Tonsilectomy

[anirush]

My twelve-year-old grandson has been diagnosed with sleep apnea. The neurologist and ENT are recommending a tonsilectomy/Adnoidecytomy. This is my child who's more unstable in the first place. They're saying what a major surgery this is.

Has anyone's child had this done? Did it help with behavior? And how did you survive the recovery period.

[Dagamundo]

Yes. Our son had it done when he was six. He also has ADHD, but was suffering from lack of sleep. His behavior isn't 100% better, but we could see a MAJOR difference in about a month, just from him getting the sleep he needed. He was diagnosed with adenoid fasces (I could be butchering the spelling of that), and had not slept well, unless I held him constantly, since he was born. His tonsils and adenoids had caused breathing issues and made it nearly impossible for me to breast feed him...this was never caught by a pediatrician, or his primary care doctor. We were looking for an ENT specifically because we were told we had to go that route before requesting a sleep study.

[Dagamundo]

Sorry, had to cut that short because client came. Recovery was dreadful. We had lots of milk shakes, smoothies, soft food, jello...my son refused the strong pain meds they gave him because it tasted so bad. We did Tylenol and Ibuprofen and it helped some, but mainly time healed things and pain is forgotten with it also... Recovery was awful, but he his behavior improved, school at that time improved (we are now having Separation anxiety and school refusal, however, behavior wise, we are different kid) , he caught up academically with his grade, tested so well he was taken off a reading delay plan, and is no longer aggressive at school at all. Home is still an issue with this, but mostly with his sister and when he is very frustrated, and not in a really bad way.... before he might be so off the wall at school he would throw things, hide under his desk, yell at people. He is not on medication currently and he does none of those things.

[SylvieS]

My son was diagnosed with sleep apnea at age 6 although I knew something was wrong long before that. His sleep was awful. I chose to have the procedure done at a large children’s hospital rather than at our more rural community hospital as I was concerned about complications and wanted to have pediatric specialists involved. It was scary and I hated watching him go through it. He was miserable for 4 days and painful for a week and eating didn’t go back to normal for a couple of weeks.

But it was worth it and I wish we had done it years earlier. His sleep and mood improved. ADHD is still there but he isn’t having night terrors, was able to give up the pull-ups finally. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

[Cjkchamp]

My ADHD son had his removed at 4 because they were so large and infected he could not breathe at night. His ability to sleep improved but his behavior did not. He really did well through the surgery and recovery. My daughter who is 9 just had hers removed a few months ago. She is not ADHD and did just as well if not better than my son did.

[Onthemove1971]

I have not delt with the exact procedure, but my son has a number of health conditions and has had to be put to sleep for them.

All I can say is just try to get through it and really pamper yourself once over. Spoil you child rotten and just be there during the hard times.

We can now look back and smile about it since we have done it..

Hope all goes well with it.

Take care

[Hidden]

My son had that procedure done.. it was super quick.. and recovery was easy. Only scary part was after the surgery... he was alittle nutty from the anesthesia. Just the fact that he could swallow n breathe better at night AND sleep... was amazing. My big thing was making sure we had a reputable anesthesiologist... n we spoke with them prior to surgery.

Wishing u the best of luck n sending u a hug. P.S> stock up on Italian ices or ice pops ur kid will love ya !