Advice, anyone ever see a little kid with sleep apnea?

Hi guys,
I'm a little freaked out, I have a little 7 year old friend spending the night and her breathing is totaly weird!
She has been taking a med, fluticasone propionate nasal spray, every night for months, maybe even a year… so I just thought she has stuffy nose or allergies.
But her breathing actually woke me up it was so labored. And I was wearing my mask… so usually stuff hasn't been waking me... She sounded like she was gasping then a pause and another gasp... when I watched her breathing I noticed she was really working hard to breathe in, and her chest was moving down, or in, instead of expanding out… I also noticed her throat was expanding like air in a balloon. Her breaths in are kinda long then a short breath out. I tried holding a bottle of vapor rub by her face to see if it was just congestion, but that did not help. I finally moved her so she was on her side not her back, and that hellped a little. She seems to be breathing through her mouth only so if it is only sinus issues it seems like she would not be having such a hard time. Oh also I noticed around her eyes looked purple.
Anyone have any thought on this? Or am I just overthinking this?

No, you are not overthinking this. The child is lucky she spent the night with you and that you are observant. The tricky part is how to approach her parents, as that conversation could easily go south. But in my opinion the well being of the child is priority. Let us know how it goes.

I will,
I was just reading some sites I found when I searched childs chest moving in when breathing, she sounds a lot like what is described…
I also remembered that another friend's little girl was having trouble in school and they noticed she was having isues sleeping, she got a tonsilectomy and that seems to have worked. I'll have to talk to them too, they could offer some knowledge and observations as to what they noticed with their daughter…

simplyme wrote:she got a tonsilectomy and that seems to have worked.

We're actually in the same boat. I've got an 8 year old son with terrible sinuses and bad tonsils. He's always stuffy, uses a nebulizer frequently, on the small side of the growth chart, sleeps very poorly, and even has some minor speech issues. His tonsils are coming out on Tuesday.

Our older daughter had hers out about a year ago when she was 12. She's no longer the shortest in the class, no more asthma or inhalers, and is doing much better overall. It may be as simple as that.

Children can definitely have sleep apnea or other sleep/breathing disorders. My sleep doc helped the local children's hospital set up their pediatric sleep clinic. He told me children often have atypical symptoms such as behavior or school difficulties which are helped tremendously by starting CPAP.

Two important points:

• FIrst line treatment for OSA in children is T&A, not CPAP; and
• Abnormal values in children are significantly lower than adults. At OAI of ~3.0, they go to surgery. However,
• Some folks believe any (as in like "one") obstructive apnea is of concern.

Poor thing. It sounds bad enough that if her parents don't take her to be treated - it would be neglect. I hope they get right on top of it and don't go into insta-denial.

simplyme wrote:Hi guys,
when I watched her breathing I noticed she was really working hard to breathe in, and her chest was moving down, or in, instead of expanding out… I also noticed her throat was expanding like air in a balloon. Her breaths in are kinda long then a short breath out.

This is exactly what I saw, when I was doing massage, on people who had sleep apnea. Most people fell asleep under my hands and I had at least 2 clients who had diagnosed sleep apnea, a 3rd scared me enough that way to tell him to go and see a doctor (he never came back...).

Update: I talked with the friends who had the little girl who got her tonsils out… they said she was struggling to breathe at night, and her chest would suck in when inhaling too. I looked it up and it's because the ribs on kids are flexible and the the stomach muscles try to pull air in causing the lungs to pull down and in instead off expanding. So they found that the tonsils and adnoids were obstructing some of the airway, and adding in things like dry air, alergies and colds to reduced muscle tone at night and their daughter was suffering from enough oxygen deprivation that she was growing less, falling behind in school, and having behavioral issues! She did actually have sleep apnea! And they have to keep an eye on things in the future if symptoms begin again. Sounds like what jdr999 was describing…

I let my little guests mom know about the gasping and chest sucking in thing and she is going to try to get in touch with the other family and is planning a call to the doctors asap! She said that what I described sounded worse than she had noticed and not like the asma or alergies they had been suspecting. My little friend has also been seeming very tired out this winter and having a lot of breakdowns as children who are extremely tired would, but that she gets 8 to 10 hours sleep… so her parent's have been trying to figure all that out… this gives them some more info to go to the doctors with, and say look figure this out!

I wonder if the combo of sleeping in a house with dryer air and playing with my parents dog earlyer contributed to the gasping… or if just happened that I woke up to notice it…

Hopefully she will get some more help than the nose spray and alergies meds if she needs it…
I'll keep you all posted when I hear more. Thanks for the coments and suggestions.
And thanks for the middle of the night pep talks… didn't sleep too soundly after the initial concern… kept waking to listen to my little friend breathing. But we made it!

Hi all just an update, her mom got her to the doctors and they said they want her to see an ear nose and throat specialist. Doc said that they don't want to do surgery unless absolutely nessecary, and that hopefully her tonsils and adnoids will reduce in size (they were inflamed) with a new alergie med. And possibly an antibiotic. Her parents said that a humidifyer seems to help her some too.
I guess I have to clean my place from top to bottom and get rid of every posible iritant and run a humidifyer next time she comes over. I am a terrible housekeeper! Plus I live in a 100 year old house with forced air heat that seems like it was installed a hundred years ago, major dust producer!

simplyme wrote:Hi all just an update, her mom got her to the doctors and they said they want her to see an ear nose and throat specialist. Doc said that they don't want to do surgery unless absolutely nessecary.

If it was truly due to a medication interaction she should wait it out.

But I am not at all fond of my tonsils - they're swollen, restrictive, and just plain annoying. But the idea of surgery at 43 is even less appealing though. I really wish mine were removed when I was a kid..

My 8 year old had his surgery yesterday morning. All is well so far - eating a little, drinking, taking his meds, etc. Thank god! A little coughing as his lifetime stuffy head is finally able to start draining again..

My oldest had hers out at 12 and flat out refused to take the pain medicine. She's tough and made up her mind to tough it out without pain killers and she did.. Again, no more inhalers or asthma, no sinus infections, no coughing, no nebulizer. She's happier, even more athletic (always was a jock), and finally starting shooting up in height.

What seems to be making a difference in that we're using the nebulizer off and on with just saline to make sure he doesn't wake up with a dry scratchy throat in the morning.

I wonder if they should monitor her with a recording oximeter for the time being...

mollete wrote:FIrst line treatment for OSA in children is T&A,

T&A????

You mean like show them an "adult" movie?

But I am not at all fond of my tonsils - they're swollen, restrictive, and just plain annoying. But the idea of surgery at 43 is even less appealing though. I really wish mine were removed when I was a kid..

Mine too! I have always had bad sore throats and swolen tonsils any time I get sick.

My 8 year old had his surgery yesterday morning. All is well so far - eating a little, drinking, taking his meds, etc. Thank god! A little coughing as his lifetime stuffy head is finally able to start draining again..

Glad his surgery went well. Can't imagine not taking the pain meds! Your little girl is way tougher than me. Got my wisdom teeth out few years ago, and I took every single one of my pain meds they gave me!

archangle wrote:

mollete wrote:FIrst line treatment for OSA in children is T&A,

T&A????

You mean like show them an "adult" movie?

Tonsilectomy & Adenoidectomy