My 11 year old ds had a sleep study done a few weeks ago. He has severe seasonal allergies, snores insanely loud and I knew he had sleep apnea. It is extremely scary but I know he will feel soooo much better. This has been going on for many years. Now that he is entering middle school and it seems to be getting worse, I feel the time is right to do something to make him feel better and sleep better.

Here are the results:
R slept for 5 1/2 hours

During that period he stopped breathing 108 times

8 of those were because his brain didn't kick in fast enough to remind his body to breathe

The rest were due to his extreme obstruction from his turbinates and possibly his deviated septum

It was then broken down into %s

Under 5% is usually not treated in a child his age

Up to 15% is considered moderate to severe sleep apnea; for children and adults

R's % was 17%. Considered extremely severe sleep apnea;especially in a child his age. He's 11.

ENT's Evaluation:

His left passage is almost %100 blocked and his right is slightly better

His tonsils and adenoids are also obstructing his airway and sinus drainage

He strongly recommends R has his tonsils/adenoids removed. He will also go into his nose and cauterize the turbinates of their soft tissue to open his nasal passages.
When he is in there he will check out his deviated septum and remove any spurs he can without being too aggressive, since his nose is still growing.
I scheduled the procedure to be done on July 17th.
I am confident in this diagnosis. This needs to be done to help R feel better and sleep better. I'll be sure to keep you all posted!

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 03:54 pm:

My hubby has Sleep Apnea. He stopped breathing several times during the study. He used to gasp for air during his sleep. He now as a CPAP machine.
I hope removing the tonsils improves the situation for your son! It is a very scary thing!

By Tarable on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 05:31 pm:

Make sure to buy him lots of ice cream and popsicles for recovery!!! Also, don't do what my mom did.. and buy the kind he doesn't like..

Good luck to him and I am sure it will help a lot.

By Karen~admin on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 08:00 pm:

Annie, I hope the surgery works for him!

My DH had a sleep study done recently too, due to extreme and loud snoring, unrestorative sleep, snorting and gasping during the night. He has a severely deviated septum as well. We thought for SURE he had sleep apnea.

Side note: Recently at his regular visit to his cardio doc, I had him mention the sleeping issues and the fact that he wheezes at night and very often is short of breath. In addition to the cardiac tests, he had a complete pulmonary function test. I figured he just had asthma - unfortunately, all those years he smoked have caught up with him and he is in the early stages of emphysema.

So - the sleep study revealed he does NOT have sleep apnea, but his uvula is extremely large and long and there is also something about his soft palate. Plus his oxygen levels kept going down below 84% during the night, which could be, in part due to the emphysema. He stopped breathing on average 7 times per hour.

He will be having a Somnoplasty to treat it - it's an in-office procedure. From the literature we've read on that, it's also used to treat chronic nasal obstruction from enlarged turbinates, I know they plan to reduce the size of the uvula and soft palate, but not sure about the nasal stuff.

Will your DS be having a same-day-surgery?? How does he feel about having the surgery?

Ditto Tara on the ice cream and popsicles. And ask for liquid pain meds for him, and ask the pharmacy to put flavoring into them. LOL

By Annie2 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 08:23 pm:

Karen, he's very excited to have it done. He really feels like crap most days. Very congested, sneezing and wakes up very tired, almost exhausted every school day. The dr told him he will feel so much better. I know he'll be nervous when the time nears but for right now he is "bragging" to his sisters and even told the dog that he has sleep apnea lol.
This may make him want to be more active also. He is not really into sports and maybe its because he's not getting enough air.
He'll have same day surgery for his tonsils/adenoids and nose. He will spent the night in the hospital so they can monitor his breathing and oxygen intake levels.
The dr did tell him he will feel awful for the first week but it will be worth the pain.
I hope this helps and it should.
Thanks everyone!

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 11:07 pm:

I hope it helps too..

By Pamt on Sunday, June 15, 2008 - 10:08 am:

Yikes! That's scary how often he quit breathing. I'm sure the surgery will make a big difference. One bit of advice though. Make sure that the ENT is leaving a little bit of adenoid tissue as an adenoid pad on the back of the throat. If he/she removes it all there is the possibility of severe hypernasality (nasal speech) that can't be corrected without a secondary surgery and you DON'T want that.

By Bellajoe on Sunday, June 15, 2008 - 06:56 pm:

Wow, i'm glad you got him tested. It sounds like he will feel much better after the surgery. I'm glad to hear that he is looking forward to it, good for him! I hope it works and I hope he has a quick recovery. I hear that this surgery is a lot harder and takes a super long time to recover when you have it as an adult. So it's a good thing you got him tested now. My girlfriend had her adenoids or tonsils removed recently and she was out of work for 3 weeks, she felt like crap for those 3 weeks and had just started to feel better when she had to go back to work.

By Dana on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 04:15 pm:

Now you can move forward. DD couldn't breath and lost hearing when she was 3. After the adnoids and tonsils came out, she was a new child. She loved to play (before it was "playing is hard work, mama" after 1 min of playing). She even changed her eating habits and began to show a growth spurt.

Seconds after surgery and even on the worst day after surgery while in tears, I asked DD if the pain was worth it. At the ripe old age of 4 she YES! She could feel the difference in getting enough oxygen, and knew the pain was nothing in comparison of lack of oxygen.

Good luck on his upcoming surgery

By Dawnk777 on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 04:27 pm:

My sister's daughter snored loud enough to be heard, all over their large house. She was also barely eating. After she had her tonsils and adenoids out, she slept better and ate better. I think she also had a growth spurt. She was about 3 or 4, too. (Now, she's 14.)

By Annie2 on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 06:09 pm:

Thanks everyone. Ds is still looking forward to it. If he eats more and has a growth spurt he'll be eating me out of house and home and will be taller than me LOL!

By Dana on Monday, June 16, 2008 - 08:40 pm:

LOL, Annie. That is really funny to me.