A few years. Enjoy your sleep while you can.

I’m kidding, sort of. I had a miserable experience with mine, and between the snore doctor snd the rental company no one seemed particularly interested in trying to help get me into something I could live with. When I finally got rejected for noncompliance I couldn’t have boxed it up and thrown it on my porch any faster!

But I hope you do get your issues resolved. If I were to try again, I’d look for a new snore doctor who cared enough to facilitate the process. I hope you’ve at least informed your doctor of your difficulties with their supplier.

How much longer would you wait before you called Convacare back?

I'd call them back the next day. And the day after that. I'd be real nice and polite, but I'd make a nuisance of myself until I got my CPAP. They would get tired of talking to me every day 😂

Unlike food, I have a great relationship with my CPAP. I'm 100% compliant, even when I travel. It took a lot of persistence and trial and error but I felt so tired and crummy I persevered.

Not using a CPAP when it's needed causes so much damage to the body and organs with not enough oxygen getting to them. It can even be deadly. I lost a friend to sleep apnea. She had it very severe. She passed in her sleep. She'd had to send her machine in for a repair and hadn't been using it. Of course we don't know definitively that cause of death was sleep apnea, but how ironic to pass away when you have severe sleep apnea and haven't been using your CPAP.

That is really strange. Will your insurance company allow you to get it from another provider. If so, I would ask your doctor’s office to send the order into another company. Once I had my script, the doctor’s office asked me where to send it and I chose a provider near me and made an appointment to pick it up. It was just a matter of days. I’d talk to the person who handles these issues in your doctor’s office. You’re probably not the only patient having problems with that medical supply company. Some are more on the ball than others.

I hope you’re happy with your CPAP. I love my little guy because I sleep so much better and don’t nod off during the day. Good luck. I hope you get yours soon.

I too would ask about another provider...sounds like these guys are definitely not on the ball...or are stalling for some reason. DH's cpap machine is a ResMed...you might call them, if that's who your Dr Rx'd...and ask for providers in your area.

You could also talk to your Dr and explain how you're not getting your machine...they must know of other providers as well or if other patients are having the same issue.

I left the provider a message explaining why I was cancelling the appointment. If I don't hear back anything Monday I think I'll call their office and ask if they'll switch companies.

I was talking to a visiting nurse practitioner last night and she said a lot of medical supplies are backordered right now including CPAP machines. She didn’t know why. Found this article in a quick search. https://www.cpap.com/blog/cpap-shortage/

Welcome to the arcane world of cpap. If the issue was backorders then you ought to be told that instead of the litany of weird excuses. I get consistently told they are waiting for insurance confirmation which seems to be the go to excuse. I have my machine-took me telling them I was going with someone else for it to show up the next day but the biggie has been getting my supplies. There is always some reason. I suspect these companies operate on a shoestring and just cant get supplies to send. I have dealt with Apria of infamous reputation with a wheel chair. Dear lord. They had actually never gotten around to getting Medicare approval. Talk about dropping the ball. My sleep clinic has been as helpful as they can be but none of the other companies are any better than the one I am presently using. My other option would be Apria.

I also get my supplies from Apria, and one would think they are the worst, but my doctor told me that the other options are even worse. There does seem to be a shortage of the machines (Mine is Resmed S11 - I previously had S9), but other supplies are relatively easy to get, such as replacement masks, which do wear out fairly quickly.

Apria barely has one ★, and most people begrudgingly give it that much. I won't go into all the problems I have had with them, but recently they sent me a couple of replacement masks that were the wrong masks, and so I had to return them. Doing that was not easy because I had to wait for authorization via email, and that took almost two weeks. As a rule, they do not communicate via email, and so I have to call and talk to someone. On my previous order, they had written my address incorrectly (which is why I wanted to email them instead of speaking to a moron), and that was very difficult to get corrected, as they kept sending me confirmations to sign with the same wrong address.

