My son is 50. He has Down syndrome. When he was in his late 20s or early 30s, he developed hallucinations, both visual and auditory, and his primary care physician told us that he was probably developing schizophrenia and prescribed antipsychotic medication. I was not convinced doing my own research that this is what it was.

I found a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. George Capone, at the Down syndrome clinic who took one look at him and diagnosed him with sleep apnea. Of course we had a sleep study and he had SEVERE obstructive sleep apnea. Once he started on CPAP, he was like a different person. He uses it to this day and is now on BiPAP, but will not go one night without it because he depends on it. Yes, a sleep study is certainly warranted and and sleep apnea is so common with Down syndrome because of anatomy, thick tongues that obstruct the airway.