David is a senior gent who is proudly an OBE (that’s “Over Bloody Eighty” in his words).

 

He was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea about five years ago. But when he was diagnosed and put onto CPAP, he really struggled.

 

David has a large nose with sharply sloping cheeks and had real difficulty finding a mask, any mask, that could fit over his nose and seal on his cheeks.

 

Having tried all the masks he could find, without any success, David’s doctor eventually put him on an oxygen concentrator in an attempt to minimise the consequences of his sleep apnea.

 

It was a poor second choice for therapy. Even though the additional oxygen counteracts the oxygen desaturation, David was still having over 300 apneas each night. His overall health and wellbeing were in sharp decline.

 

David’s partner then heard about Acurest and called us in breathless excitement to find out if our mask could work for David. We made an appointment and saw David just a couple of days later.

 

Three weeks afterwards, David received his new custom-made mask and started sleeping better right away.

 

His partner was initially terrified by the silence, having become used to the noise of David’s snoring and gasping competing with the whirr and clunk of the oxygen concentrator.

 

Sleep deprivation was actually becoming an issue for her too.

 

After a few months, the change in David had become noticeable. He has more energy during the day, his other health issues are under control and for the first time in years is planning a holiday.

 

Obviously, David’s case was extreme. Most people will find a standard CPAP mask that seems to fit, at least for a few minutes.

 

But the true test comes when you try to get a full night’s sleep with a mask that isn’t quite perfect.

 

It’s like buying a new pair of shoes. Go to the shop, try on the shoes, walk once up and down in them and then take them home. It’s not until you put the shoes on in the morning and walk around in them all day that you really know whether they fit you properly.

 

It’s great to be able to help people like David. Until he was able to get onto CPAP, David’s other accelerating health problems were defining his life; he was too sick and too sleepy to leave the home most days.

 

Now, well he’s still OBE, but he has a new lease on life!