How can I describe the changes to my life after going on to CPAP therapy? I think it would be easier to describe my birth as in a way that is how I feel about CPAP therapy: it has been a rebirth for me at 43.

I was given a chart from my sleep test that looked like a thick black line rather than a graph. I had 119 apneas per hour as an average over the night; I was also well renowned in the Athletics groups I was an official for. They thought I was the loudest snorer they had ever met and it was the short straw that had to share a room with me on trips away. Even my children slept with pillows over their heads to try and stop the noise, and the lack of sleep affected their school work.

Before treatment, I was working 20 hours per week and had no energy left to do other things. I would come home after 5 hours' work and fall asleep watching television for 2 to 4-hours. I would sleep for at least 10 hours each night, I was 130kg and putting on more weight. And I thought I was normal.

Now, after two years on treatment with 100% usage over that time, I’m a new man. I now work a minimum of 50 hours per week and at one stage last year I was working two full-time positions. I am becoming involved in more out-of-work activities and socializing, I spend no more than 8 hours in bed and am fully awake before getting out of bed, and even from the first night of treatment my children have been amazed at the lack of snoring. I am now 115kg and losing more weight every month and getting fitter as I go. Since starting treatment I work more, I earn more, I play more and I sleep less.

I now realize that it’s a lot more likely I will be around for the birth of my grandchildren and will be healthy enough to enjoy my life to come. As I said at the start, I have been reborn and it feels great.

Steve Darling
Alice Springs
Australia