Symptoms worsening?

I am a mother of a 7 year old with sleep apnea looking for literature/research that discusses the possibilities that behavioral/attentional issues may worsen with the use of a CPAP. I have had the opportunity to help other families identify sleep apnea in their children, get them diagnosed and begin to use a CPAP. Some of the feedback I have heard (which has also occurred with our son) is that their child's hyperactivity has increased quite a bit. It's difficult to find a lot of information on pediatric sleep apnea and my concern is that we don't quite understand all there is to know about the neurological processes that were affected (in their developmental phases) when their sleep apnea was untreated. My interest would be to have a study that looks beyond the behavioral "symptoms" we typically see in children with sleep apnea and begin to understand more deeply how the brain will relearn some of those initial neurological processes connected to executive skills (I.e. frustration tolerance, problem solving, attention span, etc.) that are so important to manifest in early years. We have definitely stuck with his CPAP but struggle with new issues. One consideration we have looked into is a type of treatment called nuerobiofeedback. For those who don't know what this is--its like exercise for the brain to work and strengthen those areas that don't seem to be working well. I would be curios if anyone else has had this experience with their child--learn about (or encourage) research on these topics and continue to address additional treatment options if the CPAP doesn't improve all aspects of a child's well being.

Very well said! MyApnea is a patient centered outcomes network........you did a great job of describing outcomes from treating your son's apnea. In your case you have let users know your son has some outcomes that aren't exactly what is expected. As more and more people post the outcomes their children are showing, common behaviors will emerge. Then those of you who live with and care for these children will have a list of "whys" and "whats" you want researchers to look at. They will create surveys for you to answer to help focus on specific problems as well as common good outcomes to see what is different and the same. Eventually the answers to your most important questions will be available for you and treatment can be targeted. What a great thing this is!

Let others with "sleepy kids" know about this site. You can do a lot to help get answers by encouraging others to join. The more people asking similar questions there are, the more focused the survey questions can be. Thanks for joining the network.