If your child snores, is difficult to wake up in the morning, seems tired alot, has a bedwetting problem and has an ADHD [or LD] diagnosis, he or she should be screened for sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a medical condition that occurs when the airway (in the throat) closes while sleeping. The lungs are not getting the oxygen they need, and the body wakes itself up in order to keep the person breathing. If this cycle repeats itself many times an hour, the person never gets deep sleep and never goes through the entire cycles of sleep that the body requires. Adults with OSA experience chronic fatigue, falling asleep when driving, high blood pressure, mental fogginess, etc. Some people with severe sleep apnea even lose their jobs because their work performance suffers so much.
Children with sleep apnea may be tired all the time or they may be hyper! Their school performance may be poor because they can’t concentrate (too tired) and can’t think clearly. They are probably bedwetters as well (there’s a complicated physiological explanation for this too).To diagnose sleep apnea conclusively, one needs to have a “sleep study.” That means an ENT or pulmonologist needs to refer you to a certified sleep lab. The child or adult sleeps there all night hooked up to a zillion monitors that record brain waves, oxygen saturation, episodes of waking, blood pressure and many other kinds of data.
Removing the tonsils and adenoids cures 95% of childhood sleep apnea. The other 5% need treatment with CPAP or BiPap. The person sleeps with a mask over their nose. The mask is attached via a hose to a little machine that emits pressurized air that then passes through the tube, forcing the closed airway open, and allowing the person to breathe freely while sleeping. The sleep lab determines what air pressure setting is required to open the airway.
My 12-year-old son has been on CPAP for 2 and a half weeks now. He sleeps peacefully each night, and gradually we have seen improvements in many areas of his life. His mood is much better, he is less irritable and fights less with us and his brother, his school performance is improving most notably in math. He just feels better! I have every reason to expect that we will see more progress over time.
If any of my description fits your child, I heartily recommend a screening for sleep apnea!
Re: ADHD or sleep apnea? Misdiagnosis
I was wondering this too, both my kids had their tonsils and adenoids out at just shy of 4 yrs old, they are 10 and 13. My oldest is the world’s worst, I actually resorted to putting a bag of frozen peas on his back and he still only barely moved!! It takes about 20 minutes to just get him to blink. My youngest is easy though. Boy if only school started at 9 things would be so much easier.
Re: ADHD or sleep apnea? Misdiagnosis
My son has had both tonsils and adenoids out. He still snored loudly and definitely had sleep apnea. I’ve heard that 95% of the time, removing tonsils and adenoids fixes sleep apnea in kids. I am not an expert. There are other sleep disorders besides sleep apnea too. A sleep study at a sleep clinic (not a study done at home) is the only was to get a conclusive diagnosis. I think you should take your kids to a pediatric sleep specialist (probably a pulmonologist or ENT). Just any old ENT may not know enough–we certainly wasted a lot of time with the first ENT we saw.
Good luck!
Could sleep apnea still be an issue if tonsils and adnoids were already removed. We had them removed 2 years ago due to this, but now 7-year-old is having attention problems at school. Still hard to wake in the morning, crabby etc. We have appointment for annual check up with ENT on the 10th. Last time I mentioned this though, doc didn’t seem concerned. What do you think?