“I couldn’t hide it from my wife any longer.”
In 2016, Ohio resident Mike was doing his best to enjoy retirement but knew something was off.
For years, he considered himself a light sleeper. But these days, Mike was getting almost no sleep.
“Why,” Mike says, “was I so tired all of a sudden? Tired to the point of just existing. I just didn’t have the energy to do much of anything.
I was scared, I didn’t know what was going on. But I knew I couldn’t hide it from my wife anymore. So, I sat down with her and told her what I was feeling, because I just couldn’t do it any longer.”
After talking about it, she and Mike decided to start at their family doctor.
There, they did routine bloodwork to rule out some common serious diseases. Eventually, his doctor ordered a sleep study.
“After my sleep study, they told me I stopped breathing an average of 52 times an hour—putting me in the ‘severe’ category for sleep apnea. They said, ‘we’re going to go the CPAP route to treat you.’ That was pretty much all they said.”
“I tried and I tried”
For the next two and a half years, Mike struggled with his sleep apnea—and with his CPAP.
“Even before I got it, I never understood how anybody could sleep with something strapped to their head. But every night I put it on, thinking this is going to be the answer for me. I tried and I tried. I kept going back for my follow up appointments, they kept making adjustments to my settings. Unfortunately, I just felt the same way—I wasn’t getting any sleep. I was still tired all the time, and it just wasn’t helping.”
“You have central sleep apnea”
Then, in the summer of 2019, Mike heard a radio commercial that would change his life.
It talked about a device for sleep apnea that turns on at the press of a button.
In search of a CPAP alternative, Mike researched the device online, preparing for his next sleep physician appointment.
“I went to my sleep physician’s office and said, ‘I want to tell you about something I heard about. I wonder if it might help me.’ After listening, he agreed to refer me to an Ohio State University hospital that offers the therapy for a consultation.”
At the consultation, Mike recalls that the Ohio State physician wrote three letters on a whiteboard: O, M, C.
“I said, ‘Forgive me, I don’t know what O-M-C stands for.’
The doctor explained that the letters stood for the types of sleep apnea: obstructive, mixed, and central. Mike’s score was zero for obstructive sleep apnea, four for mixed sleep apnea, and 143 for central sleep apnea.
“This device won’t help you,” the physician said. “It’s for obstructive sleep apnea, and you have central sleep apnea.”
“I looked at him dumbfounded. And he said, ‘you act like you’ve never heard this before.’ I told him, ‘Well, I haven’t. I just thought sleep apnea was sleep apnea.’ So that’s how I found out I have central sleep apnea—almost 3 years into therapy.”
At the end of his consultation, the Ohio State doctor referred Mike to his colleague—a specialist in central sleep apnea.
“What’s next?”
In the meantime, Mike explored his new diagnosis.
“Quite frankly, I didn’t like what I found. CSA doesn’t get better; it doesn’t go away. It’s detrimental to your health, and it can get worse as time goes on.”
Fortunately, when Mike met with his new sleep specialist at Ohio State, he’d finally leave with real hope for CSA relief.
“I met with a nurse practitioner who specialized in central sleep apnea. She told me about the remedē System. It was the first I had heard of it. She explained it to me, we discussed the implant procedure, the benefits, and potential risks. I decided to proceed.
“I fell asleep before I felt it turn on”
Just two months later, on January 9, 2020, Mike was recovering from having his remedē System implanted.
“It was a straightforward procedure—I was lightly sedated. Afterwards, I went back to my hospital room to have lunch, got some X-rays to confirm the device placement, and after that, I went home.”
Once he was fully healed, Mike’s remedē System was activated.
“My device was scheduled to turn on at 11pm. I didn’t know what to expect, but I followed the advice of a remedē Patient Ambassador and went to sleep around 10:30pm. I never felt the device turn on. In fact, I was asleep before I realized it.”
“I slept an entire 8 hours. I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I slept the entire night.”
“My central events were zero”
From that first night with the remedē System, Mike noticed a difference. But actually feeling better? That took a bit longer.
“It took a while to build up my stamina and energy level again—I’d say about 3 to 4 months. But the way I looked at it was, my CSA didn’t get so severe overnight, so I’m not going to get better overnight. I just tried to be patient.”
Throughout that first year, Mike went back to his remedē sleep specialist periodically to have his therapy adjusted.
When Mike underwent a sleep study in August of 2021, his Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) score—which was at 57.6 before—was down to 4.3. His central events—which were at 143—were down to zero.
Every nine months, Mike goes back for a battery check and to see how his sleep patterns look. His data shows that he regularly gets over seven hours of sleep every night.
“remedē has allowed me to get back a quality of life that, at one time, I wondered if I would ever see again. I’m so lucky to have found it—and I’m really happy with how it’s worked out.”
“I’m not special, but I do have one thing they don’t”
In the years since he’s received his system, remedē has brought more to Mike’s life than a good night’s sleep. Now, he spends his days tirelessly supporting others searching for relief from central sleep apnea.
He regularly speaks to cardiologists, sleep specialists, and other clinicians to offer something invaluable: a real patient’s perspective.
“I’m not special, by any means, but I do have one thing they don’t: the device. When a patient can tell these clinicians what it’s like to live with the remedē System—how it feels and what it’s done for me—then it becomes a little bit more real, and they can bring that back to their own patients.”
And while his conversations with the medical community have been an important part of Mike’s advocacy, the real reward has come from connecting with other CSA patients.
“I was doing a roundtable discussion in 2020 and I asked, ‘Is there any kind of patient community for remedē?’ And there wasn’t. So…I started one.”
Today, the Facebook support group that Mike runs has over 600 members—and counting. It’s dedicated to people who have CSA, and family members seeking to understand what their loved ones are going through.
“We don’t give medical advice—we’re not doctors. All we do is we share our experiences. I introduce every new person who joins the group. I ask them to post something and tell us a little bit about their journey with CSA. I’ve come to know a lot of people.”
It may sound like a lot of work, but Mike says he doesn’t mind at all.
“I’m retired, so my wife and I mostly chase our grandchildren around. I check the Facebook a few times a day in between. I think we’ve hopefully helped some people. For me, that’s all that matters.”
Individual results may vary.
Refer to the important safety information and consult with a healthcare provider to determine if the remedē System is right for you.
The remedē System is a surgically implanted device.