I have a 7 year old son. He's a very smart kid, but he's had a habit of getting in trouble-he has issues with impulse control. These things have gotten worse as he is "hyper", has trouble concentrating, and is sometimes aggressive. I notice that he has a lot of moodiness and has very combative behavior with me. I just kept thinking I was doing something wrong. Last week was especially bad, so I decided to take him to see the ped to see what is going on. He suggested that it might be obstructive sleep apnea since my son has enlarged tonsils and adenoids and referred me to an ENT. His nighttime symtoms are: snoring, grinding teeth, sleeps with his mouth open, sits up while alseep, kicks and thrashes around, sweats excessively, and he still has problems with wetting the bed at night. He is also very small for his age. I feel horrible that he's been sleeping like this for as long as I can remember, and I never thought anything was wrong with it.
Have you all gone through this with your kids? Is this sleep apnea? I couldn't get an appointment for 3 weeks with the ENT and I want to know what I'm getting myself into. If this is sleep apnea, will it most likely mean surgery? Please let me know what you all think. I would love to get this resolved and have him be a much happier kid.
Thanks!

Welcome to the forum O'mom.
You migt want to start out by reviewing the information in the sticky posts in this section (Pediatric Sleep Apnea) of the forum on pediatric sleep.
My own understanding from these sources and elewhere is that many and perhaps all of the problems you describe might be related to sleep apnea. It is also true that obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form of sleep apnea in both adults and children and it generally seems to be true that surgery (tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy) is generally the first line treatment of choice for sleep apnea in children.
This being said, sleep apnea is not diagnosed on the basis of symptoms alone and I would think that you might want to discuss with the ENT further testing to confirm whether your son in fact is having sleep apnea and to confirm that his apnea is obstructive in nature. The most accurate way of finding out what is going on with his sleep would be an overnight sleep study in a sleep lab, although there are other testing options available (although they do not provide the amount and quality of information that a full sleep study can provide). I would expect that your ENT might well want to do some testing to confirm a diagnosis.
From what I have read, T & A is usually effective in improving obstructive sleep apnea in children although some of the tissue may eventually grow back and contribute to problems later. For other children, the use of a CPAP machine may be recommended, especially if problems continue aven after surgery.
I hope this helps.

Good luck and best wishes to you and your son,
Bill

Oregonmom wrote:

I have a 7 year old son. He's a very smart kid, but he's had a habit of getting in trouble-he has issues with impulse control. These things have gotten worse as he is "hyper", has trouble concentrating, and is sometimes aggressive. I notice that he has a lot of moodiness and has very combative behavior with me. I just kept thinking I was doing something wrong. Last week was especially bad, so I decided to take him to see the ped to see what is going on. He suggested that it might be obstructive sleep apnea since my son has enlarged tonsils and adenoids and referred me to an ENT. His nighttime symtoms are: snoring, grinding teeth, sleeps with his mouth open, sits up while alseep, kicks and thrashes around, sweats excessively, and he still has problems with wetting the bed at night. He is also very small for his age. I feel horrible that he's been sleeping like this for as long as I can remember, and I never thought anything was wrong with it.
Have you all gone through this with your kids? Is this sleep apnea? I couldn't get an appointment for 3 weeks with the ENT and I want to know what I'm getting myself into. If this is sleep apnea, will it most likely mean surgery? Please let me know what you all think. I would love to get this resolved and have him be a much happier kid.
Thanks!

Please listen to the post ahead of mine and see an ENT. You were lucky that your doctor even put two and two together. I did not have doctors in my son's life that did that. I do not want to alarm you, and in no way am I a doctor, but neurological and cognitive changes have been documented in children with sleep apnea. These changes can become permanent.

What you describe sounded a lot like my son. Be ready to document to the ENT everything you can remember about his sleep from as long back as you can. The office might even ask you to keep a sleep diary for the time before the appointment. When you get there, the ENT will examine your son, ask for history and based upon that, may or may not want to schedule a sleep study.

Depending on the history and how much the ENT thinks the adenoids and  tonsils have contribute to it will determine whether surgery becomes the first or second option. If surgery makes you uncomfortable (who wouldn't be uncomfortable with surgery on a 7yr old?), you can try to see when the results of the sleep study come back and if they are positive, if you can try CPAP first, then surgery. It will really depend on what happens in the sleep study and what the ENT thinks of your son's physiology.

When is your appointment? Please update us when you have more info.

Take care,

Judi

Hi,  I don't really have any advise for you but when I read your post it sounds just like my son.  I just want to let you know that your aren't alone and as far as not having any answers I am right there with you.  My son is 6 years old, he has had 2 sleep studies done, his Tonsils and adenoids out by recommendation by the ENT, then a post op sleep study which has revealed that he still has OSA.  Now we are on our way to the pulmonologist on the 13th of this month to see what else we can do to help my son.  He has been this way since I can remember along with hyperactivity and behavioral problems as well.  His numbers don't seem to be too high as far as I can tell by reading some of the other posts on this forum but as a mom, I think any numbers are too high and what are the long term affects of sleep apnea.  I am just hoping for  some answers and hop that the pulmonologists doesn't just tell me that his numbers are low and he may grow out of it.  Anyway, sorry to go on and on I just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone and I think you are doing the right thing by taking him to the ENT.  It is the right place to start.  Hope all goes well and keep us informed on your doctors appointment.

colleenmom wrote:

His numbers don't seem to be too high as far as I can tell by reading some of the other posts on this forum but as a mom, I think any numbers are too high and what are the long term affects of sleep apnea.  I am just hoping for  some answers and hop that the pulmonologists doesn't just tell me that his numbers are low and he may grow out of it.

Hi, colleenmom, I just wanted to give a quick comment.

Whatever the numbers were that you received, if it ended up requiring surgery, they were high enough. Don't necessarily compare numbers with people on the boards, go by what is standard for children. Your ENT or pulmonologist can tell you exactly what the ranges and cut-offs are and what they want to achieve for your son. It is easy to think, he is not that bad, but sleep apnea causes changes to the body even at the moderate level.

Also, any pulmonologist worth his/her salt will NOT tell you he will grow out of it. If she/he does, get another one. Times are a-changing for sleep medicine. No one takes it lightly anymore, and I don't think you will be blown off at all.

With that said (sorry if it sounded hard, but I don't want anyone to dismiss sleep apnea, especially in children), please let us know what is the outcome of your appointment.

Take care,

Judi