About Phil

I Didn't Know I Was Dying in My Sleep

The recording lasted about 30 seconds.

A previous partner had been complaining about my snoring for a while. I thought she was exaggerating. Then one night she held up her phone and pressed play.

What I heard didn't sound like snoring. It sounded like a person dying. Gasping, choking, then silence. Then gasping again. Over and over.

That was me. Every single night.

I sat there and didn't say a word.

The Afternoon I Couldn't Ignore

I'd been noticing something at work for months. Every day between 1 PM and 3 PM, I hit a wall. Not tired. Dead. I'm talking about the kind of exhaustion where keeping your eyes open feels physically impossible. I'd fight it every single afternoon and lose.

I thought it was my diet. I thought it was stress. I thought it was just getting older.

It wasn't any of those things.

After my previous partner played that recording, I did some research. What I read stopped me cold. I made an appointment, and over two nights of sleep testing, I finally got my answer.

The sleep doctor pulled up my results and looked at me across the desk. She said in her 14 years of working in sleep therapy, she had never had a patient with as many interruptions as me.

My AHI score was 89.2. That's the number of times you stop breathing per hour.

Normal is under 5. Severe sleep apnea starts at 30.

I was nearly three times the threshold for severe. No wonder I couldn't stay awake at my desk.

The Morning Everything Changed

I'll be honest. The first night with a CPAP machine was uncomfortable. There's no way around it. You're strapping equipment to your face before bed. It feels strange.

I chose the smallest mask I could find: the ResMed Swift FX Nasal Pillows. Minimal coverage, nothing over my nose or mouth, just two small pillows that sit at the nostrils. Even then, it took some getting used to.

But I was so exhausted that I fell asleep anyway.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt like a brand new person.

I'm not exaggerating. Years of waking up tired. Gone. One night. I was sold from that very first morning and I have never looked back.

Who I Am Today

I'm Phil. I live in the Atlanta suburbs in Georgia. I'm 6'1", 208 pounds, and I have a six-pack. I say that not to brag but because sleep apnea doesn't care what you look like or how fit you are. It affects people of every size, age, and body type.

I cannot sleep without my CPAP. Not won't. Cannot. I am fully dependent on it. If I travel, it comes with me. If I forget it, I don't sleep. That machine has been part of my life every single night since March 2011.

My current setup is the ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet CPAP (the machine that keeps your airway open while you sleep), the ResMed Swift FX Nasal Pillows, and a 6-foot ResMed heated air tube. I've used the Swift FX since the very first night of my diagnosis. The nasal pillows were the right call for me and I've never switched. I did upgrade from the ResMed 9 to the AirSense 10, and adding the heated tube made a real difference in comfort.

I'm not a doctor. I'm not a sleep specialist. I'm just a guy who got diagnosed with one of the worst cases of sleep apnea a sleep therapist had seen in 14 years. And I figured out how to live well with it.

Why I Built CPAPLocator.com

Here's what nobody tells you after your diagnosis.

Finding a CPAP supplier is harder than it should be. Not all suppliers take your insurance. Not all of them are Medicare-accredited. Some are online-only when you need someone local. Some are local but won't call you back.

I spent hours on the phone tracking down suppliers, checking insurance, getting transferred, leaving voicemails. It was exhausting. And I was already exhausted.

I built CPAPLocator.com because that process is broken and nobody had fixed it.

This site is a free directory of local CPAP suppliers across the United States. You can search by ZIP code or city, filter by insurance type, and find suppliers who are verified and accepting new patients. No runaround. No guessing.

If you were just diagnosed, I know exactly how you feel right now. Overwhelmed, tired, maybe a little scared. I've been where you are.

The right equipment, the right supplier, and one good night of sleep will change everything.

I promise.

CPAPLocator.com is a directory service only. We are not a medical provider. Content is for informational purposes only. Always consult your healthcare provider.