Can someone reassure me about enlarged tonsils/adenoids? I'm fretting - I googled and shouldnt have.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

DS always struggled with sleep - he's 2.5. (Very brief history).

He is also prone to nosebleeds - some for no reason, and sometimes because he's jammed something up his nose.

He's also always - since as far back as I can remember, had an unusual smell from his nose/mouth (I have an ultra sensitive sense of smell - most people cant smell it).

Anyway, just mucking about this evening with a torch and we were looking down each others ears and throats.

DP looked down DS's throat and boaked! DS has HUGE tonsils and a very large lump behind one of his tonsils. They arent red, or dotted with pus. Just very large and the lump around the back of one of them.

I'm now panicking about all sorts and sleep apnoea and stuff.....

Anyone know about this kind of thing?

i thought it was appropriate today.

I have no idea why.

But I won't take it bad.

oh the men on mumsnet thread....

total lost cause

Dehydration can lead to 'bad breath smells' particularly if there is already a potential, ie infected tonsils, it is made worse if the child is a mouth breather..

Try encouraging a slightly increased fluid intake.

Tonsils are strange things, they can become inflamed/enlarged if there is infection, but they themselves can become infected as opposed to enlarged, this is usually when they advocate removing them.

Hope that helps.

thanks NNT.

op-is he very sweaty at night. if so it is because he is having to 'work hard' to get enough air in. my ds finally had adenoids and tonsils out and grommets in. it has been the best thing for him as his sleep was atrocious snorting 2 or 3 times a minute. when they did come out the ent consultant said the tonsils were full of gunge etc. they do try to avoid the surgery though as it is very pianful as it heals and requires them to be away form school for 2 weeks.

yes....he's VERY sweaty at night. He even has a ceiling fan in his room but it doesnt really help.......hmmmmmmm

VVVQV/Saint Jude - just logged on for your update. Forgive me for saying this but it doesn't sound as though you're altogether convinced by your GP's explanation!

The sweating thing is definitely something DD suffers terribly from, as is the mouth-breathing and as a consequence a terrible night-time cough (she breathes through her mouth so her throat gets really dry). One other symptom that's been mentioned to me, particularly with regard to the apnoea is that she doesn't seem to sleep as long as other kids at night but if she has an afternoon nap, she can sleep for three/four hours if I let her. I've limited her to an hour but it's like trying to wake the dead and she's awfully grumpy for the rest of the day.

Does sound like you're going to keep an eye on things. Do you have a monitor? DS probably seems too old for one but it's a good way of gauging whether or not you feel the apnoea is an issue. The consultant advised me to keep a log for my own purposes and I'm shocked at how much she does this stop start breathing and waking up coughing - she settles herself a lot of the time so if I was just gauging it on how many times I have to get up to her (probably about once every hour on a bad night) I'd be missing a lot of it. Now that it's all written down in a geeky PFB log, I don't feel quite so guilty about agreeing to the operation!

Anyway, am blabbering on again Hope you feel better and not so worried about things. My ear syringing was great btw - highly recommend the procedure (and this coming from someone who freaks out at having her ears touched). I might even say it was pleasurable in a weird kind of way

Thanks CNC

DS slept on me this afternoon

This also meant that I fell asleep so I didnt really register his breathing

I'd love to have my ears syringed .....