Sleep Apnea and ADHD

[@beesmongeese2978]

I meant to look up the relationship between sleep apnea and adhd a few weeks ago, but I had forgotten about it!! Thanks doc!!

[@danielseddon3177]

As I’ve been reading more about ADHD recently, autonomic nervous system disorders seem to come up often and that’s where my mind jumped when I saw the video title.

[@colin7168]

New Room!

[@DrJohnKruse]

Actually an old room. This is one of the videos that Max has re-engineered the sound. The location was my San Francisco office, which I used from 2002-2022.

[@markmuller7962]

​@@DrJohnKruseThis one is better!

[@DrJohnKruse]

@@markmuller7962 yes, the San Francisco office was a beautiful space, and provided a classic backdrop for videos. I'm working to improve the Hawaii location.

[@rchergarrett]

@@DrJohnKruse So many apparent connections between hypoxia and adhd! Im twice-exceptional gifted and adhd, asthma, assumed apnea, but can't fix anything because I am overweight and FDA restrictions chilling local professionals desire to elevate my dosage; a life half-lived.

[@DrJohnKruse]

@@rchergarrett maybe you can ask your local professionals to view my video on "high" dose stimulants kzbin.info/www/bejne/apTPYoyZrqZ7bZY so that they can focus on treating you as an individual and worrying less about the number of milligrams.

[@football24091]

I do it 9 times a hour 70 times a night and stopped breathing for 56 seconds in one go on my sleep study

[@markmuller7962]

I'm seriously thinking about buying the nose patches things, the anti snoring thing and maybe some machine for sleep apnea and other stuff. At least as for now the vitamine B12 supplements improved my nose breathing but I need much more than that I think, to me the effectiveness of meds is totally dependent on how well I sleep at night

[@richard-u8k9r]

Thank you!

[@Dietconsulting]

Kia Ora John, I am glad you have raised this topic. I do ask about sleep in the vast majority of my patients and look at their physical form to identify sleep apnoea risk factors and will also encourage sleep studies. I've just recently started clonidine and can't get over how effective it has been for my attention span! While I know it will be improving sleep quality does clonidine have impact also on some of the neurochemistry that could lead to central sleep apnoea?

[@DrJohnKruse]

There is some research pursuing the lead that clonidine might lower the risk of central (caused by the brain) sleep apnea. Most sleep apnea is obstructive/airway blockage.

[@plymix8389]

Would untreated asthma have similar effects? I have asthma and didn’t take any inhalers or any medicine for it. And I would wake up hardly able to breath every morning. Would allergies causing asthma symptoms to be harsh mimic sleep apnea

[@DrJohnKruse]

There could certainly be overlap. With asthma, if you try to exhale quickly you should hear wheezing, and even once you're awake and alert (and particularly if you're sitting up) breathing is still likely to be difficult, whereas constructive sleep apnea usually resolves. With sleep apnea there would be multiple episodes of stopping breathing during the night, and even if they didn't waken you, either a bed partner, or one of the smart watches that monitor sleep should be able to tell you if that is going on.

[@plymix8389]

@ ah okay, i did have an apple watch that I got rid of before testing that feature. I'm doing immunotherapy and take allergy medicine so I don't have this issue anymore. But I just worry about how much damage it did by me living with that for so long and taking it as the norm. I sleep with my head under my blanket, so maybe that even exhastribates the allergy issues.

[@DrJohnKruse]

@@plymix8389 depends on what you are allergic to - if it's in the bed having your head under the blanket could make it worse - but if its elsewhere in the environment, you're probably reducing your allergen burden. It's not fair to blame yourself for something that you didn't know. Focus instead on what you want to do moving forward.

[@plymix8389]

@@DrJohnKruse As for what I'm allergic to, its pretty much everything environmental, animals, alongside strong smells. There are some days I forget to take antihistamines and later in the day my head gets wildly itchy as if its dirty. But you're right, I shouln't dwell on the past.