Hi, I'm new here. My 5yr old son was just diagnosed with OSA. Without going into his history since birth, I'll just say it's been a long ride to get to this point. We went to a new ENT today, armed with a video tape of our son sleeping, a history of behavioral problems, and most importantly, a set of great big ole' tonsils. This is the 2nd ENT my son has seen, the first one ordered catscans of his sinuses and adenoids-and I'm convinced he never even took the time to look at the xrays-they were mysteriously missing when we went to our follow up. Anyhow, the new ENT is great, and while I'm worried and scared about the diagnosis, I'm relieved to finally have some answers and above all, a plan of action.


His new ENT looked at the video (which clearly shows him stopping breathing and then gasping for air) and judged by the size of his tonsils that he definately had OSA. He looked in his ears and also believes that his adenoids are blocking air flow in and out of his ears, which could cause hearing problems - which might explain why my son talks so loud and had a speech delay. The ENT said his tonsils and adenoids need to go, but that it would be a good idea to go ahead with a sleep study so that we have a full picture of what's going on when he sleeps.

Almost two years ago, I told the primary doctor that my son always seemed tired and that even his teachers made comments to me about the dark circles under his eyes. I was told that dark circles are a sign of allergies. We went through all kinds of allergy tests. The result? No allergies. A year later, I told the nurologist that my son gets very hyperactive when he is tired and that his pre-k teacher says he is sometimes spacey/daydreamy - I was told he had ADHD.

My mom was the first person to notice that he had problems breathing at night, that was about a year ago. He had spent the night with her. When she first voiced her concerns, I didn't think much of it, because I snored when I was little, too. But, as I started paying more attention to his snoring, I noticed that his chest REALLY labored for breath and that he would pause and gasp an awful lot. It is very scary, as many of you know.

I got him into an ENT shortly after, who as I mentioned before, lost the results of the catscan he ordered. We were told his adenoids were fine, and sent home with long term anitbotics for a sinus infection.

In the mean time his problems progressively got worse (ear infections, dark circles under the eyes, hyperactivity.) Then the snoring got much worse along with the gasps for air. Recently, I noticed his breathing while awake had become noisy, too. With some persistence, we got into see a different ENT....and here we are now.

Sorry for the long shpeel, but I'm just mad at myself for not pushing for better answers from the doctors sooner. I just want to say to anyone who suspects their child has a sleeping disorder - don't let it go- find the right doctors- the kind of doctors that will listen to you. I've read through a lot of the posts on this website and it has helped a lot, I've learned a great deal about apnea by reading your stories.

I have a couple questions for the forum,

My son doesn't handle medical procedures real well, does anybody have any advice as how to prepare him for the sleep study?

I was also wondering, with children with severe OSA that has been going on for a while untreated, can there be any long term damage to the brain, say, due to lack of oxygen?

Thanks for any help....

Wow, you are one smart Mom for video taping your son while sleeping. And good for you for not taking no for an answer. I find that so many Dr's don't take us seriously when it comes to sleep apnea in kids. It sounds like it has been a tough couple of years but it sounds like you are on the right track. As far as the medical procedures go- not much advice but being honest with him is my best bet. Keep your explinations simple as not to scare hm. The sleep study does not hurt at all, it is more of an annoying thing to have wires all over him. Have you seen pictures from a sleep study? Has your son? If it would help I would be happy to email you pics so he would know what to expect. If so send me a PM and I would be happy to. Our sleep lab usually lets my daughter watch a video while they wire her up. I know this is not easy but your son is going to do great. My Hannah is eight and I thought she would never be able to deal with all this but she has been on CPAP very succesfully for almost two months now.


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Heather-Mom to Hannah(8-hose head) and Logan(4), wife to Paul (also a hose head)

Thanks Hannahs mom for the reply. My son got in very quickly for his sleep study (there was a cancellation.) It went really well, he was such a trooper. I was so proud of him. The only thing he complained about was all the stuff stuck around his nose. They did have to bind his hands (which broke my heart) because he kept trying to pull off the mask (he was doing it in his sleep-not on purpose.) It was a long drive to the sleep center, so we talked about the procedure on our way there. He sat still while they hooked him up, watched his video, then went to sleep right away. It was a typical night for him-the struggle to pull in air-the mouth breathing-the pauses and gasps-so I know they were able to record what they needed to see. Of course, the technician wouldn't tell me anything, but he did throw me some hints in the morning that our suspicions and concerns were ligitimate.

Thanks again for the help-I'm going to be posting and reading on this forum a lot. It's so nice to know that there are others that are going through the same thing.