John went from tiredness and needing coffee to perform at a high level to being caffeine-free and sleeping through the night with 80% fewer apnea events.
00:00
Dylan Petkus, MD
Hey everyone. I have one of our amazing clients here with us today, John, who’s going to share some of his insights and his journey, particularly in overcoming sleep apnea. And we’re going to be talking about a lot of great things like sleep studies and different symptoms and issues and all these great things that you can relate to so that you know what’s possible in your journey. Because if you’re watching this, it’s very likely you have sleep apnea. You’re not sleeping well, you’re not feeling good. And just being able to know that there is a path out of this where you can pretty much have your life back is so important. And that’s why I want to, you know, have John here to let you know that is possible. So welcome John, and thanks for joining us.
00:42
John
My pleasure.
00:43
Dylan Petkus, MD
So John, go ahead, let us know in terms of like the timeline, just kind of brief overview, and then we’ll kind of dig into things more of like, you know, how you were first noticing you had sleep apnea and just like what you went through and what you tried. And we’ll just, you know, build on that from there.
00:58
John
Back in 2017, my sister in law came and stayed at my place for a few days and mentioned to my brother that I was snoring. So he suggested that I get evaluated for sleep apnea back then. So, I found a sleep apnea dentist, had a sleep study done. And I had mild sleep apnea back then, tried some appliances, settled on one, and used it for several years. Fast forward to late 2023, early 2024, the appliance was no longer working, it tended to come undone, and I felt at times like it was choking. So, I had stopped wearing it for a few months. But I decided to get another sleep study done, which I did in August of 2024, and it showed that my sleep apnea was now severe.
02:04
John
And when I heard that, within a week or two, I found Dr. Petkus’ website, which talked about relieving sleep apnea without a CPAP. But I was told that if I didn’t get my breathing better, I’d need to use a CPAP. So I contacted him and worked with him on his 12 week program and experienced significant relief. My index went from almost 43 down to under 8, which is an over 80% improvement. And under 8 is very mild sleep apnea because 5 is normal, and anywhere between 5 and 15 is considered mild. So, I consider the program along with the appliance that I got to be highly effective in resolving my sleep apnea.
02:53
Dylan Petkus, MD
When you first started to notice. Was it just the snoring that someone else mentioned, or were you also having some like daytime fatigue, brain fog? What were some kind of those?
03:03
John
Like, well, I had some brain fog and daytime fatigue as well, so it all made sense after that. I was wondering why I was beginning to feel so fatigued, whether it was just because I was getting older or what was going on.
03:16
Dylan Petkus, MD
When did you start to notice? Like, it was like you said, like, more than like, is this. This is becoming a problem. Whether it’s like your workouts were harder or maybe like you felt you were just staring at a screen in the space at 4pm at work? Like, what were kind of some of those. Those moments for you?
03:33
John
I would say it was that I needed more coffee to keep functioning at a very high level.
03:39
Dylan Petkus, MD
But then you, like, you know, you’re. You’re doing things, not like you’re just doing. Doing nothing. But then when you get the news about, like, severe sleep apnea, almost like, despite what you’ve been doing, like, what were your initial thoughts there?
03:54
John
My initial thoughts were, gee, this is serious. I need to really take this seriously and take as much action as I can to make sure that I don’t end up using a CPAP.
04:06
Dylan Petkus, MD
Gotcha. And. And what was it about a CPAP for you?
04:11
John
The discomfort, the hassle, having to keep the thing clean and maintain the expense. I just wanted to avoid that at all costs.
04:21
Dylan Petkus, MD
Okay, so you want to avoid that. And then you found us online. How did you find us? Do you remember Instagram? Okay, Even better, Instagram. Okay.
04:32
John
It magically appeared because I’ve been doing some searches on deeper sleep and sleep apnea.
04:39
Dylan Petkus, MD
So for you, what kind of initially made you feel like there was more to it? This was substantive, real, and not a scam. And all those things, what kind of caught your interest?
04:51
John
Well, first of all, the fact that you’re an MD. Second, the fact that you were talking about breathing and exercises because my brother, who also sleep apnea, was telling me about some of the exercises that he did to strengthen his airway so that he didn’t need to use his oral appliance anymore, and he was using oil pulling to do that. And I wasn’t terribly convinced about that. So I was looking for other exercises and ways of strengthening my airway because I figured that probably over time, as I age, that things had gotten flaccid, even though I work out regularly.
05:33
Dylan Petkus, MD
Gotcha. And then what inspired you to reach out directly to us?
05:39
John
I wanted protocol custom-tailored to my condition, my specific needs, you know, my specific particulars of my condition. You know, like you had me take a picture of my soft palate, which needed stretching. You also observe that my posture needed some improvements. So I’ve been working on that as well as the breathing exercises. And I think those three items probably did the most to improve things because I was already following a gluten-free diet. I have to say, for me, I really didn’t change what I ate. I changed sometimes when I ate it, but not very much what I ate.
06:23
Dylan Petkus, MD
So for you, in the first couple of weeks and working directly with us, what were some of those signs? You’re like, okay, this is definitely going the right direction for me. What were some of those positive indicators? Like, okay, all engines on whether it was productivity workouts or even like sleep track? I know we talked about your AHI improving quite a bit. What were some of those other markers for you?
06:48
John
Well, another marker for me was just feeling more refreshed in the morning. I no longer felt fatigued and I no longer feel like I need to use caffeine. I used to drink four cups of coffee a day.
07:04
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah.
07:05
John
Pretty much addicted to that.
07:07
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah. So getting that addiction out of the way. Okay, cool. And then, so and then now to point because the sleep study that came back, I guess a month before you wrapped up, I believe. Thereabouts. Yeah. So. So from. It was like, I think you were at 41 initially, I believe. And then. Is that correct? 42 down to. To 8. And I would presume you’re probably less than 5 right now.
07:37
John
Yeah, yeah. Like we normal.
07:40
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah, yeah. So that’s all things good there. Awesome. All right, well, thanks, John, for being here with us. So we’ll go ahead and sign off. I hope everyone enjoyed that. Be able to have some more inspiration and motivation in your journey so than joining us, John.
07:55
John
My pleasure.
07:56
Dylan Petkus, MD
Awesome. Excellent. Goodbye.