Sleep apnea & tonsilectomy necessary for 5 year old? page

[VacillateWildly]

My 5 year old son had enormous tonsils and always has had since birth. He snores and has suspected sleep apnea. His GP wants him to have his tonsils removed asap. I don't, there must be an alternative.

Does anyone have any experience with sleep apneaparticularly with children?

Obviously we'll explore the sleep apnea first, but I want to be prepared with some information when we see the GP.

[Crabbcakes]

My hubby has a c-pap machine for diagnosed sleep apnea, and my daughter has gi-normous tonsils. DD's ENT (pediatric ear-nose-throat doctor) prescribed a sleep study, which we then did.

As it turned out, the tonsils do not cause her problems, but since she is special-needs, the doc was thinking that she might not be getting quality sleep and that could be the cause of her ADD symptoms.

Sleep studies are done on children all the time here - have you done one?? As far as I am aware, that is really the only way to diagnose sleep apnea for sure. Hubby was diagnosed as a result of his sleep study.

[Dragonfly]

Read these articles about sleep & Vitamin D:

http://drgominak.com/sleep

Vitamin D Hormone

[jkr]

Most likely the large tonsils are a signal that something else is going on. Does he suffer from anything else, like ADHD, digestive or elimination problems, eczema, etc.? It's possible that he just has abnormally large tonsils but it's not likely. He might be suffering from a chronic infection.

[VacillateWildly]

Sleep studies are done on children all the time here - have you done one?? As far as I am aware, that is really the only way to diagnose sleep apnea for sure. Hubby was diagnosed as a result of his sleep study.

Thanks Crabbcakes. I will request a sleep study, I'm not having any of his body parts removed without one!

[VacillateWildly]

Read these articles about sleep & Vitamin D:

Sleep

Vitamin D Hormone

Thank you Dragonfly. I didn't know about the link with Vit D and sleep. He'as actually an excellent sleeper and has been since 8 weeks old, but he does snore. I doubt if he has a vit D defiency, I ensure my children get lots of sun on their skin and only put sunscreen on them after they've had 30 minutes of morning sun each day. They have lovely tans and we live on the beach...but I am going to request a Vit D reading if he needs any other blood tests. I'm not going to subject him to bloods being taken just for that though.

[VacillateWildly]

Most likely the large tonsils are a signal that something else is going on. Does he suffer from anything else, like ADHD, digestive or elimination problems, eczema, etc.? It's possible that he just has abnormally large tonsils but it's not likely. He might be suffering from a chronic infection.

He isn't ill very often and has no other conditions. I had chronic tonsilitis through childhood. He's a real healthy specimen I think. How would I know about a chronic infection? Of what? Do you have any links please?