If the equipment had been sent to the wrong address and had been returned to them (They had written an address that did not exist in reality), I could have picked it up in El Segundo, which is close to my house in L.A., but I eventually got them to send it to the right address in Cathedral City.

I use masks with memory foam, as they are the most comfortable for me, and I do not have to have them on too tightly. The Resmed S11 has WiFi, and so it communicates with my doctor without my having to take the equipment (or at least a memory card) to him. My appointments with him now are via video, and so I do not have to drive to his office in Santa Monica. The drive is not horrible, but the parking is very expensive.

Incidentally, which company is supplying your equipment? Have you checked their reviews?

I bought a battery for my machine, in case there is a power outage, and it is supposed to be good for three nights before needing to be recharged. I cannot function well during the day if I do not use my machine.

What kind of battery do you have?

Lars, the company is a local one, it has my town in it's name. Very small place with not many reviews. Half are good and half are 1 star. Maybe it is just a supply issue? Wish they would just tell me if that's the case.

I have a battery for mine too. I'm too scared to sleep without my CPAP. Plus I feel crummy the next day. Here's the one I have:

I'd call other providers and see what the timing would be, if your insurance company allows it. By allow it, I mean, if it has more than one authorized source on the list you can use.

I wonder if they're still having issues because of the giant recall. DH had to wait about 9 mos before he got his replacement machine....

Annie may be right. Phillips recalled 5.5 million CPAP machines. I waited 18 months for a replacement. The entire recall was handled very poorly and I just filed my information in the Class Action Settlement.

In the four years I've had my supplier I have had a few issues. On several occasions I've have to request a supervisor which usually helps resolve the problem.

That's serious, sephia. I have an old lead acid CPAP battery that needs to be replaced. A doc I saw at my last sleep appt said he likes to camp and uses a so-called power station for about 400 bucks. For me, in a pinch, I get in the car and drive until I reach where lights are on.

Here's the battery I have, MAXOAK.

Well, the medical supply place called today and I set up an appointment for tomorrow. However, had to call them back to reschedule because the workers aren't done with my house yet. They actually answered the phone, which surprised me.

Got a voice message from my insurance company early this morning saying they could never get anyone to answer their calls.

Now there is an issue with the cost. The cpap is a little over $800. They were going to charge me that much to rent-to-own it over 10 months. Insurance is supposed to pay 70% so I questioned that and they are looking into it.

Rent to own is typical because so many people fail to develop the habit of using them regularly (because of lack of motivation, in my opinion). It may be the only way insurance companies accept CPAP costs.

I got a new one 18 months ago (really to have as a backup though it became my primary machine) and even for me, after >20 years of consistent NIGHTLY use and this being perhaps my 6th or 7th machine, it was still a rent to own arrangement.

I had to pay $76.00 copay when I got my new machine in August, and then I have to pay $9.23 per month for eight months. I think my insurance is paying at least 80% of the cost.

I cannot go back to my old machine (even though it still works) because it does not have WiFi and therefore does not communicate directly with my doctor's office to let them know how much I am using it. In the past, I had to take the machine (or at least the memory card) to my doctor's office for him to read the card.

CPAP machines can be bought a much lower prices than what places like Apria charge, but those places do not accept insurance. Places that do accept insurance overcharge the insurance IMO because of the hassle of dealing with insurance. If you need something like filters to go with the machine, they are cheaper to buy online than what the co-payment with insurance would be.

Rent to own might be because that is how Medicare manages it. Once you have met the number of months that medicare manages you own the machine if you have medicare.

When I got my first machine in '99 or 2K, <50 years old and in a generous employer plan, it was the same...rent to own for 9-10 months.

Patriciae, I don't have Medicare, not old enough yet. ( :

They told me it would be $234.06 and then $57.94 a month for 10 months. So I asked how much the cpap cost and they told me a little over $800. So, that's not 30%. I asked them to recheck the cost to me because my insurance pays 70%.

Lars, thanks for the information about filters. I don't know anything about cpap machines, even though I was a nurse for over 19 years, we always called respiratory when a patient needed one in the hospital.