For Mums Or Dad who's Child Suffer From Obstructive Sleep Apnea?? Or Had An Adenotonsillectomy???
I was just wondering if your child was constantly exhausted??
My eldest 2yo boy, has had OSA since he was born, but it has recently gotten really bad. He is constantly grumpy and tired. He is in bed at 7pm and wakes as much as every 20 minutes. He is having his tonsils and adenoids out next month.
How did you cope???
I am physically and mentally drain most days, as I over worry about him stopping breathing. I know the doctor have all told me this is normal, but he is my baby (and a real mummies boy) and I hate seeing it.
How was your child after the adenotonsillectomy??
Did he/she recover well???
Any advice would be great!!! My man & I would appreciate it!!
Thanks xxxx
Most kids do very well after having their tonsils removed and in many cases this immediately resolves the OSA. I know it's scary and very tiring. Many adults can't cope with this and to have a child who does not understand and is just learning to express himself is extremely difficult.
Personally, I'd want the surgery done ASAP. Sooner the better. I'm assuming the've done sleep studies on him and/or apnea monitor as well as oxygen saturation monitoring to make sure he's getting enough O2 to his brain during these episodes.
Insomnia or the inability to sleep at night is an affliction that 40 million Americans suffer from to at least some degree. For some it may be just recently the occasional bad night. For others it is a ongoing condition which leaves them sleep deprived, tired and depressed on a daily basis. When insomnia is affecting your daily life adversely it is a serious problem which needs to be addressed, and you should seek medical help.
Your doctor is in a much better position than anyone else to determine what the problem is. Common causes of insomnia are hormonal changes which can occur at different ages, anxiety, depression, improper diet and side effects of medications to name only a few. Apart from this there is growing evidence that insomnia is a condition unto itself in some people.
In other words it is not a result of some other condition. Numerous ways to combat insomnia have been documented and many of them will work for certain people. There is no one recipe for sleep that works for everyone unfortunately. Insomnia in some people is the result of improper diet, dehydration and lack of exercise. Your diet should include foods which are high in calcium and magnesium and you should drink plenty of water.
Do not eat a large meal less than 3 hours before bedtime. Digesting the meal takes several hours and can keep you awake. Include some proteins in your meal a few hours before going to sleep. This will keep your blood sugar level more stable and avoids low blood sugar levels which can keep you awake. Cut caffeine from your diet completely if possible. Caffeine is a stimulant which works for hours after consumption and gives some people "the jitters" and sleepless nights.
Caffeine is also present in some medications, such as Excedrin, which should not be taken at night. Look at the label on any medication to see if caffeine is an ingredient. The old sleep remedies such as chamomile tea, valerian or hot milk have proven sleep inducing properties. They are mild remedies which most people can take, and they do work. Don,t consume a lot of alcohol for several hours before bedtime. It may send you off to sleep briefly but there is a rebound effect.
When the effect of the alcohol wears off, it will keep you wide awake in the middle of the night. Learn to relax. Stress is considered by experts to be the biggest problem in causing insomnia. Use any method which works for you, to get relaxation in the evening, before going to bed.
It may be yoga for some people or meditation for others. A good physical workout during the day even for only 15 or 20 minutes gets muscles relaxed and the lungs and heart working harder. Getting naturally tired is a great way to induce good sleep, but do it no less than an hour before bedtime. Otherwise the exercise will stimulate you and prevent sleep for some time. Do your body a favour. Have a good sleep tonight! Download your Cures Insomania eBook now!
Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form of sleep apnea, and is caused by an obstruction within the airways as a person sleeps.
There may be many reasons why a person suffers from Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and here are some of them:
– Narrow Airways: A person may have narrow airways by nature, which although doesn't affect them by day, as the body relaxes during the night, they tend to close up too much causing a person to wake up fighting for breath.
– Inflammation of the airways: A persons airways may become inflamed for many a reason. Smoking, for one, can cause the upper airways to become inflamed, thus narrower. Infections and scar tissue can also narrow the airways.
– Obesity: An obese person isn't simply obese on the outside, but also the inside, and excessive fat in the throat tissues can cause a person breathing problems, particularly during the relaxed sleep period.
When a person suffers from obstructive sleep apnea, what happens is this: Due to the obstruction within the airways, a persons body will continue trying to draw air into the lungs, but will struggle until the brain, in a desperate attempt to re-open a persons airways, breaks a person out of their deep sleep thus tensing up the airways as in the conscious state to allow a person to draw breath. As a person drifts back into deep sleep and the airways relax and obstruct once more, the same thing happens. This may happen repeatedly throughout the night, thus never allowing a person to enter deep sleep for long periods of time.
The result is a person will wake up feeling drowsy and perhaps have a headache from the lack of oxygen. Whilst a person may know the morning they wake whether they have slept well or not according to how they feel, they may be completely unaware they experienced sporadic stoppages in breathing throughout the night, as it all happens in a sleep-like state.
Not only does a person with obstructive sleep apnea have a much higher risk of being involved in daytime accidents due to the inevitable effects of tiredness, but other health issues can develop over the longer term if this disorder isn't treated. Some of the other health issues are:
-Heart failure: Because the lungs are working harder to surmount the obstruction and draw breath, the heart also has to work harder. The result is much stress is placed on the heart which after a long time may result in the heart failing.
-Increased Risk of Strokes / Heart Attacks: As already mentioned, the heart can become damaged which increases the susceptibility to strokes.
-Irregular Heart Beat
-Weakened Immune System: A person needs deep sleep to recharge their system. Without good sleep, the whole body begins to deteriorate, and this includes your immune system. A weaker immune system increases the risk of contracting viral infections and other infections.
-Type 2 Diabetes: Sleep apnea can lead to the onset of Type 2 Diabetes, where the body becomes resistant to insulin, this not allowing glucose to enter parts of the body to be used as energy.
– High Blood Pressure
– Arterial Disease (Hypertension): Due to prolonged high blood pressure, a person may develop arterial disease.
– Increased Carbon Dioxide in the Blood (Hypercapnia)
– Weight Gain
– Sexual Dysfunction
– Other Mental Problems: A person suffering from a lack of sleep is going to feel bad both physically and emotionally, and this can lead to depression, memory impairment, mood swings and more.
About the Author
Detailed information about sleep apnea
is available at http://www.sleep-apnea.org.uk
