Did you ever start using something that at first you weren’t too sure about but after a while found that it gave you a better quality of life?

In my case I started using a CPAP machine nine years ago to treat my sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where the sufferer stops breathing several times a minute during sleep. Left untreated it can lead to stroke, high blood pressure, heart problems, liver problems and in my case to pulmonary hypertension. A CPAP machine is a unit that delivers Continuous Positive Air Pressure to overcome blockages and keep my airways open.

It began after an exam when my pulmonologist told me that I very likely suffered from sleep apnea but that I would need to undergo further tests to confirm the diagnoses. Several weeks later I spent a night, or at least a good chunk of one at a sleep center. On arrival a respiratory therapist attached a multitude of wires to the top of my head, my face and my body to measure my sleep and determine if I did suffer from sleep apnea. After being wired up I got ready for bed but noted that it was only 9:30 p.m., which is hardly my normal bedtime.

I am “night owl” from a family of night owls. Ben Franklin’s advice that “early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” is completely lost on me. For me “early to bed” means missing the best part of the day, the time devoted to reading, watching a little television and writing this column. I like think that I am at my creative best in the late hours but I my wife would tell you that my thinking on the subject is really a delusion brought on by sleep deprivation.

That night I managed to sleep through sheer force of will but it wasn’t a particularly a sound sleep as I was suffering from bad case of performance anxiety. But sleep I did. Then before I knew it, I was awakened at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. and sent home after having the wires removed.

Several weeks later, after it was determined that I did have sleep apnea I went back for further testing to determine what type of mask I needed and the settings for my CPAP machine. The routine was the same with an early bed time and the usual wires attached to me. This time however I was also attached to a CPAP unit by a plastic tube and a mask that covered my nose. I went to bed.

Suddenly my attempt at sleep was disrupted by the respiratory therapist who told me I was breathing through my mouth. I told him that I often breathed through my mouth when sleeping since the time my nose was broken and latter repaired. He told me that I couldn’t do that and to try harder to breathe through my nose. I tried hard; God knows I tried my best but the concentration it took to breathe through my nose, precluded any sleep.

He then attempted to keep my mouth closed with an elastic bandage that was wrapped from under my chin and over the top of my head to hold my upper and lower jaws shut. When that didn’t work, I asked him if there were any masks that would cover both my mouth and nose to which he shouted yes in an eureka like moment and left the room returning with that type of mask.

Problem solved. That night while I didn’t sleep like a baby, I did sleep well enough until the usual 5 a.m. wake up.

A month later I picked up my CPAP unit and the rest is history or rather it was history until a few days ago when I received a letter from my pulmonologist’s practice stating that the manufacture of my CPAP had recently become aware that foam used for sound deadening was, in some cases degrading and might pass through the unit into a patient’s airways and lungs, certainly not a good thing.

The letter was quite clear in stating that I was not to use my CPAP unit because of the problem. In registering my unit at the manufacturer’s website, I noted this statement; “The repair process for existing devices requires regulatory approval in your country, which we are working toward obtaining as quickly as possible.” Reading the statement, I realized the FDA would be involved in the process of regulatory approval and well aware of that agency’s well known bureaucratic foot dragging in granting drug and medical devise approvals wondered how soon I would again have a useable CPAP.

Going to bed that evening, I reached for my mask on the nightstand but quickly withdrew my hand. I did not sleep well.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com