Texas Child Thrives Only After Sleep Apnea Diagnosis and Treatment

A sleep apnea diagnosis and subsequent treatments came as a welcome relief to the parents of 6-year-old  Emma Weedon.

Since infancy, the girl suffered from night terrors and generalized anxiety, and was recently struggling to adjust to preschool, according to a July 2014 report on KETK-TV, an NBC affiliate in Tyler, Texas.

Emma's parents believed an ADHD diagnosis was hasty. They also felt hesitant to medicate their child unnecessarily. Finally, a visit with sleep doctors revealed that Emma suffered from such sleep apnea symptoms as irregular breathing and teeth grinding. She had been waking about every half-hour during the night since she was less than a year old.

With appropriate sleep apnea treatment, however, Emma's sleep improved along with her growth rate, concentration, and overall health.

While Emily found success with continuous positive airway pressure therapy, many other children find it difficult to sleep with a CPAP, making them candidates for other sleep apnea treatments like a custom oral appliance.

It is common for young children to struggle to regulate their sleep as they grow up. But particularly when kids are unusually or inexplicably challenged in other areas of their development, such as concentrating in school or maintaining an active lifestyle, a visit with a pediatric sleep specialist to talk about sleep apnea could prove illuminating.

Sleep doctors suspect that between 10 and 25 percent of kids age 2 to 8 suffer from children's sleep apnea. Its symptoms may include:

·         Snoring

·         Breathing difficulty during sleep

·         Chronically restless sleep

·         Night sweats

·         Nightmares, or "night terrors"

·         Bed wetting

·         Sleep walking

·         Slowed growth

·         Concentration problems

·         Hormonal and metabolic problems

·         Failure to thrive

If a child in your family is struggling with these or other symptoms and may benefit from a sleep apnea test and subsequent treatment, please contact a qualified sleep doctor today or call (866) 727-6275.