Has anyone's child here done a sleep study?

[OGirlieMama]

My girls have enlarged adenoids and tonsils and are being seen by an ENT. The impetus for this was their frequent night wakings, snoring, congestion, etc. -- all the stuff that points to possible obstructive sleep apnea. We saw him first a month ago and he put them on intranasal steroids (Veramyst then Nasonex when my insurance wouldn't cover the Veramyst) to try and reduce the inflammation. We came back today for a follow-up, and he said there was slight improvement, but that we still could be looking at "the next step" (surgery) if things didn't get better once the winter was over.

I was the one who brought up the sleep study. They don't have chronic infections, so the main reason for taking out the tonsils/adenoids would be that they are interfering with sleep. I would like to know for sure that this is actually happening before subjecting them to surgery. How much would it suck to put them through all that and find nothing has changed? Anyhow, he thought my logic was sound and gave us the referral, so I'm just waiting for the facility to contact me and schedule it.

That was a nice long story, but I figure if I'm asking for experiences I should share something. So, if you've done a sleep study with your child, can you tell me what it was like, and what the outcome was? Thanks!

[half-pint]

We had a sleep study done for DS when we was around 15 months old. From what you have described, I would be surprised if they did not have obstructive apnea - seems like classic symptoms to my untrained personal experience.

It requires an overnight visit. They hook up what seems like a million wires on thier head, chest, stomach. Of course, most kids hate this so if you do them both at the same time you should maybe have two people to stay with them as they will likely wake up and immediatley pull on the wires. In our case, I stayed in the room and the nurse was outside to monitor the machine and come in when he stirred and pulled at the wires. Luckily he was just a baby so it wasn't a huge battle but I can't imagine doing it now that he is 3.

They will check for different types of apnea, obstructive (a physical problem like enlarged adenoids) and central (brain not telling body to breathe correctly).

Afterwards if it is confirmed, they may recommend the surgery and/or c-pap breathing machine.

Good luck!

[MotherWhimsey]

pictures of the wire/probe etc set up...

face and head

back of head

all wrapped up

blue cannula detects co2, clear is o2 (he's o2 dependent)
Sometimes they use a circular shaped sensor taped to the upper chest near the collar bone instead of the blue cannula. It just depends on the facility and how many co2 detectors they have.

I'd just prepare them for all the wires and about 30 minutes of getting it all on. And prepare them for the possibility of wearing a cannula for the co2 detection.

[sbgrace]

Andrew had one a little before he turned four. I showed him pictures of kids with the wires and wraps before we went to try to prepare him. I made up a silly song about "wires all over the place" and he went looking forward to it. It went fine except he had trouble falling asleep (it's hard to sleep in sleep study conditions, they know that). They boot you out very early in the morning in every study I've done and in Andrew's as well. I slept in the room w/Andrew half the night and hubby the other half. It was in a children's hopsital and there was a parent resting room as well.

[OGirlieMama]

Thanks for the replies, and especially those pictures, Mother Whimsey. That really helps a lot from my perspective, to know how to prepare them.

I got some detail when the testing place called me yesterday to set up the appointment (April 2nd). It's not a hospital, but a private facility, and it looks really nice from their photos (and she swore to me those are real photos). Basically like a hotel, queen-sized bed, TV, fridge, etc. One kid and one parent per room, so they won't be freaking each other out. We check in at 8pm and get booted out at 6am, which is going to be eeeeevil for my kids who normally sleep from 8pm until around 8am (mostly because they wake up so much at night, I think - it's certainly not 12 hours of continuous sleep or we wouldn't be doing this!!)

I'm a little concerned about them freaking out with all the wires, and a little concerned that whichever twin gets stuck sleeping with Daddy is going to be upset that I'm not there, too. Not that I'm so fabulous (though of course, I am ) but they very rarely go to sleep without me, and most nights it's just me at bedtime. Beyond that my biggest fear is that they'll miraculously sleep through the night for the first time in 2+ years.

[kbins]

We had a sleep study done when DS#2 was just over 2 years old. He had already had tubes, and I was talking with the ENT about taking out his adenoids and tonsils. I really realized how bad his snoring and sleep disruptions were when I was nursing DS#3 and upstairs all the time to hear DS#2. Anyway, the ENT wanted the sleep study, and when it confirmed apnea, he referred us to a different pediatric ENT. Because of the apnea, they also kept DS in the hospital overnight for observation after the T&A (normally it's a day surgery). Insurance covered the sleep study and the overnight as a result.

I was worried since my kids never sleep anywhere but home. He fell asleep finally around 11pm. It only took a couple hours for the technician to get all the data he needed (to clearly confirm the problem - DS had multiple arousals and never got into delta wave sleep). We had ours done at a pediatric hospital, and I would check to be sure that the place you're going has lots of experience hooking up kids to all those wires quickly. Also, ours skipped the nasal canula, it was too upsetting for DS and wasn't completely necessary for our diagnosis.

I'm glad we did it. We needed the 'data' to make us feel comfortable that the surgery was necessary. It was a rough recovery (10 days on pain meds roudn the clock) but it did cure his apnea and his behavior improved tenfold once he started sleeping through the night.

[OGirlieMama]

Originally Posted by kbins

We had a sleep study done when DS#2 was just over 2 years old. He had already had tubes, and I was talking with the ENT about taking out his adenoids and tonsils. I really realized how bad his snoring and sleep disruptions were when I was nursing DS#3 and upstairs all the time to hear DS#2. Anyway, the ENT wanted the sleep study, and when it confirmed apnea, he referred us to a different pediatric ENT. Because of the apnea, they also kept DS in the hospital overnight for observation after the T&A (normally it's a day surgery). Insurance covered the sleep study and the overnight as a result.

I was worried since my kids never sleep anywhere but home. He fell asleep finally around 11pm. It only took a couple hours for the technician to get all the data he needed (to clearly confirm the problem - DS had multiple arousals and never got into delta wave sleep). We had ours done at a pediatric hospital, and I would check to be sure that the place you're going has lots of experience hooking up kids to all those wires quickly. Also, ours skipped the nasal canula, it was too upsetting for DS and wasn't completely necessary for our diagnosis.

I'm glad we did it. We needed the 'data' to make us feel comfortable that the surgery was necessary. It was a rough recovery (10 days on pain meds roudn the clock) but it did cure his apnea and his behavior improved tenfold once he started sleeping through the night.

Thanks, it is especially good to hear that the surgery helped in the end. I know it's a rough one - my BF's daughter (same age as my kids) just had it and it certainly was no picnic. But if the study confirms apnea then I will feel confident in having it done in hopes of improving their sleep. I will check back with the place about their peds experience, but our peds ENT seemed to refer there pretty regularly so I would expect they're good at it.