My full name is John Ealham Wakelin from Auckland, New Zealand and I have been using a CPAP machine for 7 years

For many years I had been a snorer and one night my wife became concerned that I was holding my breath and twitching a lot during the night so off we went to see our Doctor. I was then referred to sleep physician Dr Andrew Veale in 1999 and he assured me that I had sleep apnea and would require a sleep study to confirm this. I duly had a sleep study at Green Lane Hospital and they confirmed I had sleep apnea and I was supplied with a CPAP machine and mask.

It took a little while to get used to the mask but one day I was talking to an ex President of the Sleep Apnea Association of NZ and he recommended I try an oracle mask. Initially, I found the oracle mask very awkward to accommodate but I persisted for approximately 2 to 3 weeks and then "bingo" everything seemed to fall into place. I was getting a better sleep and also my wife was happy with no snoring or holding my breath.

I use my mask every night and take it with me on my holidays and recently I used it on a boat cruise out of Brisbane for 10 days and it worked perfectly on the ship.

Before starting with my CPAP machine, I would wake up approx every 2 hours but with the machine I can sleep for 5 to 7 hours and also my wife is sleeping sounder because she is not worrying about me during the night and I also get good support from the sleep technicians.