Spikes on Son's Report

His episodes are sharp jerking motions through his upper body, chest and shoulders mainly. Sometimes he grinds his teeth very loudly or chews off and on during the episode. My son is at the highest dose of his current seizure medication and there are not any more pharmaceutical options left for him. So, the neurologist wants to rule out the possibility that he is not seizing, but gasping for breath.

He was diagnosed at 5 with Epilepsy and around that time he was also diagnosed with Left Ventricular Non Compaction. He did wear a Holter Monitor for a few months back then, but I know things change as kids grow. Maybe it's time for another Holter Monitor.

You might also, as chunkyfrog said, get him on the cancellation list at the sleep lab. All decent labs keep a cancellation list because they get frequent cancellations and they like to fill the slots to absorb the costs of the lab.

Typically, you might get a call at 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. saying, "A patient just called and cancelled. Can you be here at 7:00?"

Tell them, "No, but we can be there at 9:00." Usually they will tell you to come on.

I will definitely do that! Thank you!

The wonderful thing about a pulse oximeter is that it measures both O2 saturation and heart rate.

Usually events will effect both O2 and heart rate. If you see random spikes on either channel they are most likely artifacts. With that said the heart can go wild during an electrical disturbance and O2 levels can stay reasonably constant. However when O2 levels fall the heart picks up the pace to try to maintain O2 levels.

Your cardiologist would be interested in both your heart rate data and your O2 data and how they are interacting with each other. In anticipation of your next visit with the doctor, print out summary reports over several nights of monitoring along with zooming in on details that you have concerns about. A "loving, caring," cardiologist (or doctor) that has your sons best interests in mind will spend a little time helping you understand what you are seeing. Remember you are just monitoring. It is the doctors job to look at the data and go from there.

Thank you all for responding. You've all given me very good advice. I'm going to get him onto the wait list for his sleep study and I'll bring the printouts with me to his cardiologist. I really appreciate all of the help you have given me!!!