BAck when I still had TRICARE I got a RESMED AirSense 10 machine, used it for a year with ZERO objective results - I STILL felt like hammered sh!t in the morning, blood pressure was still a little elevated and I would crap out around noon and nap or fall asleep on my feet.
I got a dental appliance from our family dentist of 25 years which turned this around until the appliance broke; by then our insurance had changed and I couldn’t afford $625 out of pocket charge for the device (basically a HARD night guard for bruxism with a jaw lift bump).
Went back on the CPAP about six months ago as I’m 100% VA disabled and VA has sent me a handful of nasal masks and nasal pillows. Difference being the pillows stick into your nose a bit and are a little easier to get used to. The nasal mask had me wake up in a panic dreaming a face-hugger from ALIEN was on my face and I couldn’t breathe. THAT got thrown away. I have a beard/mustasche so most masks won’t fit. I’ve gotten used to the nasal pillows but they shift a bit during the night and blow air into my eye which wakes me up.
Noise? Silent. The positive pressure pump makes no sound I can hear other than the airflow out the nasal pillows/mask until I put it on.
I’ve been using CPAP now for about six months straight and I STILL wake up like a zombie, have midday slumps (I’m retired, I can nap when I want to) but have more days where I’m awake 5 AM to midnight and get a lot of stuff done, and my BP is a little lower (but for some inexplicable reason goes UP every time I’m at the VA. Heh-heh).
Hope this helps.
In 2006 I was diagnosed with Restless Leg Syndrome—really bad. They placed me on a REMStar cpap with a humidifier and it worked pretty well. I used a nasal pillow type mask which doesn’t cover my face or nose, more like an O2 line. If you put your mask on right there is little to no noise. This machine worked great and still does but my doctor wanted a new sleep study after fifteen years to see if I needed changes.
After the study I was sold an Airsense10 with a heated hose and settings changes. I went through United Medical-Lincare. It was to be $40 a month for ten months. They sent me one bill which I promptly paid and then started calling about supplies, hoses, filters etc... which they assured me insurance would pay for.
Then they stopped sending me bills period for 8 months, then I get a $400-$500 bill out of the blue tacked on with lots of goodies. I contacted them and asked why did my billing stop and where did all these other charges come from you said insurance was paying for them. Oh well our billing vendor had issues, and I said for 8 MONTHS!
I told them well boys and girls I’m going to take 8 months to pay you off since it wasn’t a priority for you to get your bills out and the monthly calls for supplies can stop, I’ll get them online.
As for the Airsense10 my wife and I don’t think it is nearly as good a machine as the old Remstar. I never snored with the Remstar and do from time to time with the Airsense, using the exact same mask.