8 year old with constant throat clearing, trouble sleeping?

[mindermummy]

I came on here last year about this same thing....my DS who is now 8 constantly clears his throat...and sometimes pushes his fingers between his eyes. The throat clearing i approached teacher about last year....and they said he does not do in school. I went to docs who gave me an ashma pump, which we tried and no change. In the last year it sometimes got worse at times and then other timnes better....so we have ignored as much as poss. But now almost a year on it has got really bad again!! He has never been a great sleeper, but now we have trouble getting him to relax before sleep and he very often wakes in the night wanting dad to go in bed with him. He also has leg twitching which doc sayes are growing pains. Not sure if these are all linked and what to do now......as it is now driving us all mad with the constant throat clearing (worse when watching tv). Any advice would be great...or similar experiences. :(

Go back to GP and insist on referral to ENT specialist. My nephew had very similar symptoms and was affecting his behaviour as he had sleep apnea.

He had soft palate and tonsils needed removing.

You have to wait a bit for treatment so I would get the referral sorted as soon as you can.

He is already under ent....as he had his grommets done few years ago, we went back last month and they won't discharge him yet for that as still some fluid there, but reluctant to do grommets again yet. I did mention the coughing etc...but he didn't seem concerned....could it all be linked ?!

Could be allegies; maybe not being seen at home if the allergy is triggered by something seasonal near your home. Have a friends DD who does the same and it is allergies.

not seen at school, sorry

Could be psychological rather than physical? DS also went through a phase of constant throat-clearing, but it was definitely a tic rather than a symptom of anything ENT-related. Is your DS generally anxious, or does he have any other issues like ASD, dyspraxia etc etc? It can be associated with thos things, or with Tourette's, but seems to be pretty common in children with no other issues.

In the end I just had to ignore DS's throat-clearing, and it eventually died down, but it does occasionally come back. He has had a few other tic-like behaviours over the years, and I try not to pay too much attention to them, as the more I draw attention to what he is doing, the harder he seems to find it to stop.

i have thought that too exexpat .What is ASD???? He shows no signs of anything else.....but can be very shy. def aqward around people, and sometimes anxious, but not always. He does do some unusual thing pushing his eye sockets occassionally and in the last few days is sniffing alot. He finds it hard to "turn off " at night....but not every night....60/40 . He sometimes when uncomfortable will put his hands over and rub his hair.......but generally not many people notice anything other than his throat clearing. Im going to try a antihistamine for a few weeks to see if that makes any difference before i head to doctors and have made an appointment with teacher to see if she has noticed it....although we only see her 4 weeks ago for parents evening and she never said anything then...so im pesuming its not that transparent at school.......then i presume i see GP again???

ASD is autistic spectrum disorders - things like aspergers and so on. Tics and insomnia are very common with ASD (and the eye socket pressing would also fit) but you'd probably have noticed (or the school would have noticed) by now if he had other signs of that.

Talking to teacher and GP sounds like a good idea, but it may just be one of those things. From what I've read, a lot of boys (more than girls) get these nervous tics at some stage, but they mostly grow out of them.

Thanks for advice I have spoke to teacher today and she said she noticed it a little occasionally, but nothing like what I say I have seen. Will try portion for a few weeks and see if any better then try docs.x

Like adoptmama, I'm thinking this could be an allergy e.g. to dustmites. I wash pillows at 60 degrees every few weeks. If I didn't, one of the symptoms for me would be an itchy throat at night.