DME is "Durable Medical Equipment" provider. This is the company that sold you your CPAP. It's a bit like a pharmacy for CPAP.Armando wrote:What you are telling me is a real bummer. I knew it was a very basic model, but obsolete to boot?
I'm south of the border, and we don't have much choice of models. This was the only model I was offered that doesn't have features I don't need like bilevel or autoset.
Besides I don't have health insurance as understood in the US, and what I do have, specifically doesn't cover sleep disorders. Long story short: I had to pay for the study and equipment myself and, frankly, the other models were out of my reach.
Pardon my newb-ness, what does DME stands for?
Your S8 Escape II will do a fine job of providing a fixed pressure to treat your apnea. If you get the pressure set to what you need, it will treat your apnea as well as a newer, more capable machine.
Some newer and better models will automatically adjust pressure to adapt to you. Some will sense your breathing every night and record information that will tell you when you're having apneas, what type of apneas, etc. Some models will record a graph showing every breath you take during the night, showing how deeply you breathe, how long you stop breathing, and other info.
The newer machines mostly make it much easier for you and your doctor to tell if your treatment is working and help you fix any problems you may have.
The way things work in the US, the patient with insurance usually pays the same amount of money for any CPAP machine. Many DMEs sell their patients cheaper machines that do not provide the info
that can be used to monitor their treatment. Those of us on this board tell people to fight for the right machine from their DME.