Now it's my son!

[karessamom]

I'm back! at least for a little while--I haven't been around in a long long time.
After struggling for 5 years of school, my son (11 years old) was finally diagnosed with ADHD or so that's what his therapist was thinking as well as his dr. I wasn't totally convinced because he was having other symptoms, ie waking up with headaches, not wanting to get up for school, not sleeping at night, his behavior at home and school was starting to get really out of control hince starting working with a (mental) therapist. I also made him an appointment with his doctor as well. well guess what?? they did a preliminary oxemitry test and low and behold he's going thru long periods of not getting enough oxygen at night! What was interesting is that both the therapist and the dr. really didn't want to beleive it was OSA because he was exhibiting so many ADHD symptoms and had had his tonsils and adnoids previously out, however because me and my husband both have OSA, I started recognizing the symptoms and put my foot down and stood my ground. I'd also read many times that children are being incorrectly dxed with ADHD when it REALLLY is OSA! we're waiting to have a full sleep study scheduled now but I just wanted to come on here and say hi to everyone.

[karessamom]

I also wanted to ask what kind of mask would be good for an 11 year old that moves around alot at night.

[portiemom]

I am glad you got some resolution to what's been going on with your son. You should be very proud of yourself, you are a great advocate for your child. I am a Family Engagement Specialist for our public school system, and I am so tired of all these so called professional people telling parents and guardians that their kids have ADHD or ADD, now since they have worn those out they are telling parents their kids have a high functioning form of Autism. Too many meds. not enough testing. I wish you and your son lots of great treatment.

[SleepingUgly]

I have a son with ADHD, and I also looked into sleep disordered breathing as a possible source of his symptoms, so I know where you're coming from. My son had his tonsils and adenoids removed, in the hopes that this would help. In fact, he was on CPAP for many months, with no change in his daytime functioning.

My son is younger a bit younger than yours, but I had good luck with the Micro Kids (it's a size small mask with a size small headgear, as opposed to the Micro Small, which is a size small mask with a regular headgear). Also, a Ruby adjustable chinstrap was necessary to keep his mouth closed.

I do hope that your child's symptoms of ADHD will resolve with SDB treatment, and there are reports of children with mild ADHD symptoms that remit with treatment (not usually with more severe ADHD). ADHD and SDB are not mutually exclusive, so if your son's symptoms do not remit completely with CPAP, please get him help for the ADHD (personally I would do both simultaneously, although admittedly I wouldn't want to initiate stimulant medication at the same time as CPAP). I don't know what kind of "(mental) therapist" you're working with that seems to have made his behavior worse, but "talk therapy" is not the treatment of choice for ADHD symptoms (although it could have its place if he has comorbid issues). Behavior therapy + medication is. The demands of middle school are rough compared to elementary school and 5 years of "struggling" is too much struggling. I was VERY reluctant (understatement of the year!) to medicate my child with stimulants, but frankly, it was life altering, and has allowed him to excel in a rigorous school environment, be accepted socially, and most importantly, to feel a sense of competence.

[karessamom]

sleepingugly: Thankyou for your reply First of all we started seeing a therapist when his behavior got so bad and he refused to get up for school. The therapist that we are going to is a licensed social worker that works with psychologists in the office. He infact with the forms we were asked to fill out as well as from his teachers he was leaning very heavily on ADHD--in fact he's never seen where he's dxed someone with ADHD and had it actually turned out to be Sleep apnea but I wanted to rule that out before we decided on meds. His behavior has actually gotten slightly better since we started therapy. I'm just so glad that i started putting the pieces together. I'm still going to work with the counselor as well and see if we can get this under control before school starts again. I do realize that we'll probably need medication for ADHD too unless it truly is only SDB and the mask will help. I know he's overweight and he's big for an 11 year old almost 5 feet. I'll see what the sleep study reveals and we'll go from there. again thanks so much for the encouragement and advice.

[SleepingUgly]

If I recall, there was someone that used to post here who had a kid on CPAP when the kid was overweight, but as he leaned out, he came off it. So there's that to work toward, too. Keep us posted.

[Sharp]

My son has ADHD and is in the Autisme spectrum. Thank you for the info I can relate to the ADHD part. Hang in there.