Need some advice and testimonials here folks. My 2yr old grandson is a chronic snorer, and he’s LOUD. And listening to him while he naps indicates he has apnea attacks as well.
We’ve got him organised for an ENT paediatric specialist appointment in the not too distant future, but wondered what sort of outcomes they might suggest?
IOW, have you had a kid with snoring/apnea and what happened?
They could recommend surgery. Doubtful, but it could end up like the Jahi McMath case.
Is your grandson overweight? Obesity is a leading cause of sleep apnea. Would seem odd to put a two year old on a diet, but it may be a better alternative to surgery or a CPAP.
Well thanks so much for that link. Really put a smile on my face this morning. How the fuck is that necessarily relevant? People had adverse outcomes in all sorts of operations, posting that was just damned weird.
No, he’s not overweight. Falls bang smack in the middle of the curve for height and weight.
But thanks for playing Omar Little. :dubious:
I had undiagnosed SA when I was a kid. I snored like a cartoon character. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my late 40’s or roundabouts.
One of the reasons SA never came up as a possibility during trips to various doctors looking for the cause of my extreme exhaustion was because I’m not even close to overweight. I have a 23 inch waist. I didn’t go to an ENT until I was on a roll with my 3rd or 4th strep throat of the season one year, and while he was examining me, he started asking a lot of questions. It turned out I had really super-size tonsils, a giant uvula, an unusually narrow throat, two deviated septums, etc. I was an obstructive apnea poster child.
I ended up having surgery and some prosthodontic work done. I still need to sleep with a CPAP every night. I have an appliance too. It doesn’t bother me at all. Not being exhausted is the trade-off. The nice thing about the mask is that when I put it on, my body shuts down and goes to sleep. It’s very comforting. I don’t ever lie awake in bed anymore.
Maybe he will get lucky and an oral appliance or CPAP will be enough to fix it. If he has tonsils, they will be coming out. If his uvula is low, that will go or be trimmed down too. They can also widen his airway. I didn’t get the roof of my mouth raised, but that is also an option. It’s sounds horrific, but it’s not that bad. I was considering getting my nose fixed on top of everything else, but they couldn’t promise me that the outward appearance of my nose wouldn’t change, so I decided that for the 15% to 20% improvement that would give me, the risk to the change in my appearance wouldn’t be worth it.
Seriously? Someone asks for advice, and that is the first thing you bring up?
You might want to take some time off the internet, gain some perspective.
If possible bring a video clip of the child snoring and of an obstructive moment with you to the visit.
Possible outcomes of the visit:
They may recommend adenoidecomy based on a good history alone. This option might be supported by a lateral neck X-ray to get a sense of how big they are, or, if they think they can get away with it in the office setting, a quick look at the adenoids with a fiber optic decice in the nose.
If they are convinced by history that it is not too severe they might advise a trial of a nasal steroid (Flonase and its competitors). This sometimes can shrink the adenoids down and sometimes 6 or so weeks has a lasting impact.
If they are not so sure about the severity they might advise a sleep study to determine how bad it really is. Official guidelines advise it as a matter of routine but most of the ENTs I know use it very selectively.
CPAP and oral appliances are very rarely utilized in kids. Tonsils are not usually the cause so much as the adenoids but usually get removed along the way.
Good luck.
My younger brother was a major snorer with apnea from the time he was very young. When he was 8 or 9, he had his tonsils out, which made a huge difference in his snoring and his ability to sleep well.
Basically, once our mother mentioned the snoring to the pediatrician, it got taken care of really quickly, with no problems or complications.