Dan Smyth (53) from Dundalk was diagnosed as suffering from sleep apnoea in 1993. His wife Maureen was unable to sleep due to his loud and continuous snoring. She also felt frightened when he stopped breathing many times during the night and urged him to do something about it.

“The truth is that it was destroying my quality of life. I was under huge pressure at work because I couldn’t function properly. My concentration was poor and I was constantly falling asleep in the daytime. I had to stop driving because, without notice, I would fall asleep at the traffic lights.”

Dan was diagnosed as suffering from severe sleep apnoea with 70 events in which he stopped breathing per hour. He opted to have surgery, in which his soft palate was trimmed, but two months later the snoring and the cessation of breathing while sleeping started again.

In desperation he sought a referral from his GP to see Dr Catherine Crowe at the Mater Hospital. She recommended a polysomnogram to ascertain his sleep patterns. Dr Crowe recommended a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device, and all has been well ever since.

Smyth has been using the device for 16 years and he sums it up in two words: “It works.”

“I am no longer disturbing my wife and I can function normally every day. My quality of life has been restored. My short-term memory was shot to pieces due to lack of oxygen. I also take the CPAP on board when I am flying.

“The great thing about sleep apnoea is that while it is not curable, it is treatable. I advise those who have a problem to deal with it early. If you leave it, then things will get progressively worse”.

Dan Smyth is the chairman of the Irish Sleep Apnoea Trust.

Around 7,000 Irish people have been diagnosed with sleep apnoea.

EU medical research indicates that the true figure of those with the condition is likely to stand at about 105,000.

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