sleep apnoea-is it worth op to remove adenoids and tonsils?

[princessllama]

ds is almost 4 and is having snorty breaks in breathing on average 1-3xevery 5minutes with his breathing at night. his tonsils are grade 3(large) apparently. the consultant says this means his adenoids will be large too. he is advising adenoids and tonsilectomy op but says he can't guarantee this will sort the problem. he has 11 hours sleep a night and wakes looking like he hasn't slept in days. he lies down on the floor at random moments saying he's tired(even the pavement on occasion). he has no stamina and gets ill all the time. what if we do the op and he is still knackered but with even less immune system to cope. dh is much more cautious than me so i feel like the weight of the decision is on my shoulders (and the blame if it doesn't help). anyone have any experience -good or bad on this one?

wow! did she do the snorty breathing? am worried that all the dr goes on is my description of ds's breathing at night, what if i am getting it wrong?

Agree with above.

We had snorty breathing and ridiculous sweating because he was working so hard to breathe. DS had them out when he was just 3 and, after the 2 week recovery hell, it was hugely much better! It is a big decision to make and super scary but I would say go for it - with DS it was definitely affecting concentration/mood/development as he was just so bloody un-rested all the time.

Good luck!

my ds1 had this, he sounded like darth vader in his sleep! and he had his out and his sleeping has been much better since the op, he hasnt had any problesm with being ill, infact i cant remember the last time he was ill!

Thankyou very reassuring. Makes me more convinced it's the right thing to do. I'm hoping it might improve his limited range of foods he's willing to eat- he won't eat anything mushy and has hysterics if ask him to try

Oh my god do it, it made a massive difference to my DS1. He's still a picky eater though - sorry!

Another vote for doing it, DD had it done at 3yo and the sleep apnea stopped straight away. She still snores like a navvy though.

It's actually quite unusual to have tonsils and adenoids removed now, so I'd say if your consultant is recommending it then it it really is worth considering it. If your ds is still not very well afterward then you know you need to look further for answers, but poor sleeping patterns really do wipe children out. My niece had hers removed even though for her it was quite a high risk operation (she had sickle cell) and it did make a big difference (not just for her to be honest as her snoring was really quite incredibly noisy!).

My friends dd had this done last month, best thing that they've ever done, her voice has totally changed she has a really posh voice now and is so clear, she doesn't snore at all and will avoid the misery of constant tonsillitis.

Worth it? Yes, yes, yes!

dd2 was not only tired, she was losing weight - struggling to eat solids, and sweating and fighting for breath at night. Truly awful times.

Within weeks of her op she was a different child. If you go ahead (and I would, obviously) he will be tired for a couple of weeks afterwards - its normal, because of the anaesthetic and (for some kids, not all) the sore throat. But this winter, my now just-5 year old has not had a single day off school - sleeps well, eats well, and is full of energy. Whereas aged 2, she looked like a starved spider with black bags under her eyes and was, I honestly believe, beginning to drop behind in her development.

A 4 year old lying on the pavement from exhaustion is not normal. Trust your instincts, and any worries about the op just post here - you'll get lots of support

my son had this op plus gromits 3 yrs ago and the change was amazing for us it was brilliant and if ur consultant recommends it i'd go for it :)

Yes it is probably worth doing everything possible to cure sleep apnoea. Sleep apnoea is associated with accidents due to tiredness, cardio vascular (strokes, haemorrhages) disease and diabetes.

I would get the operations done now as tonsil removal in adults is fairly complicated.

Thank you for all your advice.bit worried that because we have been seeing the consultant on private insurance, what if he only wants to do surgery because he will benefit

We saw ENT specialist privately, as couldn't get appointment for months on NHS and dd was losing weight . Anyway, he gave us the choice of having the op done privately or on NHS - both ways with him, as most surgeons work NHS as well as privately.

Its pretty unlikely a consultant in the UK would need to do anything as dishonest, or extreme, as recommending surgery to a 4 year old who doesn't need it, IMO....but you could always ask him if he has an NHS list and if you could transfer to that?

My daughter had this operation ten days ago.

Beforehand, she had not had a decent night's sleep for six months. She was sleeping from 7-7, but then getting up looking absolutely shattered. She really did look terrible. Her mood and behaviour plummetted to serious degrees of awfulness. It was honestly like a personality transplant. She didn't have really loud snoring, but would gasp and choke in her sleep and be very restless. So, at first we were referred to a sleep clinic and they thought she may be having nightime seizures (because of the movement and personality changes). We were on the waiting list for a sleep study, but I paid to see an ENT consultant privately and he had one look at her tonsils and recommended the operation and put us on his NHS list.

I would say my daughter was in quite alot of pain for about four days afterwards and had medicine on the dot every four hours. She is now sleeping in complete silence and sleeps in the same position all night. The other benefit has been that her speech is amazingly clear now, it is an absolute delight to hear her speak (it was always quite nasally before). She is still looking quite tired when she wakes up though, but I have been reassured by Elibean that this is normal and it will be a few more weeks until i see real benefits there.

I would say go for it. The surgeon said that my daughter's tonsils were moderately big, but that her adenoids were massive and they can only see the size of the adenoids once the child is under GA.

Completely worth it for my 4yo grandaughter. No more apnoea...and she now has the voice of a little sweet girl instead of a cross between Frank Bruno and Willy Carson!