Son Snoring Update (asthma vs pneumonia, chronic sinusitits, etc, etc)

[nessz79]

For those that read my thread on son snoring, this is our grand update!

We took DS3 to the ENT specialist yesterday. Kind of an "out there" man but
seemed extremely knowledgeable and efficient. He started out asking us
questions and then looking at DS's ears, nose, throat. Ears, fine. Nose,
a little drippy on one side but not extremely. Tonsils- humongous! Said
that they were a level 4 +, which is the biggest size there is pretty much.
Said they are nearly touching and so he has a pretty small airway. He says
that he will need to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. I believe they
do both at the same time as a general practice.

Next he checked his breathing/chest. Said that his lungs greatly concerned
him. He said there was all kinds of squeaking and noise in there. He was
surprised that no doctor had ever heard it before. He thinks that he may
have asthma. To be safe he wants to him to have a chest x-ray to rule out
pneumonia. He says there's a chance that he could have walking pneumonia,
where you don't even have any outward symptoms. If he has asthma, nothing will show up on the x-ray (so I'm not sure how he would diagnose asthma exactly).

He says that he thinks DS has chronic sinusitis, probably due to his
enlarged tonsils and probably-enlarged-adenoids. We get to have a CT scan
to check on that- yipee. He has chronic tonsillitis. Dr. said that the
average preschooler has about 10 colds a year so it's probable that every
time Sam gets a cold, it turns into acute tonsillitis and acute sinusitis
(which may explain the crazy cough he gets every time with a cold).

He may possibly have allergies...no real way to know except to have his
blood tested (this will probably be done during his surgery).

So *sigh*. Who would have known there would be so much? I'm really
surprised that no doctor has ever seen any of this before. DH thinks
because we've been through so many maybe. At the office we've been going
to, Sam has seen 3 doctors.

The funny thing is that DS is acting just like he always acts! He was more
crazy than usual today as he didn't have a nap, but geez!

We are waiting for them to call us to schedule the chest x-ray and the C/T.
I've been told that these people have worked with small children before and
that they'll talk him through the C/T. I'm honestly not so worried that
he'll be hyper as that he might be very scared. Hopefully they have ways of
handling this.

Thanks for listening! If anyone has been here or has any advice, it's appreciated!

 

[mommytoone]

My DD who is 7 now had a CT when she was 4. They do walk them through it and I was able to hold her hand and talk to her as well during the CT. That seemed to calm her down, also with the X-ray I was able to be with her as well. I think that helped. I hope all is well with your son.

My DD was diagnosed with asthma last Nov, and she has a kind that make her cough and not wheeze, sometimes have a hard time breathing, not very often, but mostly just coughing. The Dr put her on singular and that seemed to help. I also took her to an allergist to find something, and she was not allergic to anything, go figure. Just hang in there, it will be over soon.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I wouldn't worry so much about the CT or X-Rays. My DS had a CT when he was 2 or 3. It was fine. I sat in the room with him. He has had a couple of X-Rays. No big deal there either. I'm glad you got some sort of diagnosis. Just a suggestion from someone who has a son with enlarged tonsils and adnoids- take your son to an allergist. You might be able to relieve him of his symptoms with something as simple as his diet. Sounds hokey but it worked for us. We were even scheduled for a sleep study because of suspected sleep apnea. Thankfully since we changed his diet he is 100% better. Even the ENT siad it was the best thing we could have done for him. Either way- I hope your son feels better. It is so hard when they feel like poop. It breaks our heart.

 

[juliana_sd]

We're kind of going through something similar. DS has always always been congested and runny nosed. He drooled till he was 3 and still does if he doesn't remember to control it. He has huge tonsils and drs always said that it wasn't a problem.

A month ago, the dentist told me to take him to get evaluated for allergies because his mouth breathing was causing his jaw to not grow properly!! I took him in, and the dr asked me a bunch of questions and said he thinks his problems are caused enlarged adenoids and tonsils.

He put him on a nasal steroid to try and shrink the adenoids... it did help his breathing but he started waking MORE at night, oddly enough, and was less attentive at school (not sure if due to less sleep or the meds). I stopped the steroid while we were on vacation this past week to see what happened with his breathing (easy since we were sleeping in the same room) and it's back to snoring now.

Next step is the ENT and it's very likely the T&A will be coming out. The ped mentioned x-ray to check adenoids, that seems less scary (and also less accurate) than a CT. I am just mad that no one ever even suggested that the tonsils could be a problem!!

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

I'd suggest working with your son now on the x-ray and CT scan. The CT scanners look kinda like a BIG donut that they put your through the middle and they make a noise. You need to be pretty still for them (from what I recall). The X-ray will require him either stand or lay (not sure which) VERY STILL for just a little while...but if he isn't still enough, they may have to papose him (essentially it's like swaddling a baby). When they did it to my son (he was around 2 or 3 at the time) it completely freaked him out!

I share this with you not to cause you concern...but I wish I had known in advance so that I could have prevented the papose...it was traumatic and dramatic for us.

