep doctor.

I have an M series machine. It is a very industrial quality machine. It is pretty quiet, compact enough to easily travel with, and it gives useful data. The only thing I don't like is that it has 3 really bright blue lights on it. The humidifier will help you with the cold nose. I find that I have to have the humidifier turned up pretty high since converting to a nasal pillow mask. The result is that the air is kind of warm, which means that I have to keep the A/C kind of low and have a fan to move air around the room a bit. There are all kinds of variables like this that you can tweak to get more comfortable. The more comfortable you are, the better things are going to work out for you.

Please post back on how your first night "on the hose" goes.

-john-

Welcome to the forum!

Be sure to get a machine that has more than compliance data. If your doctor will let you have an Auto machine, go for it! Most of us here use respironics machines, it seems. But a machine with data is way better than a machine without.
As far as the cold air, the humidifier will give you rainout if it's set too high, and can also cause congestion. It isn't made to warm the air, just to allow more moisture to be carried to the mask. For warm air I use the Aussie Heated hose. It isn't covered by insurance, but is well worth the investment. I got mine from the manufacturer here;
http://www.sleepzone.com.au/showitems.a ... %20Tube%27
Been using it for 3 years with no problems but have a backup just in case. Keeps everything toasty warm and eliminates rainout for me.

Brenda

The M-Series has provided excellent therapy for my mother & myself. I know little about the F & P machines. Most importantly, you must insist your machine is "fully" data capable and able to provide detailed nightly data. The M-Series is, and with your extra purchase of a card reader and software, you will be able to monitor your therapy progress in order to maximize it's effectiveness. This extra measure is highly recommended to insure your speedy path to successful therapy. Good luck with your therapy, stick around here and you will do fine.

Georgio

Don't take the Fisher & Paykel because all it gives is usage data. The lowest M Series machine that you want is the RemStar Pro. The Pro gives complete data that you'll want to see and will help you in taking control of your treatment. If you can get the Auto, then do so. But nothing less than the Pro.

There is now a Fisher & Paykel machine that is an auto and gives detailed data. A couple of people on the forum have ths machine. You could search it and PM the people who have it to find out more about it.

It is the Fisher& Paykel 254.