"please keep me updated about oximeters "
Sleep Apnea Forum Bringing Power to the Patient
New? Free Sign Up
Then check our Welcome Center to a Community Caring about Sleep Apnea diagnosis and Sleep Apnea treatment:
CPAP machines, Sleep Apnea surgery and dental appliances.
CPAP Supplies
Latest Activity
ADHD vs. Sleep Apnea
For those of you with children, OSA can be genetic. OSA is frequently misdiagnosed as ADHD or ADD. I have seen that in my own children.The percentage of children diagnosed with ADD that actually have some sleep disturbance may be as much as 50%. I urge parents who are in this situation to consider getting an evaluation on your child to make sure it is not A sleep disturbance. According to Stanford sleep disorders clinical staff, 1 in 9 children snore and about 25% of these children have significant sleep disordered breathing.
Views: 272
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Steven Y. Park, MD on
-
Sandra, you bring up an important issue. There are two recent studies that support what you're saying: One study looked at children undergoing routine tonsillectomies and gave them questionnaires for ADHD. About 28% of these kids were found to have official ADHD. After adenotonsillectomy, 50% of these children with ADHD did not have it anymore. Another study from Stanford showed that adenotonsillectomy helps behavior and quality of life scores significantly, but rapid palatal expansion was about the same. But when you combined both the results were additive. This just goes to show that obstructive sleep apnea is an anatomic problem due to jaw narrowing, with obesity as an end result. I describe this in much more detail in my book, Sleep, Interrupted.
-
Permalink Reply by Sandra Limbach on
-
Steven Y. Park, MD said:Sandra, you bring up an important issue. There are two recent studies that support what you're saying: One study looked at children undergoing routine tonsillectomies and gave them questionnaires for ADHD. About 28% of these kids were found to have official ADHD. After adenotonsillectomy, 50% of these children with ADHD did not have it anymore. Another study from Stanford showed that adenotonsillectomy helps behavior and quality of life scores significantly, but rapid palatal expansion was about the same. But when you combined both the results were additive. This just goes to show that obstructive sleep apnea is an anatomic problem due to jaw narrowing, with obesity as an end result. I describe this in much more detail in my book, Sleep, Interrupted.
-
-
Dr. Park, you are absolutely right. After each procedure/ treatment my children received/receives it improves the situation. We have had everything from the tonsillectomy to jaw surgery. My children present themselves very differently and thus have had different roads to the same ultimate treatment. I can't stress enough that not getting treatment effects their growth, development and their ability to learn. I will look for my before and after pictures of my son's surgery. It is very dramatic and really shows the narrowing of the jaw that you refer to.
-
-
Here are the pictures. about 6 months apart.
-
Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on
-
Thanks Sandra for the pictures.
I have a son that was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 3. The doctor said he had never seen a case that severe in a child at the time. I had my son diagnosed at a the local children's therapy center. A center where person's with disabilities receive therapy, diagnosis, etc. They diagnosed him by having me bring him to their preschool and observing him through a one-way mirror. They observed him for a period of several days prior to making the diagnosis.
We did not medicate him as I was adamant I would not drug my child. We went through extensive behavior modification therapy, with great results. My son is now 31 years old. At the time of his diagnosis of ADHD, I had never heard of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea was still in the very infantile stages. Today if he received that diagnosis I would have him tested in a heartbeat.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike on
-
Thank you Sandra for this wonderful post. There is so little awareness out there that we who are "in the know" really can do so much for others who have no idea about this connection.
-
Permalink Reply by amott1973 on
-
Wow, that's really interesting. I'll have to watch for it. I've already known it was genetic, and even now I find my little 3 year old occasionally snore a bit. I'll be watching him like a hawk.
Wish I'd known this back when I was a special ed teacher.
And your son is a cutie!
-
-
Thanks, I think he is cute too but of course he's mine! Both of my kids started with the snoring. There is also another couple of things that might be good to watch. one would be the length of time they sleep/nap or how hard it is to wake them up. Not that these are deffinate indicators, but they are just another data point. There are a host of other items like sleep position and movement etc.. that can also give you a heads up. Let me know if you need more info. Also both of my kids had their tonsills out when they were 3 due to snoring. This was before I knew they had sleep apnea.
-
Permalink Reply by peter stoddart on
-
All i can say i have SLEEP APNEA and my kids have ADHD and i snore ?????????????????????
-
-
has he been tested for sleep apnea as an adult? i ask because presumably if he had it as a child, he would still have it now as an adult, only worse.
sleepycarol said:Thanks Sandra for the pictures.
I have a son that was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 3. The doctor said he had never seen a case that severe in a child at the time. I had my son diagnosed at a the local children's therapy center. A center where person's with disabilities receive therapy, diagnosis, etc. They diagnosed him by having me bring him to their preschool and observing him through a one-way mirror. They observed him for a period of several days prior to making the diagnosis.
We did not medicate him as I was adamant I would not drug my child. We went through extensive behavior modification therapy, with great results. My son is now 31 years old. At the time of his diagnosis of ADHD, I had never heard of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea was still in the very infantile stages. Today if he received that diagnosis I would have him tested in a heartbeat.
-
Permalink Reply by TrinaLynn Blair on
-
Thanks for the info. I am going to check it out for my children. Daughter 12 has ADD and ODD, Son 10 has ADHD and anger issues. I have Aleep Spnea. Some time I wonder if I have Narcolepsy also, Is it possible to have both?
Thank you and Be Blessed
Blessings,TrinaLynn
-
-
Trina,
If you have been diagnosed by a qualified DR.,(disclosing your concerns), and have had a sleep study, the Dr. should have looked at that at the beginning. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder along with restless leg and many others. They track so many things when they do a study that you should be able to be comfortable with your results. If this is not the case I would discuss it with your sleep Dr.
Also, good for you for having your children checked. It may not be the answer but so many are misdiagnosed it is worth the time you invest. My daughter is so hyper when she does not have her CPAP. It is like the energizer bunny on steroids!
TrinaLynn Blair said:Thanks for the info. I am going to check it out for my children. Daughter 12 has ADD and ODD, Son 10 has ADHD and anger issues. I have Aleep Spnea. Some time I wonder if I have Narcolepsy also, Is it possible to have both?
Thank you and Be Blessed
Blessings,TrinaLynn
© 2025 Created by The SleepGuide Crew.
Powered by
