Tired 3.5 year old - large tonsils and/or adenoids the cause??

[tiredmumma]

Hi all

Our daughter will be 4 in June and starts school in September. We were recently told by our GP (when we thought she had tonsillitis for the third time in six months) that her tonsils are large, but that's not an issue.

Since then I have looked into this more myself. After four visits to the same GP who dismissed my belief she had a tongue tie as a baby - only for a loccum to agree with me and the hospital surgeon to state that she had a severe tongue tie, I never walk away without hours of my own research on these things!

Anyway, I read that large tonsils can cause sleep apnea. I honestly can't remember the last time she slept through without stirring and crying out all through the night. It starts not long after she falls asleep and continues until morning. Sometimes she goes right back to sleep and sometimes we have to go in to calm her. She never remembers why she woke up all she says is she wants to be asleep. She is a loud sleeper and my BIL commented on it at Christmas. She didn't have a cold at the time - she just sleeps like she's bunged up.

A few nights ago I filmed her over a few hours, for a minute at a time. In that minute she would pause her breathing at least once. This really scared me and kept me awake, listening to her do it on the monitor.

Other signs are that she is always tired, doesn't want to wake up or get out of bed in the morning (bed at 7 and up between 6.45 and 7 in the week for work) she has been napping again each day, for over an hour and we have to wake her and if we go anywhere in the car she is asleep in minutes. She is tired and grumpy all day. She has bursts of energy when she is our amazing girl again, funny and full of excitement. But she quickly returns to wanting to sit and do nothing.

She often has bags under her eyes and she can be pale. She goes to nursery for three hours a day and comes out nackered. She can't even manage the 5 minute school walk there and back each day without wanting to be carried. She does dancing class for 45 minutes on a Saturday morning. She loves it but will happily do nothing else for hours after.

She has been a thumb sucker since the minute she was born and this has increased since her first lot of tonsillitis in July to being not just around nap or bedtime to ALL the time.

She eats well and isn't all that fussy and she drinks plenty in the day so I don't think the energy is diet related.

I took her to the GP with my concerns (her tonsils score a 3 on the size chart - where 4 is them touching) and the above issues. He told me it's likely her adenoids but for most kids they shrink down by age 6. I spent 10 minutes in there showing videos of her sleeping (mouth open, everytime) and he eventually agreed to refer her to ENT at the local hospital.

He made me feel like a paranoid mother but I was right before and I don't want her to wait 2.5 years for a decent night's sleep! Has anyone else experienced the same and can tell me any success stories?

P.S we had a cancer scare with her in April due to MASSIVE glands in her neck and a x-Ray showing swollen lymph nods in her chest. So I know I am very sensitive about her glands, which have been swollen for weeks now.

 

[AngelUK]

I have no success stories about this as such but I do wholly agree with you for pushing this issue.
My Sebastian also snores SO loudly and because he was losing weight and was less energetic than my other twin, I also took him to the GP. She referred us to the paed at the hospital. He asked me exactly this, did he stop breathing at night, does he wake often, is his sleep affected in any way. Since I could answer no to all this, he said that his large adenoids were not a concern and neither was his slightly deviated septum (I also was under the impression that he cannot breathe through his nose but he can, just is in the habit of mouth breathing.). The paed told me that he would grow into his adenoids and taking them out is not advisable unless he had constant issues with them.
So to me it sounds like your daughter has a lot of the issues my boy didn't have and you are definitely on the right track getting this checked. Good luck, I hope they can help your girl!

 

[tiredmumma]

Thank you SO much for your reply! It's good to have support. Hopefully we'll have a doctor with the same approach who will at least investigate and act rather than tell us to get on with it.

 

[DCS]

My ds will be 6 in march. He has suffered with regular tonsilitis ( prescribed antibiotics about 5 times in 12 months i think it was for tonsilitis and a few othertimes for non tonsil related issues) his tonsils are always touching. They kept fobbing me off with " oh he is fine" but he isnt. He is always exhausted, even after 12 hours sleep at night. He barely eats ( was seeing a dietition but was discharged from their care after he put on a few kg in a year) he snores, coughs all night and mist of the day ( was prescribed an inhaler because they thought it was asthma but the inhaler didnt work but they insisted we used it. Evenultually i refused because it wasnt doing anything for him). Last year, he was sick in his sleep twice. The first time, dd had a night terror, so i went up to sort her out, seconds after being up there ( they share a room) he is being sick whilst fast asleep laying on his back, i shouted for oh to come up while i somehow flipped him onto his side and then front. A few weeks later we heard him making similar sounds over the monitor, went upto check on him instantly, only yo find him laying on his back covered in sick. This for me was the final straw. Luckily when i went back to the gp we saw a fab dr, who suggested i take him in every single month to see him, just so he could note down before he made a referal. Spoke to the school nurse because school was worried about his attendance, she insisted we saw the gp again and asked him to refer ds imediately. We did, and he did. A couple weeks later we daw the ent. Funnily enough, his tonsils had shrunk, i gigured they would dismiss there was an issue. However, as soon as the dr saw him he said his tonsils are massive. He also pointed out that he was surprised that ds hadnt stopped breathing in his sleep. At which point it clicked for both me and oh that he had infact paused his breathing.

So now we are waiting for an appintmwnt to have them removed.

If you havnt already seen the ent, i would suggest booking an appointment with the gp to get a record printed of your Los problems that have alreafy been logged, number of times they have been given antibiotics since the issues started. The ent was amazing. And so reasuring. Good luck, and sorry for the essay.

 

[tiredmumma]

Just an update. We had our referral to the hospital and our appointment. They graded her tonsils as a 3-4 (4 being the highest) and could see her adenoids with a light rather than the camera. They said both need to come out and it will change her life.

While I am nervous for the operation and recovery I'm so pleased for her that it could all change for the better and she'll be happier. The operation is in 10 days - I'll update with (hopefully) a success story after that!

 

[AngelUK]

I am glad you got some answers and I hope all will go well and things will improve for her dramatically!

 

[apple_20]

Thank you for updating this.

My son has a similar thing large tonsils but not tonsillitis. He definitely stops breathing when he sleeps but only really when he has a virus as far as I can tell. He also has asthma and allergies. The gp always says he's fine even though he stops breathing, they will shrink etc. They say he would need to have tonsillitis 7 times in a year to even consider removing them.

It's good to know that they will remove large tonsils if needed. I'll be keeping an eye on his.

Good luck with everything

 

[Button#]

My friend and her kids had the same and she and both kids have had them removed and it's made a huge difference to their sleep.

 

[tiredmumma]

Another update

She had both our yesterday. She's not herself yet and not eating a drinking properly but she is currently sleeping and breathing through her NOSE!

 

[AngelUK]

Aw wow great that she can now breathe through her nose. I hope she will recover really quickly! to you mummy, it must have been an anxious stressful time!