Sleep Apnea - any temporary remedies whilst waiting for op?

[bananainpjs]

My DS (he’s 3) has enlarged adenoids and tonsils. He’s on the waiting list to have them removed but that could be months.

He literally cannot breathe through his nose and I worry about him at night so it affects my quality of sleep as well as his.

Can anyone recommend any temporary measure that helped?

Doctor prescribed Nasonex which did nothing so told us to stop using it.
We have a humidifier and use the sterimar nasal spray. Neither seem to have either.

help 😥

*seem to have helped

Have you tried different pillows and sleep positions? Cervical/ neck support pillow and get him sleeping on his side.

Hi bananainpjs

We are in a similar situation.
Got a urgent ent referral on 19th April. Called a few days ago and a 9 week wait was quoted.

Feeling very unhopeful for a quick resolution.

Please if you can can to tell me the specifics about the appointments you've had?

My LO sometimes reduses to open her mouth for the doctor 😱 so I'm freaking out about a fruitless hospital app.

Do they use a camera? Mention a sleep study? Please tell me more.

I don't have the words to express the distress I feel watching her go through this and she now is unable to have the same energy for things and dozed off now at the drop of the hat. It's heart breaking 💔

Hello Victoria,

Have you had your ENT appointment? The ENT doctor as soon as he saw him, he said he’s a mouth breather. I showed the sleep apnea videos I took to the GP too which made it a urgent referall. We’ve only just got our operation appointment too which is in June after the initial GPappointment in January and ENT appointment in March.

Is your operation booked?

No we have not yet had it. Just told a 9 week wait. So should be around middle of June to see the hospital ENT team for the first time.

Dunno how long it will be to have an operation.

Does your LO struggle every night?

Yes. He stops starts a lot and can’t breathe through his nose.
is yours an urgent referral?
our was but I still didn’t hear anything for 3 weeks, then I contacted PALS and miraculously got my appointment booked, don’t know if it was a coincidental. I think ours was 8/9 weeks too from initial GP appointment.

the ENT said the wait for an operation was months not years due to his sleep apnea. I don’t know how busy your hospital is?

we only got our operation booked because we contacted the ENT department to ask if our DS could fly. The ENT secretary rang me to say he could fly, and on the whim I asked what the waiting time was for his operation. She said they weren’t urgent to book it in for him, I challenged her and said his was an urgent referral. She said that was not on his notes and she booked his operation on the phone. If that wouldn’t not have happened, I don’t know how long we would be waiting for….

take video evidence, challenge the gp, keep trying. The private ENT consultant we saw before the NHS one said, they can’t die from sleep apnea so it made me abit more calm.