[Equipment] Beginner Must Have Equipment/Supplies

[PoutinePrincess]

Hello, 

I am a new APAP user in Canada, and I am wondering what you’d recommend as “must have” equipment/supplies for a beginner.
Thank you kindly.

[BoxcarPete]

First of all, your name makes me hungry. Second, there are no must-haves for anyone other than a machine, hose and mask. Do you have an SD card in your machine? If so, you can download OSCAR, it is a lovely piece of software and completely free, to share some of your data with us for feedback. From there, we can make some recommendations on things that will be helpful to you specifically.

For general tips, browse the wiki right here on apnea board. Good places to start are "How to optimise your therapy" and the mask fitting primer.

[RNeil]

I agree with BoxcarPete. I don't know if this is true in Canada, but in the USA, DMEs will want to put you on a ridiculous schedule to replace every thing frequently. Some things wear out, but otherwise don't need to be replaced. I use a nasal pillow and use unscented baby wipes to clean it. Other people just use soap and water.

[SarcasticDave94]

Besides the machine itself initially, one extra of mask, hose, humidifier tub. Then a decent amount of filters. 1 standard SD card, any brand, 2-32 GB capacity, formatted to FAT32.

After you've done CPAP for years, save your old CPAP as a backup.

[HalfAsleep]

You will need distilled water for the humidifier. It comes in gallon containers in the supermarket. Since COVID, it's been hard to get around here.

Of accessories, my most essential is a cozy for the 6ft hose. The fun ones are at Etsy. The more conventional ones, at most any other CPAP store.

I use baby shampoo for just about any kind of sensitive cleaning of myself; my mask counts for that. I got some free mask wipes from a cpap store, but other than that, I never bothered to buy wipes.

[Big Guy]

No real need for distilled water at all. Use tap water and keep the reservoir clean by using some White Vinegar every now & then. 

I started out using distilled water because I didn't know any better. Didn't take long to find out. If you don't like the idea of tap water, use a water purification pitcher. Still lots cheaper than distilled water. 

I used tap water for well over 2 3/4 years and id right fine by it. 

[Frankiboy]

Distilled water from the supermarket is very often contaminated with bacteria and I would strongly advise against it; it is not medical water, but industrial water.

[HalfAsleep]

Around here, the water is impossibly caked with minerals. Even the filtered water has some (I filter all my drinking water). Minerals cake the shower head, stain the toilet, leave spots on the filtered water containers, splatter the chrome faucets and the countertops.....they are EVERYWHERE. The amount of chlorine my town adds to drinking water also makes it taste like a swimming pool.

Lead removal filters are VERY expensive.

So, yeah....distilled water.