About
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to learn a little about who I am.
I am a Registered Nurse with thirteen years of clinical experience in sleep therapy, specializing in CPAP, BiPAP, and oxygen equipment. Over the years, I have worked with thousands of patients—setting up devices, fitting masks, teaching patients how to use their equipment day in and day out, troubleshooting the problems that come up at 2 a.m., and supporting them through the transition into long-term therapy.
That experience taught me two things very clearly. The first is that CPAP and BiPAP therapy genuinely changes lives when it works. The second is that some patients want more time, more personalized attention, and more hands-on troubleshooting than a standard equipment setup is designed to provide—and that gap is something I am uniquely positioned to fill.
I started this practice to offer that kind of support: unhurried, individualized, and built around what is actually happening in your life and your sleep.
Michelle Pierce, RN
Sleep-specialist nurse · Colorado
Understanding the problem
If you are a woman in midlife who has been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you may already know the script. Exhaustion. Anxiety. Weight that will not come off. 2 a.m. wake-ups with your heart pounding. You were told it was menopause, stress, or just getting older. Eventually, someone tested you for sleep apnea, and there it was.
You got the diagnosis. You got the CPAP. And you were told you should be feeling better by now. If you are not, there is a reason. And it is almost certainly not your fault.
Cortisol is your body's main stress hormone. In healthy sleep, it falls to its lowest point during the deep, slow-wave stages that happen mostly in the first half of the night. That dip is when your body repairs itself, balances blood sugar, and gives your nervous system a real break.
Sleep apnea breaks that cycle. Every time your airway collapses, your body releases stress hormones to wake you just enough to breathe. You may not remember any of it, but your nervous system does. Research has consistently shown that untreated sleep apnea keeps cortisol elevated across the entire 24-hour cycle, and that effective CPAP therapy brings it back down toward normal.
In plain terms: untreated sleep apnea means your body is marinating in stress hormones all night. The exhaustion, the anxiety, the stubborn weight, the 3 a.m. wake-ups—these are not in your head. They are the cost of a nervous system that has not had a real break in years.
Estrogen and progesterone help maintain muscle tone in the airway. As those hormones decline through perimenopause and menopause, that protection fades, and sleep apnea risk rises sharply. In women, it often shows up not as loud snoring but as fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, night sweats, brain fog, and weight gain that resists every diet. Because these symptoms overlap with menopause, women are routinely told their sleep is just a hormone problem. Often, it is also a breathing problem.
Getting a CPAP prescription does not automatically fix any of this. The machine works only when the therapy actually fits you—your face, your sleep position, the way you breathe. Most patients receive their equipment through a high-volume process that does not account for any of that, and the follow-up is largely transactional. If something does not feel right at 2 a.m., there is rarely a person to call.
That is not a sign CPAP does not work for you. It is a sign your therapy has not been personalized to you.
As an independent Registered Nurse, I provide one-on-one CPAP and BiPAP support to patients who already have their equipment and want additional, individualized help making it work. That includes:
My role is to complement the care you are already receiving—from your prescribing physician, your sleep specialist, and your equipment provider—by giving you the kind of dedicated one-on-one time that a busy clinical setting often cannot.
I believe patients deserve to be treated as the experts on their own bodies. My job is to bring the clinical experience, the equipment knowledge, and the time—and to combine that with what you already know about how you sleep, how you live, and what you need. The best outcomes I have seen come from that kind of partnership.
I will be honest with you about what your data is showing, what your options actually are, and whether the equipment you have is the right fit. If something is not working, I will tell you. If something is working better than you realize, I will tell you that too.
I work with patients who:
I do not handle initial setups, insurance billing, or equipment prescriptions. My focus is on helping you get the most out of the therapy you already have.
If you have read this far, there is a good chance something about your CPAP experience has not been quite right, and you are looking for a little more support than you have been able to find so far. I would be glad to talk with you about your situation and whether I might be the right person to help.