Here's the situation: My five year old son is a sweet but strong-willed child. He often runs around the house, screaming at the top of his lungs, he has no attention span, EXCEPT when it comes to his hotwheels cars, time outs dont work and neither does taking away privlelegs, (I will not spank him due to my personal beliefs) and he constantly provokes his little sister. The last problem I can attribute to sibling rivalry. I took him to his ped and she asked me if he was sleeping through the night. I told her that he has difficulty getting to sleep and he snores lightly and has nigtmares frequently. She suggessted that before diagnosing him with ADHD, she wanted to get him in to see his ENT (he has had one since he was 4 months old due to chronic ear infections that had to be fixed with tubes twice) to check his tonsils and adenoids. She said that a cause for hyperactivity in some children is due to a lack of good sleep and since my son snores, she thinks that it might be a good idea, if the tonsils and adenoids are enlarged, to go ahead with a tonsiladenoidectomy. Apparently, recent studies have been done on children with hyperactivity before and after a tonsiladenoidectomy and once the procedure was done, the children would often be calmer and more attentive due to better sleep. Anyone else heard of this? I would encourage all who have young children exhibiting these signs to see their peds and have their little ones' tonsils and adenoids looked at.

I have never heard that, My honest opinion, I think it's really hard to diagnose a child under 8 for ADHD or ADD. When my son was 8years, almost 9, they diagnose him with just ADD. We put him on medicine, and I did not like the side affects, Anyways, after doing some reasearch, I changed his diet, the way food is processed, kids don't get what they need from food, mostly the omega's. You can buy them or even just try organic foods. After changing his diet, and giving him more of a routine, it helped. And his doctor like that, she's not to fond of putting kids on that kind of medicine.

I am going through the same thing with my 5-year-old son. In fact we met with the ENT yesterday. As she explained it, with Pediatric apnea and child can exhibit some of the same signs as ADHD, because they are doing everything it takes to stay awake, after not getting enough sleep. My son tosses and turns, snores, wakes many times a night. The ENT explained and even showed me, how when he lays down the tonsils fall back, as does the tongue and it blocks his airway, then the enlarged adenoids have his nasal airway partially blocked. So when he should be resting his body is struggling to get a breath. I agree with the MXMOM, if it does turn out to be ADD or ADHD, be careful of the medications, some have been found to have serious even deadly side effects. But I would definitely look into the sleep apnea. I have done a lot of reading and most children have a 50% or more increase in over all health after the removal of tonsils and adenoids. I wish you the best....

with hyperactivity before and after a tonsiladenoidectomy and once the procedure was done, the children would often be calmer and more attentive due to better sleep. Anyone else heard of this? I would encourage all who have young children exhibiting these signs to see their peds and have their little ones' tonsils and adenoids looked at.[/QUOTE]
I was on a adhd group list and there were many moms in there that have said this exact thing.. One mother swore her child was a totally different child after the surgery... She no longer needed the medications, and she no longer had to follow thru with her son's IEP at schools... She was exastatic.. I know that being a mother of a adhd child myself.. He was medicated at the age of 7 due to suicidal thoughts.. wasn't pleasant at all. We had to act fast.. So... doing research and finding sources... nutrition came into play for us here... Change diets, eliminate dyes, soda pops, corn syrup.. I know that Red dye and Orange dyes are not at all good for these types of children... I know that we stabalized our son for many months on straight black coffee.. and sometimes.. a can of Coke soda pop.. The caffenine in coffee and coke were high so that it would do an opposite reaction for them.. IT would actually slow them down.. rather than increase their energy.. Our son was on many supplements in a day... One was the Omega 3's.. essential fatty acids... and a few others are the Calcium/Zinc/Magnesium, Evening Primrose Oil as well... With these you will see change in the mood swings that can come out.. and or the way the change gears in their brain... Take a good look at the diet they have though.. and just see what you could change in that department for them.. I know high proteins are good as well.. Our son takes a protein shake today.. and he is not on medications no longer.. has been med free for 1 year almost.. So.. feeding the brain good nutrition is a great way to help them out on their daily tasks.. Good Luck with this... you will find the way... your a good mom..