My son, currently 6.5 yrs. old, had T&A surgery about 3 yrs ago for his sleep apnea. We were told that it "cures" about 85% of children. Unfortunately, he was in the remaining 15%. He never could stand CPAP, so we were told that a lot of times kids grow out of it by 6-7 yrs. old. He still seems tired, occassionally snoring. Otherwise, he is healthy. Stands 52" tall and weighs 60 pounds. Developmentally he is right on track and intelligent. We had been advised that as long as he is growing and developing well, to not be real worried about it. I am leaning towards getting another sleep study done, but wonder what else can be done treatment-wise if CPAP is not viable. Early on, we were told that a tracheotomy could be done, but no way in hell do I want to do that. I don't have the sleep study numbers, but with his development, should I be worried?
BTW: I have been diagnosed about the same time as him as having OSA. I'm trying CPAP w/ so-so success (allergies kind of keep me stuffed up) so I'm wondering, is it hereditary. 1 Dr. told me I probably had it as a child, then grew out of it, then it returned in my 30's. He stated this was quite a normal occurrence. I guess that's why they figure my son will grow out of it. ANYWAY....any ideas on need for new study or what treatments are available if we do?

Hi ff:
There's not not a great deal of information about childhood sleep apnea even now, so to say that all these people who have OSA today as adults had OSA as children might be stretching it.  There's a bunch of different structural components, as you've become acutely aware of this by the apparently less than successful results of the T&A.  Adult OSA tends to be caused by, and/or is made worse by fatty deposition in the oral-pharyngeal airway vs tonsillar/adenoid hypertrophy in children (Stop the mail, I said "tends"!).

Anyway, why don't you post the results?  That a tracheostomy was even mentioned suggests that the OSA could have been quite severe.  And any therapy, including T&A, needs NPSG to properly evaluate its effectiveness, especially in the more severe cases.
sleepydave

Well to start, we had this surgery done last year on the 18th of April and it did not go well.  My son was Diagnosed with SEVERE SLEEP APNEA the worst the Mayo Clinic in Rochester had ever seen in a child his age.  They used his test for there own study as well.  We were told the same thing...It would only take away about 85%.  It would not take it fully away.  Well tonight or I should say this morning as I sit here and type!   He is back to the same pattern in his sleep.  I for one am also thinking of looking into another Sleep test.  The only problem with us is Finacially we can not afford it.  Husband has great Insurance but I have not even caught up with our last bill from all of this.

My son has once again started to wet the bed, and he is not getting a goodnight sleep anymore I breaks my heart and I dont know what to do about it.   I just want to say you are not alone.  

After he got this done, he was very much more active and he still is but I do notice more so that he is getting tired much easier now...Kind of concern's me!!!