Sleep Disorder? — ADD Tip o the Day 388

The ADD or ADHD world is abuzz, I mean abuzz! about Dr. Thakkar’s article in the 4/28/2013 New York Times.  He says that some people with ADD or ADHD might be misdiagnosed, and might instead have a sleep disorder causing the same symptoms.

Here’s my take:

I think it’s a reasonable article, but I hope people don’t misread it.  He is saying SOME people might be misdiagnosed, not ALL or even MOST.

I have frequently mentioned the need for adequate sleep, but he’s talking about a specific disorder, a lack of delta wave sleep, one of the phases of sleep that we go through each night (hopefully).  So you could have the problem even if you are getting enough sleep in hours, just not enough delta.  But your ADD/HD symptoms will almost certainly get worse if you’re simply not getting enough sleep.  One clue would be getting sleepy during the day.

Getting a sleep study to check your delta sleep is going to be expensive and a hassle.  Right now I’m thinking I won’t.  However, if you have ADD or ADHD, and have used the strategies and the medications and aren’t really doing any better, you might want to consider it.

I suspect there will be more information about this forthcoming.

doug

just drift away.

Bonnie Mincu’s post on Dr. Thakkar’s article   clik

the whole article clik