Thursday, April 26, 2012
ADHD And Sleep
On 04/17/2012 the NY Times had an article with the headline, “In BLUR of A.D.H.D., SLEEP TROUBLES MAY BE a CLUPRIT”. They pointed out that before diagnosing A.D.H.D., sleep disorders need to be ruled out.
I have found that several children who have been diagnosed ADD (without the H) were spacey, sleepy and easily distractible. Also stimulants barely helped the issue. It turned out that after recommending a sleep study, some were found to have sleep apnea. They were getting very little sleep, were very sleep deprived and would fall asleep in class. They were considered ADD or just bored. Correcting the sleep issue ameliorated the attention problem.
Teachers, parents and mental health professionals need to determine whether lack of sleep is the primary problem with ADD, being secondary, or whether they are concurrent.
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I'm an ADHD person who found out that I have sleep apnea at age 47. Once I started using my CPAP device, I would
wake up the next day felling strangely awake. It actually felt strange to be normal. I still have ADHD but I stopped taking Adderal once I started using the CPAP. I feel much better as a result. I wholeheartedly recommend a sleep study for anyone with ADHD, your patience will be rewarded.
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