Like many married couples, Bob and Terry Yuzuik enjoy spending time together. They share an interest in gardening, traveling and spending time with family. The couple also has sleep apnea in common.
Sleep apnea is a medical disorder in which the muscles in the back of the throat relax, collapsing the airway and preventing breathing and falling asleep. Every night when the Yuzuiks turn out the lights, they also turn on their Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines.
“For years I watched Bob become more and more tired,” says Terry. “He was falling asleep at red lights. His snoring was so severe that he would stop breathing and his body would literally jump off of the mattress. I insisted he visit a sleep specialist.”
Bob followed his wife’s advice and underwent a sleep test at Somerset Medical Center’s Sleep for Life center in Hillsborough. He was fitted for a CPAP machine, which made all the difference. The machine works by pushing air through the airway passage at a pressure high enough to prevent apneas.
“I immediately felt more rested and energetic after using the CPAP machine,” he says.
Just before they moved to Oak Ridge, N.C. from Branchburg a year ago for Bob’s job, Terry decided to have a sleep test when she learned that she too was snoring. She also was diagnosed with sleep apnea and fitted for a CPAP machine. The couple was so pleased with the care and service they received at Sleep for Life that even after they moved out of the state they continued to make their appointments around visits to New Jersey to see their children.
“It’s not uncommon to hear of couples both having sleep apnea and both using CPAP machines when they go to sleep,” says Rob McCaffrey, respiratory therapist at Sleep for Life. “Usually when one spouse sees how successful their loved one’s treatment is they also decide to get tested in the hopes of improving their sleep and overall health.”
“The CPAP machines have changed our lives,” says Terry. “We both feel better and we’re getting quality sleep every night.”
The couple also was surprised to find how portable the CPAP machines are.
“We’ve traveled to Mexico and Arizona with our CPAPs and they accompany us on all of our car trips,” says Terry. “These machines have improved our lives so much we would never leave home without them.”
Every six months the couple returns to Sleep for Life for a check-up, to monitor their CPAP machines and inspect the fit of their CPAP masks.
“The staff at Sleep for Life is great,” says Bob. “They made it easy for us to understand how to use the machine and how to clean it.”
“We offer a CPAP Boutique designed to make it quicker and easier for patients to select or exchange their equipment, which helps improve compliance and outcomes,” says McCaffrey. “Our CPAP compliance rate for patients at Sleep for Life is 92 percent compared with a national compliance rate of 46 percent.”
The Yuzuiks plan to return to Sleep for Life in the spring. They’ll be visiting family who know that where they go so do their CPAP machines.
For more information about Sleep for Life or to request an appointment for a sleep consultation, call 877-SFL-REST.