Fever and sleep apnea

[minsy1010]

My 4 y.o son started with a fever on monday.  The only symptom was a stuffy nose.  Fast forward 6 days, he still has a fever but what scares me more is his inability to breathe all day and night! It doesn't feel like the normal cold.  I researche a little and it seems like his adenoids may be infected.  I will try to see his ped tomorrow but meanwhile, what can I do??  Poor child wakes up every few minutes from either his snoring or stop breathing for a few seconds.  I also noticed he has been sick alot the past few months, every time with fever... is there a connection with the adenoids?

Thanks everyone.

Sandra

[EVC]

It could be. Has he always been a snorer? Does he get a lot of ear infections? My dd snored from infancy, got MANY ear infection, and went on to develop apnea. She was also a heavy breather and just about ALWAYS sounded stuffy. It turned out both her tonsils and adenoids were enlarged. For her, unfortunately, the solution was surgery. But to be honest, we are THRILLED with the results.

Now, that may not be at all necessary for you--surgery is a LAST resort. What I would do in your position and ask your ped about a referral to an ENT specialist who can take a look at what's going on.

In the meantime, I would also try to sort out any possible allergies. Try eliminating dairy for a while--some people notice significant improvement after a few weeks. If this is a new problem, or off an on again, I would suspect allergies of some kind. You might even want to experiment will an over the counter allergy medication (like Claritan) to see if that reduces inflammation in the nose and leads to better breathing. Other things to try are a humidifier or even just saline nose drops. 

Good luck! Apnea is a scary thing and potentially serious. Being pro-active is a very good idea. 

[minsy1010]

Thank you Phd-ing mama.. I will talk to his peds for a referral to ENT.  He does snore a little in general but this time with the cold, its BAD.  Very scary.

[tanyalynn]

I didn't notice huge sleep issues with DD--she woke a couple times a night at 3.5yo, and I could see that her tonsils were enlarged--but for us, removing gluten and dairy was great.  Within just a few days, she stopped waking at night and STARTED napping during the day, and although it took about a month, her tonsils went down to regular size and have been there since.  And she stopped wetting the bed at night, so all in all, a lot of things related to sleep got better.  All that to say--consider multiple foods if you go that route. 

[aim4balance]

Did you figure anything out (or did your ds's symptoms improve)?  I can say I've been down this road and we're not in the clear yet, but things are better.  My 2.5 yr old started with intermitten sleep apnea for the past 3 months; it gets really really bad, but ONLY at night, and only when he's sick.  Then he gets better, and it goes away almost completely, he'll still have a tiny bit of it though.  After talking to the ped about it--his tonsils are not overly enlarged, and I'm not even sure about his adenoids since you can't see them w/o a scope--I took him to the ENT yesterday.  The ENT made me wait to do anything like a sleep study or even the scope b/c he said if its mostly occurring with illness (like you describe with your ds) but it improves afterwards, its not true sleep apnea, and it shows his tonsils and/or adenoids can recover.  This is good IMO b/c it means we may not have to have surgery.  Instead I went out and bought concentrated elderberry syrup and echinachea for supporting/boosting the immune system, and ALREADY its made a difference, last night was completely apnea-free.  From here on out I plan to work to boost the immune system and maybe see a naturopath; we're starting chiro this week too.  Hope it all works out for you!