Tonsils and ADHD

[cjsmith]

"...adenotonsillectomy may have a positive impact on the neurobehavioral problems of children with sleep-disordered breathing."

One speculated link is sleep.

ADHD is often coexistent with (if not simultaneously causing and being caused by) anxiety, so decreased sleep quality and quantity intuitively make sense to me as another portion of a vicious circle.

I wonder how much of the signs and symptoms I see in myself as "possible ADHD" are sleep problems. I've had pretty bad insomnia for about a decade now. It would make sense that poor sleep erodes executive function.

Comments

[noelfigart]

You know, I've snored and had sleep issues since I was a small child. They were just getting out of the phase where one removed tonsils and adenoids for Every. Damn. Thing. so no-one ever did that with me when I was a kid.

[cjsmith]

Ugh, yeah. I hope you can find some relief from some of that!

I still have my tonsils as well, and there have been times I wish I didn't. In my case, they're probably not affecting my sleep. (Anxiety sure does, though!!)

[lcohen]

that does seem to make sense. i'm a terrible sleeper but i have been all my adult life. it would be interesting to know what difference that has made.

[cjsmith]

I'd love to know as well. There's so much about physiology, cognition, neurobiology, psychology, etc that we just don't know yet. And there's vast amounts that "we know" (humanity as a whole has ascertained) but that I personally have no clue about.