Ear Tubes, Snoring & Sleep Apnea in Children

A recent study examined the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in children who had ear tubes inserted.

The study from Israel involved 352 children with ear tubes. Another 105 children were included as controls. Parents were interviewed by phone.

Results show that sleep-disordered breathing was common in children who had ear tubes inserted. Twenty-two percent of parents reported that their child snores.

Tonsils had been removed from 18 percent of children with ear tubes. This surgery is a common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea in children. Thirty-four percent of children snored or had their tonsils removed after the ear tubes were inserted.

Children with ear tubes were four times more likely than controls to have future tonsil removal. Their risk for snoring was three times higher.

The authors reported that sleep-disordered breathing shares common mechanisms with Eustachian tube dysfunction. This tube extends from the middle ear to the throat.

They concluded that children who need ear tubes inserted are at risk for sleep-disordered breathing. Doctors should regularly check these children for symptoms of sleep apnea. This will allow for early detection and treatment.

MedlinePlus reports that ear tube insertion helps relieve fluid buildup behind a child’s eardrum. The tubes allow the fluid to drain so that the ears can function normally. Another name for the procedure is “tympanostomy tube insertion.”

It may be recommended when excess fluid in the ear does not go away after four months or longer. Tubes also may be inserted if an ear infection does not go away or if a child has many ear infections.

The AASM reports that about two percent of healthy young children have OSA. It occurs when soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses and blocks the airway during sleep.

Most children with OSA have a history of loud snoring. This may include obvious pauses in breathing and gasps for breath. Parents often notice that the child seems to be working hard to breathe during sleep.

Read more about obstructive sleep apnea in children. Get help at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

Image by Travis Isaacs

How Common is Restless Legs Syndrome?

A recent study investigated the prevalence of restless legs syndrome.

The study involved patients from 312 primary-care practices in Germany. A total of 16,543 people participated.

Results show that leg problems were common. About 47 percent of people reported having “unpleasant sensations in the legs.”

Nearly 11 percent of participants were diagnosed with RLS. Fifty-three percent of these people had contacted their doctor in the past to discuss their leg problems. But only 20 percent had received the correct diagnosis of RLS.

Another common cause of unpleasant leg sensations was osteoarthritis. Other causes were disc lesion, varicose veins and leg cramps.

RLS is classified as a sleep-related movement disorder. It involves an intense urge to move the legs. And it often involves other burning, prickly, itching or tingling sensations in the legs.

These symptoms begin or worsen during periods of rest or inactivity. And the sensations worsen or only occur in the evening or at night. Partial or total relief occurs by moving the legs, stretching or walking.

RLS can have a severe effect on your sleep. It may prevent you from falling asleep. It also may keep you from returning to sleep if you wake up during the night.

Read more about RLS. Learn about the genetics of RLS on SleepEducation.com.

Get help for RLS at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

Image by jamelah e.

Narcolepsy & “Fainting Spells”

Recently in the New York Times Dr. Lisa Sanders described the mysterious case of a woman’s fainting spells. For several months the 49-year-old nurse had been fainting almost daily.

She would feel a “fluttering sensation” in her stomach. Then suddenly she would fall out on the floor.

She spent two nights in the hospital undergoing tests. But everything was normal. Her heart rhythms and blood pressure were fine.

The results baffled her physician. So he sent her to see specialists.

One of them thought the fainting spells might be seizures. But further testing found no unusual brain activity.

The case was solved when she suddenly collapsed while meeting with one of her doctors.

“Her sudden collapse looked as if a switch had been thrown and all her muscles just turned off,” wrote Sanders.

The doctor realized that she hadn’t actually fainted. She never lost consciousness during the episode. She was aware of her surroundings and could hear him speak. And the episode ended quickly. As soon as it was over, she felt fine.

He concluded that she was suffering from “cataplexy.” It is a unique symptom of narcolepsy.

