Sleep apnea in children?

[StephandOwen]

DS has an appointment with an ENT on Thursday (the same one who did his ear tubes a couple years ago). We are concerned about the number of times he's had strep (I still have to get all the paperwork together and do the final count but it's a LOT), his tonsils are enlarged (and always have been) and about his breathing at night. He always breathes loudly at night and often snores very loudly (his bedroom is upstairs on one side of the house and we can hear him downstairs on the other side of the house with the tv on). So tonight I tried to take a video of him sleeping. He was doing the really loud snoring but by the time I got my camera he stopped (he switched positions, which often helps with the snoring for short term). But he was doing the loud breathing. While listening to him, and then to the video, you can clearly hear/see him breathing loud, stopping suddenly, and then kinda grunting loudly and moving his head a little.

I did a little googling on sleep apnea for children and soooo much of it fits him. From the snoring/loud breathing and "grunting" or gasping to get him breathing again, to the behavior problems during the day, to being difficult to wake up, sleeping in strange positions (we thought this was funny until we learned it was a sign of sleep apnea ), etc. It almost all fits him

Does this sound like sleep apnea? Can it all be contributed to his allergies instead? He's on Nasonex (and has been for about a month and is doing much better with no coughing or stuffy nose issues anymore). He also has respiratory airway disease, but he hasn't had to use his inhaler in months (woo!).

[sbgrace]

It sounds like apnea to me. I have apnea. Andrew had a sleep study and I hope the do that on Owen/ask for one.

[kjbrown92]

Have you considered food intolerances? My DS and DD2 were HUGE snorers before we took out their trigger foods. We never used a monitor with DS because we could hear him through the floor or on the other side of the house snoring away. He had enlarged adenoids but thankfully the doctor said that he wasn't going to do anything about it until we got the food intolerances straightened out (we thought it was just milk at the time; it turned out to be more). And he wasn't growing as well as he should have been because he wasn't getting restful sleep. And because he wasn't getting restful sleep (and because of the foods), his behavior was bad during the day. When DD2 started snoring, I moved faster on it so hers didn't last as long. But whenever we trial a previously "bad" food, I listen to them at night to see if the snoring comes back. It's just something to consider while you're looking into sleep apnea.

[AllyRae]

Brandon had apnea too. It partially went away when we had his tonsils and adnoids removed, but it went away fully once we took him off dairy (he tested positive for an IgE reaction to milk but for some reason we never noticed it until the blood test...we never put two and two together with the apnea & eczema being related to milk)

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Have you considered food intolerances? My DS and DD2 were HUGE snorers before we took out their trigger foods.

Originally Posted by AllyRae

Brandon had apnea too. It partially went away when we had his tonsils and adnoids removed, but it went away fully once we took him off dairy

Interesting! He was off corn, egg, dairy and strawberries for about a year (when he was 1) but we saw no difference in the snoring/breathing. So I would bet it's probably not any of those things causing it. If we were to do a gluten trial the kid would starve

I took 3 short videos of him sleeping over the past 2 nights to show the ENT. One shows his heavy breathing with the pause then the gasp (laying on his side). Anther shows him laying on his belly with the heavy breathing. The last shows him laying on his back (the absolute worst for him, hands down, is sleeping on his back) and snoring *very* loudly. He goes to the ENT in a few hours after I get out of school

[StephandOwen]

DS is getting his tonsils and adenoids out in a couple weeks (the 26th). The week after that is his spring break so he'll only miss one day of school.

The doctor said that the number of times he's had strep in the last 12 months (6 times) was enough reason to take them out. The nighttime breathing issues were reason enough to get them out. Putting both the issues together was more than enough reason to take them out. I showed her the first video I took (the one where he was breathing heavy then stops then grunts/gasps and starts breathing again) and she said just by that 30 second clip and my description of what he does at night she can tell me with 99% certainty that Owen does have obstructive sleep apnea. She said a sleep study isn't necessary, unless we really wanted one done for whatever reason. Since she believes he has OSA, and I see him sleeping every night and believe he does, there's not really any reason to do the sleep study.

While he's getting that surgery done she's also going to look at his ears. If the one without a tube has fluid in it (it has almost every time he's been to the dr in the last 6-8 months since the tube fell out) then she'll put a new tube in there. If there is no fluid in either ear then she will take the tube out of the ear that still has one in. It's been in there for a couple years so if it doesn't fall out on it's own she'll have to take it out soon anyway, and we are not putting him under any more than we have to!

I talked to ds a little about what's going to happen and he seems fine with it. I will be writing a social story for him (I did when he got the tubes put in and it really helped him) to explain more and then just cross my fingers and pray that the recovery goes well and he doesn't go on a drinking strike and, if we're lucky, maybe he'll even take some pain meds. I don't know how I'm going to work that miracle though.

[aska13]

I noticed that my daughter stopped snoring loudly once we stopped drinking regular milk (now we drink raw milk). Which foods did you elminate from his diet?

Thank you!

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Have you considered food intolerances? My DS and DD2 were HUGE snorers before we took out their trigger foods. We never used a monitor with DS because we could hear him through the floor or on the other side of the house snoring away. He had enlarged adenoids but thankfully the doctor said that he wasn't going to do anything about it until we got the food intolerances straightened out (we thought it was just milk at the time; it turned out to be more). And he wasn't growing as well as he should have been because he wasn't getting restful sleep. And because he wasn't getting restful sleep (and because of the foods), his behavior was bad during the day. When DD2 started snoring, I moved faster on it so hers didn't last as long. But whenever we trial a previously "bad" food, I listen to them at night to see if the snoring comes back. It's just something to consider while you're looking into sleep apnea.

[gcgirl]

Have you considered reflux? I have laryngopharyngeal reflux, the "silent" kind, which means I don't get heartburn but little bits of acid come up into my throat and into my nasal passages, larynx and pharynx. This condition CAUSED my sleep apnea for years. I take a PPI acid reducer twice a day, and since I started taking the meds I have had NO APNEA. (It took about two weeks to go away, then, zip!)

Anyway, just another route to check into before surgery or something more drastic. Taking the meds sucks, IMO, but it's better than the apnea.

ETA: Some of my rhinitis/allergy symptoms were caused by the acid reflux as well. Another reason to check it out.