Wow, did our recent sleep apnea post about the police officer who was fired strike a chord — don’t know how many folks wrote in, mostly about sleep apnea itself and not about the employment law aspect of the matter!

From the nature of the comments, it seems like this serious medical condition has been kept under wraps or hidden from view, with few people understanding the nature and severity of it, and that sufferers and their advocates seem eager to discuss it.

Because of the flood of comments, and what appears to be a need for people to understand this condition, we publish one more comment — from one suffering reader who found relief:

Rosalind Strasser, a training project coordinator in the Orlando area:

“I can’t imagine life without my CPAP. I adjusted immediately and would say my quality of life improved 400% from before using it (seriously).  I love it when I have a cold because it pushes through the congestion allowing me to breathe. I don’t snore while using it – a benefit my husband really appreciates.  Carrying it around is a small price to pay for feeling as great as I do now.

I never understood why I would always get drowsy in the middle of the day and if riding in the car, I would be asleep within 10 minutes and if driving on a warm day, I had to fight to stay awake. I snored and had lots of anxious dreams.

It wasn’t until our secretary was diagnosed with sleep apnea that I understood what was happening to me. She was sitting at an intersection on moment and in a ditch the next. Turns out that she fell asleep at the intersection and drove into the ditch. She told me about her condition and then I heard a radio program about it. I decided to get checked and it turned out that I too, suffered.

Ironically, my dad had just got tested and had a very severe case. I wasn’t that bad, but it made me wonder how long it might have been before something bad could have happened to one of us – or someone else because of us!”