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I found that staying positive and keeping a sense of humor were invaluable.

There will be "issues", especially at the beginning of the xpap therapy. Laugh at them (and learn, of course) and stay determined to succeed.

(Oh, and whenever you see the word "rant" in a post header, skip it)


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Wow ,I wish my area had an org like awake to get thru the first few months . It is so confusing to find the right path. In my area you don't get to see the sleep doctor and you have to watch out for sleep clinics that send you to their DME. Not much access to an RT either.
Even tho my prescription called for an apap I was given a ds460 which is not a terrible machine but only allows 30 days of apap . I think it would have been better if the sleep lab would have put apap on the prescription and a setting range like 10 to 14 Instead of a pressure of 12. My dme refused to give me a ds560 full apap and he said I didn't need it. I bought my own ds560 on this forum .
A intro sheet would have been nice , like wash your face just before bed to get a better seal, use steam distilled water in your humidifier , put your machine lower than your mattress on a non vibrating surface,elevate you hose over the head board to stop rainout , Use a hose cozy to slow rainout in winter, filter recommendations , cleaning recommendations .
It would be hard to cover all the questions so a group meeting of users in an area would be great , face to face with other users is priceless. I have learned a lot from this forum and I have helped others locally that had been on cpap over 15 years but they never got to talk to others .
My DME is lousy , he says I never need to change filters-- they are lifetime, don't try to read sd card-- it will erase it (BS), He can't give me a new mask because it comes with headgear and he can only give me that every six months . I believe he doesn't know much and has some funny rules of his own . All this is hard to deal with when you are in training to use this stuff. Some local mentors would be really great.
I am looking for a source to get personal training to get better at reading my sleepyhead data so I,m still working on it.

knightlite wrote:
My DME is lousy ,He can't give me a new mask because it comes with headgear and he can only give me that every six months .

That is utter Bull Excrement!

Tell him to then sell you a mask every 3 months & a headgear every 6 months (which is the replacement period most insurances follow, including Medicare).

Even better, the replacement schedule allows you to purchase 2 cushions only per month. Then replace just the headgear every 6 months. The hard plastic part of the mask will last almost forever.

Filters also fall into the 2 per month replacement schedule.

Because a headgear will NOT last me 6 months, my current DME sells me a new mask WITH a headgear every 3 months, but swears they are only being reimbursed for the headgear every 2nd mask (i.e. every 6 months).

Yeah, right! They like me that much!

Information I have gotten directly from Medicare is that they reimburse the DME for a new mask "with or without headgear" every 3 months. Additionally, they will reimburse the DME for just a headgear every 6 months.

So, I let the DME believe that "I" believe his story and "I" rely on Medicare to correctly reimburse the DME. So depending on how the time span falls, I will sometimes forego buying a new mask & later buy just the headgear. Although I pay nothing for any of my supplies, I see no reason why Medicare & my Secondary (BCBS) have to pay for things I really do not need. And, if Medicare let me just buy the Headgear every 3 months, I would almost never need a new mask (the hard plastic part) & would just also replace the cushions. I would get what I need when I need it, & both Medicare & BCBS would save some money. But, they just can't seem to understand that & continuously tell me to continue doing what I am doing.