Good luck and I'm sure it will all work out fine!

 

[Mkrop]

DS10 was just diagnosised with trigger induced cough varinat asthma, his only asthma syptom is a cough. He has been allergy tested and he is allergic to everything outdoors, this is one of his triggers for asthma, as well as a cold, and he had an episode to wildfire smoke last year when we were in Disney. He does not snore but is a mouth breather, he has enlarge adenoids but he is being treated with Nasonex for that.

GL to all

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I just wanted to add that our ENT said that in only 50% of cases does the removal of the tonsils and adnoids actaully work.

 

[puffkin]

Wow, your sons symptoms sound almost exactly like my sons. It is not surprising though since my DH has similar issues that just got diagnosed.

My son has been on breathing treatments for a few weeks and they really helped. The doctor told us to stop them and see if his symptoms came back. It has been about a month since the last treatment and he is wheezing and rattling like before. I will be calling the doctor next week. Ahhh.

Good luck!

 

[nessz79]

I'd suggest working with your son now on the x-ray and CT scan. The CT scanners look kinda like a BIG donut that they put your through the middle and they make a noise. You need to be pretty still for them (from what I recall). The X-ray will require him either stand or lay (not sure which) VERY STILL for just a little while...but if he isn't still enough, they may have to papose him (essentially it's like swaddling a baby). When they did it to my son (he was around 2 or 3 at the time) it completely freaked him out!

I share this with you not to cause you concern...but I wish I had known in advance so that I could have prevented the papose...it was traumatic and dramatic for us.

Good luck and I'm sure it will all work out fine!

Thank you! He has had a chest x-ray before and was great (totally separate incident), but I do worry about the CT. I will prepare him, though. It's tomorrow afternoon. Thanks!

His surgery isn't set until late June. I really don't look forward to surgery but the ENT feels that the adenoids/tonsils are causing the sinusitis which may be causing asthma. DH also had his tonsil removed when he was 17...he says he wishes they had done it much sooner as he had recurrent throat infections.

 

[monorailsilver]

Thanks for the update. I read your original post but I don't think I reponded.

My ds (4 1/2) might be going thru a similar situation.

He has food allergies so he goes to the allergist anyways & we were there in March & he asked about sleep apnea since his tonsils were large. Plus he snores.

We have an appt next week since he has been more boogery lately (thanks to the pollen) & still has the sleep apnea so I am anxious to see what the dry Dr. says.

 

[Sonoma]

Thanks for the update. It’s good to finally have some answers and hopefully some solutions that will alleviate some of his discomfort. As parents, we feel so helpless when there is anything wrong with our children.

Best of luck with the x-rays and CT scan.

 

[holly7347]

I remember your original post

That is what they said about my DD's tonsils - they were nearly touching in the middle. She did have her tonsils and adnoids removed at the same time. The first 24 after the surgery were a bit rough because she didn't like the groggy drugged up feeling. But she had the surgery Friday morning, left the hospital Saturday morning (because of her young age 2 1/4 she had to spend the night), and Sunday afternoon we went swimming. She isn't showing any signs of allergies yet but I have pretty bad allergies. I got weekly shots for the longest time and they were so wonderful. I'm sure at that age it isn't any fun to get shots. But I had always gotten 2-3 sinus infections per year which meant antiobiotics which meant yeast infections. I almost never got any more sinus infections after I started the allergy shots.

Good luck with the other upcoming tests.

 

[HeatherN]

Wow, sorrt to hear your little one has been going through so much. My nine year old has the T&A surgery when she was five. Then we went on the have FESS(functional endoscopic sinus surgery) at age seven.Last year at age eight she started on CPAP for sleep apnea. The whole situation i not fun but I think you will find after the T&A surgery he will feel a whole lot better.

 

[CHEK]

My eldest DD who's 9, constantly has a runny nose!, we can't go anywhere without a pack of tissues and when she sneezes bless her we all jump to get her a tissue!, she is sooo congested and constantly snores and sleeps with her mouth wide open......She also has Asthma, hayfever which she's suffering with right now what with all the grasses being cut at the moment especially around school, she's allergic to cats, dogs and horses, grass pollen, nuts and kiwi although she's just grown out of her egg allergy . So it's like a military operation in our house every morning with inhalers, nasal spray and antihistamines . Although we have been told by and ENT Dr that her Adenoids are fine

 

[nessz79]

Thanks everyone for your responses! It's nice to know how others' experiences have been!

Pixie Dust For Me- thanks soooooooooo much for the idea on preparing him ahead of time for the CT. Even though I had never seen a CT before, I told him he would be getting special pictures taken in the "big donut" as you suggested. He did really awesome and to him it was like a fun game. Your suggestion was so helpful- thank you!

I hope everyone who has the ongoing medical problems with their children are able to find solutions and rest! We just started and I'm exhausted. I just can't stand so much stuff going on at once. I get stressed. So once again, thanks to everyone!