Children and Sleep Disordered Breathing Surgery not the cure

[Pad A Cheek]

In my daily research I ran across this article about Adenotonsillectomy in Children.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/571 ... c=103998EZ

Many pediatrictians encourage parents to have their children undergo this surgery in an attempt to stop their apneas.

This article shows the follow-up often shows that the surgery did not prevent the return of the Sleep Disordered Breathing. This study only used a group of 40 children, so the statistical significance of that may be questionable. This is one of the very few follow-up studies I have seen regarding this surgery on children.
I just want any parents out there to have as much information as possible before making decisions for their children.

Karen

[sharon1965]

when my daughter had her adenoids out it was in conjunction with having tubes in her ears; the tonsils came out a couple of years later, and she had tubes in again; though she was never diagnosed with SDB she snored like a power drill from the age of 3, and her tonsils were enormous; i elected for the surgeries on the advice of the ENT who thought it might help with her ear problems, since everything was so big, and her mouth, jaw and airway so small; the snoring did stop, but she continued to have problems with her ears...after the dr. insisted on putting tubes in a 3rd time, i decided to try a different approach all together and began taking her for chiropractic treatment; after 9 years of abnormal audiology exams, she finally tested normal after 1 year of chiro....; as far as the spatial problems with her mouth and jaw, she has also been in orthodontic care since she was just 8 years old

so although none of this has been done in response to SDB, once i was dx'd with OSA, i did some reading and found that most experts believed that removing the tonsils and adenoids in children might help avoid the problem as an adult, and i hoped that this would be true in her case

thanks for the link, pada...though i have been keeping an eye on her, i'll be careful not to become complacent about my daughter

[sleepycarol]

I have a 2 year old granddaughter (turned 2 on March 7, 2008) that snores like you wouldn't believe. You can hear her in the other room snoring!!

Due to severe ear infections and enlarged tonsils they are talking about removing the tonsils (she already has tubes in her ears).

I have talked with my daughter about being concerned about the sleep apnea and of course get the rolled eyes and the lecture of I worry too much and need to let it rest!! I don't think daughter understands the long term effects of sleep apnea and blames all of my problems on my being overweight.

I worry about my granddaughter since she is snoring so loud at only 2.

[sharon1965]

I have a 2 year old granddaughter (turned 2 on March 7, 2008) that snores like you wouldn't believe. You can hear her in the other room snoring!!

I worry about my granddaughter since she is snoring so loud at only 2.

sleepycarol
i hear ya
fyi, from everything i've read, it's just not normal for a child under the age of 10 to snore
i hope your daughter comes around

[sleepycarol]

Being the good mother and grandma that I am -- I will keep talking. I think I am going to be subtle and show them my reports and stuff so maybe can entice her with some of the knowledge I have gained instead of nagging!!

Keep your fingers crossed!!

[thedean]

Surgery for Adenotonsillectomy in Children is the first line of defense. The link below is for a dentist who has done extensive studies on shape of mouth. His primary focus is on brest feeding to achive a correct shape but orthodontic work after age 7-8 to correct a high narrow hard palet is a second round approach. Snoring is never NORMAL so keep up the fight to influence daughter to not take this lightly!!



http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/summary.htm click on link to
Sleep Apnea from an Anatomical, Anthropologic and Developmental Perspective

[Daffney_Gillfin]

This article shows the follow-up often shows that the surgery did not prevent the return of the Sleep Disordered Breathing.

I had a bit of deja vu when I read this, as I just ran across this subject in a blog this morning. The subject of the blog was that perhaps food sensitivities/allergies might be causing congestion, and thus causing the SDB.

http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2008/03/24 ... the-night/

It is an interesting concept, and it made me consider giving up dairy for a while to see what happens. I'm one of the cheese freaks they talk about in the article. I wonder if I could make it that long.