Cataplexy involves a sudden loss of muscle tone while you are awake. Your head may drop, or your knees may buckle. You may completely fall out on the floor. Episodes of cataplexy tend to be triggered by a strong emotion such as laughter or surprise.

Narcolepsy also tends to involve excessive daytime sleepiness. Frequent naps are common. And sudden, irresistible “sleep attacks” may occur in unusual situations. Narcolepsy may occur without cataplexy.

Today the Boston Globe described how 26-year-old Julie Flygare is battling narcolepsy and cataplexy. In three weeks she plans to run the Boston Marathon.

She is one of four women who will be running to raise funds for Wake Up Narcolepsy. Flygare is sharing her story on the REM Runner blog.

Learn more about narcolepsy. Read a narcolepsy case study on SleepEducation.com.

Get help for an ongoing sleep problem at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

Twitter: Sleep & Tweets

You can learn a lot about a person in 140 characters or less. You can learn a lot about their sleep too.Twitter let’s you answer the question, “What’s happening?” The Web site at www.sleepingtime.org has responded by asking, “When do they sleep?”

The one-click site simply asks you to provide the username of a person who is on Twitter. Then in a second the site’s algorithm will analyze the timing of hundreds of that user’s tweets.

It will identify the time of day when the user is least active on Twitter. From this activity analysis it calculates the hours when the person is more likely to sleep.

The site was developed by Amit Agarwal, a personal technology columnist in India. He writes the Digital Inspiration blog and is on Twitter as @labnol.

So when does Amit sleep? According to sleepingtime, he typically gets about seven hours of shut-eye from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the New Delhi time zone.

Amit also used the site to compile estimated sleep times for some “Tech Superstars.” For example, sleepingtime determined that Bill Gates is more likely to get eight hours of sleep from midnight to 8 a.m.

Last year the Sleep Education blog reported that there can be little time for White House staffers to sleep. What does sleepingtime say?

It reports that @whitehouse is more likely to sleep for eight hours from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. And @barackobama is more likely to sleep for seven hours between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m.

So it’s not an exact science. But if you use Twitter regularly, the site can give you a quick snapshot of your typical “sleep window.”

After all, you can’t tweet in your sleep. Or can you?

Episodes of sleepwalking can involve routine behaviors such as making phone calls. Last year a case report even described a woman who sent some strange e-mails while she was asleep.

But sleeptweeting? It’s possible. And it’s another good reason to keep your cell phone away from your bed at night.

Exploding Head Syndrome: Sounds in Sleep

You’re in bed and feeling drowsy as you begin to fall asleep. Suddenly in your head you have the sensation of a loud, violent explosion.

It may seem like a loud bang, a clash of cymbals or a bomb exploding. You also may have the impression that a flash of light occurred. As a result you jolt awake with a sense of fright.

This describes a typical episode of a sleep disorder called exploding head syndrome. It is one of the sleep disorders that are classified as “parasomnias.” These disorders all involve undesired behaviors during sleep.

Exploding head syndrome can be very disturbing. When it first occurs you may think that you are having a stroke. And frequent events can cause you to have insomnia.

But the good news is that exploding head syndrome tends to be harmless. And unlike headaches, it is usually painless. Treatment should not be required.

Exploding head syndrome may be a variant of another sleep disorder called sleep starts. This involves a brief, strong jerk – or contraction – of your body while you are drowsy.

The clinical features of exploding head syndrome were first identified in the U.K. In 1989 a study described 50 people who had the problem.

In 1991 a Swedish study in the journal Sleep described nine people with exploding head syndrome. The authors concluded that the symptoms “may be an expression of emotional stress in the awake state.”

This year a new case report from Japan described a woman with a long history of both migraine headaches and exploding head syndrome. An overnight sleep study revealed that she also had obstructive sleep apnea.

She was prescribed an oral appliance to treat the sleep apnea. After beginning treatment the episodes of exploding head syndrome no longer occurred.

Get help for an ongoing sleep problem at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you. Read more about parasomnias.

Image by Antonio Blay