How can I try out CPAP for light apnea without spending $$$$

[daveola]

I took a (at-home because of COVID) sleep study and was told I have light Apnea.  I was at something like 11 obstructions - which I seem to recall being for the whole night, but I see from reading this board that this probably wouldn't qualify as even a mild case, so maybe it was per hour.  I've never had snoring issues in my life, which my doctor didn't quite believe, but all of my previous "bedmates" and my wife, who is a very light sleeper, can agree is the case.

They gave me a prescription for a CPAP machine, and I was called and told that I would get the new Resmed Airsense 11, but it was going to have a copay of something like $500+.  I asked if there was any way to do a test of the machine to see if it would even help, and was told that I could do an in-lab test, for the low low cost of about $500.  So that's ridiculous.

I have two issues/concerns:

1) I have all sorts of sleep issues (free-running cycle, insomnia, etc..), and it's not clear to me that a CPAP is going to solve my general sleepiness issues
2) I generally don't tolerate any sort of devices on my face at night.  I take them off while I'm sleeping and get to crawl around to try to find them in the morning.  This happened when I tried a suggested bite guard as well as some nasal vents (suggested by the same sleep doctor).  I go to sleep with them in, and wake up and they are gone.

I don't like spending $500+ to test something out, and I don't like unnecessarily spending my insurance companies money either, I've had that bite me in the past.

Not to mention that I'll probably have to buy a bunch of different masks to find one that I might even keep on my face while I sleep, otherwise a CPAP machine isn't going to do me a bit of good.

So of course I go to CL, and see many options of less fancy CPAP machines for $150 and up, and I figure I can at least try one out to see if it gets me *any* sort of improvement.  I come to this forum, and it's *very* clear that these "brick" machines are frowned upon because they can't handle all of the data sensing and automated response of the more expensive equipment - but is that really needed just to see if I get any improvement for a borderline mild case of Apnea?  I totally understand needing these kind of features for more difficult forms of Apnea, but that doesn't seem to be what I'm up against.

And if that's a reasonable enough test, how do I figure out which CPAP machine to try?  I see a Resmed S9 Autoset, which is evidently massively different from a Resmed Airsense 11, but is there a table anywhere of all of these machines and what kind of "features" they have?

[greatunclebill]

Mild sleep apnea: An AHI of five to 14 events per hour; Moderate sleep apnea: An AHI of 15 to 29 events per hour; Severe sleep apnea: An AHI of 30 or more events per hour.  

there is no light, borderline or whatever you call it. the numbers  are to show the different numbers of events per hour. this has nothing to do with the air pressure you need to open the airway. 

there is no way you're going to put a mask on and know that you instantly better. 

[daveola]

Mild sleep apnea: An AHI of five to 14 events per hour; 

there is no light, borderline or whatever you call it.

My apologies for getting the proper lingo wrong, I'm new to all this.

there is no way you're going to put a mask on and know that you instantly better. 

This seems to go against some of the stories, such as that of the admin of this board - perhaps you mean that there's no way to guarantee that?

[Gideon]

Put the mask on and use it overnight. Can you predict what your numbers will be (within reason) overnight from just the trial fit? Or even how you will feel in the morning and thru the day? I know I can't.

I expect pillow masks to outperform nasal masks, and nasal masks to outperform full face masks simply because the area under pressure is less the smaller the mask is resulting in fewer leaks. Does that make the pillow mask the best for you? Absolutely not. It takes actually using a mask to determine that. Granted that some users luck out and get a great mask that works well for them out of the chute.

[Sleeprider]

Philips Respironics had a major recall of machines over the summer resulting in a significant demand for new and used machines not affected by the recall. The Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset would have been a reasonably priced, and very good alternative if not for the demand that boosted the value of these machines. I'm certain you can still find one for less than your deductible by using the SearchTempest search engine that does a radius search of many Craigslist sites centered on the zip code you specify. I strongly recommend the Resmed Autoset over any other alternative, and especially Philips Respironics. I'm sure there will be a bunch of junk recalled Dreamstation machines available soon. Do not buy those.