Sleep Study Results Are In...

Remember the sleep study that I had done for Salamander approximately 3 weeks ago? Result are in, pediatrician just called me.

I am going to relay the highlights, which are based of my interpretation of the verbal conversation. I will be getting a copy of the actual full report in the mail...

Good news - EEG is normal. So doesn't look like there is any seizure type stuff going on during sleep.

Less good news (but even there is somewhat of a silver lining) - Salamander does have some type of obstructive/apnea like stuff going on. His breathing rate drops markedly several times during the night. The good news is that his Oxygen saturation rates and cardiac rate were not significantly affected by these episodes (so at least he's not oxygen deprived..). But the not so good news is that his body does become restless during these episodes (autonomous nerve system kicking in, I guess) to trigger a shift in position to try and deal with whatever obstruction is going on, and then the breathing rate goes up again..

So while technically we are not dealing with full blown apnea, oxygen starvation and all of that fun stuff, there is enough "pulmonary obstruction" type stuff going on that the quality of the rest he is getting is impacted.

So one recommendation for now is encourage to Salamander to sleep on his side (he is MOST definitely a backsleeper, so that'll require a bit of work). Next recommendation is to see a pediatric ENT to see if there are any anatomical structural things going on that we can do something about .

For background, Salamander saw an ENT when he was 15 months old and rolling from one ear infection to upper respiratory infection to pneumonia in a never ending stream. His tonsils at that point were definitely enlarged (well duh, his immune system was SHOT), but considering his young age and the risks and complications associated with anesthesia and surgery, we decided upon the 'let's wait and see' approach. He continued to struggle with enlarged tonsils and adenoids UNTIL I made the various dietary changes and we did a ton of immune system work. But it is not inconceivable that there are some structural/remaining issues, so yes, I will make an appointment with one of the pediatric ENTs the pedi recommended and we'll see what that person has to say.

Pedi also mentioned nasal strips - I am assuming she was talking about the 'breath rite' kinda stuff (it's a strip you place over the nasal bridge - it helps keep the nasal cavaties more open..). So I'll look into that too.

So overall, there appear to be no MAJOR issues (although I do want to read the report carefully myself..), but there is stuff going on that needs addressing/further exploration. I am going to wait with scheduling an appointment with the pedi ENT until I actually have the report (makes the scheduling conversation so much easier if I have an actual diagnostic term to throw around). In the mean time I'll work with Salamander on getting him to sleep on his side and I'll get some of the nasal strips to try...

Stay tuned..

(funny, both office nurse and pedi felt bad that the sleep study wasn't completely 'clean'... I'll be honest, a completely clean study would have been much worse for Salamander and me, as that would have meant that we were still no closer to figuring out why he is so exhausted..)