Sleep Apnea???

[Catwmn]

I suspect that Aaron may have sleep apnea.

I check on him several times a night and last night I actually had to put my ear right up to his face to hear his breathing. I stimulated him and he started breathing regularly again but it only lasted a few minutes before he went back to very shallow almost nonexistent breaths. He was VERY sweaty and clammy. I moved him into our bed and it went on for most of the night.

I guess he will sleep with us from now on until we figure this out.

These are the symptoms of sleep apnea.

Aaron has a LOT of them.
Associated features may include:

* restless sleep
* heavy irregular breathing
* excessive perspiring during sleep
* severe bedwetting
* bad dreams (nightmares)
* night terrors
* sleeps with mouth open, causing a dry mouth upon awakening
* chest retraction during sleep in young children (chest pulls in)
* sleeps in strange positions
* confusion upon awakening
* unrefreshing sleep
* may be overweight or underweight
* learning problems
* excessive irritability
* change in personality
* depression
* difficulty concentrating
* Developmental problems
* failure to thrive or grow
* frequent upper respiratory infections
* hyperactive behavior

We had attributed many of these behaviors and "signs" to either his Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), His epilepsy, Or the medication. I had NEVER considered sleep apnea.

When Aaron was an infant he required a pulse ox, and a apnea monitor for nearly a year after his birth.(he was one of a VERY premature set of twin boys)

So now I'm wondering if it could be a side effect of his medications causing the sleep Apnea, or if it's his Epilepsy..(Could he be having silent seizures in his sleep? he does twitch a lot, or a limb will jerk, he also chews a lot in his sleep, and does funny things with his mouth)

Aaron's current medications are AM: Trileptal 450mg, Risperdal .5mg(we are the process of weaning this off and adding seroquel)Today he had 50mg of Seroquel along with his Trileptal and Risperdal. His PM medications are: Trileptal 600mg, Risperdal .5mg and Seroquel 300mg.

Do you think he's just TOO SEDATED at night from the medications? When this kid goes to sleep he goes to SLEEP....he is very hard to wake up...

I put a call into his Neuro but she says she has passed our case to Dr. Wilfong(An epileptologist within the neuro clinic we go to)and I should call him. (that seems kinda wrong doesn't it?) So I put in a call to his office and they said someone would get back to me. *sigh* This is a strange feeling being between doctors like this. I feel like we are sorta Uncovered right now....

Does anyone have any sleep apnea issues with their kids with E?
Is it caused by the E ?
I feel so lost with all of this going on at one time....

Thanks in advance for any information anyone may have..

 

[witzend]

The only way to tell for sure is to have him take a sleep study. They will hook him up and measure him for the number of times and length of time he stops breathing at night. husband has done it twice. He only stopped breathing 24 times, and to officially be apneac, you have to have 30. I could be wrong on the numbers, as it has been a while. But he did have enough episodes that I found it to be alarming, but the pro's found it to be "borderline".

He did have his deviated septum corrected, and that did not fix it. He asked for a C-PAP machine, but they said that the results weren't bad enough, so he is now on his way back to the ENT surgeon to have his soft palate hardened so that at least I can get some sleep.

I will tell you that it does not matter how much or how little he sleeps, he's exhausted. I was really hoping that he would get the C-PAP, but maybe the surgery will help him, too.

 

[I'm going crazy!!!]

my son had sleep apnea from birth until we had his adnoids removed they were enlarged you may want to ask his pediatrician about it and quickly it can cause brain damage in some cases especially in children because they are still growing we went to an ENT ear,nose,throat doctor

 

[lisae]

I have 'mild' sleep apnea (stopped breathing 12 times per hour, the 'normal' person can have up to 5 apneas per hour.)

C-pap did wonders for my memory issues, my lifetime of waking up crabby (OK, vicious), suddenly I'm waking up refreshed! witzend, your husband should push the sleep doctor, if he thinks he could benefit they might bend or try another sleep study....

I'm going to investigate sleep apnea for my difficult child, psychiatrist's NP said it can't hurt and might be an answer! difficult child also a premie twin but not really early.