Here are all the CPAP machine and other CPAP products manufacturers I could find. If you have any others, let me know in the comments.
Just found out about this cool combo option: Apparently, you can get a Resmed S8 Compact CPAP Machine, one of the smallest CPAP machines out there, and a Resmed HumidAire 3i Heated Humidifier, and combine the two. When brought together, the two devices combine into a Voltron-like hybrid device, bringing CPAP and humidifier in a way god never intended.
But seriously, this is a pretty useful combination of two devices that are useful in the same place. My wife needs the humidifier to survive the winter months, and if I had a CPAP machine I could use this combo to fulfill both our needs. The S8 runs $725 and the Humidaire $260, so for just shy of $1000 this system works for me.
As an aside, a guy at my old job did a sleep study Monday night and found out he has sleep apnea. I consoled him, but was also able to use the knowledge I’ve recently acquired about CPAP and sleep apnea to reassure him that the doctors have lots of options for helping him. That felt nice.
Royal Philips Electronics NV, the company that bought Respironics for $5.1 billion a few months ago, is looking for even more health care companies to buy and add to its multi-faceted healthcare conglomerate. According to Forbes, earlier this month they bought Dixtal Biomedica e Technologia, a Brazilian firm, for an undisclosed sum, and they haven’t finished swallowing other companies whole.
The acquisition of Respironics for such a large sum shows that Philips is dead serious and can afford most of the medium firms out there. Already owning Respironics means Philips probably doesn’t need another CPAP machine company, though if their Respironics unit is threatened by the likes of ProBasics, Resmed, Puritan Bennet, or AEIOMed, perhaps with a new type of CPAP machine or an innovative CPAP mask, Philips may have to buy them to protect its investment.
Take a look at this picture of the Swift II CPAP Mask Nasal Pillow, designed to be inserted in your nose as an accessory to Resmed’s Mirage Swift II series of CPAP Masks:
I don’t know about you, but something about that thing makes me want to run a caption contest. How about:
Worlds Worst Brass Knuckles
Or maybe they’re sort of an extension of those finger moustache tattoos you keep seeing? Think about it.
Anyway, if you’re wondering how it works, this image of a Resmed Mirage Swift II Nasal Pillows System complete with the pillow attached. Imagine yourself wearing this as a CPAP mask, and the unusual product begins to make sense:
Two CPAP Machines were donated to the Caledonia Area Ambulance Service (CAAS). The CPAP machines, which normally cost $600 apiece (CPAP machines at CPAP Mart can cost $595-$825 for Resmed CPAP machines and $670-$2180 for Respironics CPAP machines) were given to assist the paramedics in emergency situations, forcing air into the lungs when conventional CPR isn’t enough.
“The CPAP system increases the volume of oxygen forced into the lungs, opens up the capillaries, and dramatically improves breathing for a distressed patient,” Tornstrom continued. “With these units we can provide immediate medical treatment to a patient suffering from respiratory issues.”
The CAAS staff has undergone a four-hour training course on the use of the CPAP system, and has a unit in each of its two ambulances. With the portable oxygen tank the CAAS has, the CPAP units become portable and can be taken into homes, other buildings, and emergency situations.
A new study about Obstructive Sleep Apnea shows that sleep apnea patients sleep no differently in a hospital than a hotel. The study shows that there was no difference in sleep parameters between two groups of patients, one housed in a hotel, one in a hospital.
The study measured “sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, REM sleep latency, total amount of slow wave sleep, and total stage 1 sleep“.
There is a growing trend of hotel-based sleep laboratories, but this study proves that there is no benefit to the patient of being housed in a hotel for a sleep apnea study. Patients with obstructed sleep apnea are so familiar with hospital settings, due to the chronic nature of the disease, that they do not feel any less comfortable sleeping in a hospital.
Of course, things are different for those of us with CPAP Machines. A CPAP machine user needs his machine in order to sleep properly at night, and not having that trusty Resmed equipment with a CPAP mask on your face does make a big difference. I don’t care how comfortable a hotel is, without a Respironics or other CPAP machine, I won’t be staying there!