Some of you were kind enough to answer my post about whether or not I could request outside testing for my 16 year old ADHD son. I think I may have found out the true cause of his learning problems. He has sleep apnea. For the past 3 years he has struggled in school, often getting F’s and D’s in key subjects (math, history, English). Just by a fluke I mentioned to my doctor that my son has high blood pressure. He began to question me about whether or not he snores, his grades, his weight, etc. Based on my answers, he thought that he might have sleep apnea. He was tested, and sure enough, he does have it. His sleep efficiency is only 72% when it should be in the high 90’s%. Also, he only spends a few minutes in the REM stage of sleep which can affect his ability to learning, remember, and organize.
Sleep apnea can manifest as symptoms of learning disabilities, ADHD, and behavioral problems. While I know that my son’s ADHD is not related to sleep apea, I am relatively certain that his academic troubles are
related to it. He is scheduled to have his tonsils out and hopefully that will sovle the problem.
If your child is not respoding well to interventions for ADHD (meds, behavioral modification, academic support), sleep apnea may play a role. Symptoms can include snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, lack of motivation (from constanly being exhausted), memory problems, among other things.
Della
Re: Learning Problems and Sleep Apnea
My son tried the CPAP and while his scores improved, he did not want to have to use it long-term. The surgeon is relatively confident that the surgery will solve his problem. I can’t wait to talk to the school staff about this so the school nurse and guidance counselors can possibly alert other parents to this common problem. Della
UPIII
Della, you mentioned your son having the surgery. I had the UPIII done last December, it has proven mostly successful, I had a deviated septum repaired at the same time, not so sure about that one, it seems blocked again since allergy season just ended (Germany has great flowers and trees but OH the POLLEN!). Just wanted to mention that of the two, my throat was the most painful and it took two weeks to eat reg. food. I suggest vanilla pudding and baby rice/banana cereal, chicken broth (no stars or rice). It also took almost 3 mos before I could drink sodas, I mostly stuck to water as everything else burned. Also, ask if you can get pain medicine in liquid form, you wouldn’t believe the size of the percocets they expected me to swallow, I crushed them and mixed them with the pudding or baby food, baby food works best. Percocet also makes you basically pass out after about 10 minutes of taking it, I ended up only taking them for about 3 days because I slept too much and wasn’t drinking in my sleep so my throat would be even more sore. I had the surgery on a Friday, started taking Tylenol 3 by Tuesday and went to extra strength tylenol by the end of the first week. WATER is the key, believe them when they say it. Best wishes for you and your son.
Re: UPIII- Thanks Amy
I’m glad the surgery worked for you. Thanks for the information about the pain killers. I never thought about asking for them in liquid form, but I will now. I am planning on stocking the freezer with lots of ice pops so they can help numb my son’s throat. The surgeon told me that my son will be miserable for 10 - 14 days, but he (my son) is a trooper so I hope he’ll be fine.
Enjoy the flowers in Germany and try a Neti pot to rinse out the pollen from your nose. It works wonders.
Your doctor is on the ball! Not many would ask the right questions and diagnose sleep apnea. Hopefully a tonsillectomy will cure your son’s sleep apnea, but it it doesn’t , there is always CPAP and bipap. My son has been on bipap since May and he’s finally getting restful sleep. For those of you who aren’t familiar with sleep apnea, CPAP is a machine attached to a hose attached to a mask that one wears over one’s nose while sleeping. It forces air into your lungs. A really good website about sleep disorders is sleepnet.com.