My son, Emerson, had his 2nd sleep study last Sunday night.  From what I witnessed prior to the study, Emerson takes a big breath in, lets it out, then doesn't breathe for anywhere from 5-15 seconds.  When I descirbed it to the ENT, he said it sounded like central sleep apnea.  Emerson's first sleep study back in September revealed OSA and hypopnea and consequently, had his enlarged adenoids and tonsils removed in October.  

When I asked the sleep tech the morning after the study what she found (we had already discussed the central sleep apnea issue), she said there was only 1 possible central apnea and everything else looked good.  His ox sat dropped to 86% which was an improvement from 74% with the first study.  We won't get the offical results back until 1/24 though.

I heard Emerson do the deep breath thing twice before the tech came in to hook him up but after I gave him his nightly breathing treatment of Pulmicort (due to reactive airway disease).  I'm hoping it was captured on the video though.  Now that I think about it, I always give him his breathing treatment after he's gone to sleep and that's when I notice him having the pauses in breathing.  I just assumed he did it all night, but after this 2nd study, I'm wondering if maybe the treatment is causing him to do this initially and then he's OK.  I know it sounds kind of crazy, but none of what I'm witnessing and what the tech witnessed is matching up.  

Does anyone have any thoughts?  Thanks!

Hi Sarah,

It sounds like my 7 year old Christina does the same deep breath thing as Emerson.  Chris just had her 3rd sleep test last friday and I know she did this at least twice during the test.   Emerson sounds a lot like Chris, she had been diagnosed with OSA  and possible RLS--(hypopnea  200/night for test #1, 117 hypopnea and 1 apnea with a desat of 84% on test #2--she had her adenoids out just before Thanksgiving.  I don't know if she was doing this breathing thing before her surgery, but I know she is doing it now.

I just called our neurologist and they said they should have the results by the end of the week.  I will post what ever they say about the test.  I don't have the most confidence in the ability of our neurologist to treat apnea, so we will be getting a second opinoin from a pediatric pulmonologist.  I know approximately what time this breathing thing happened and I want her to look at the computer data and tell me what is going on.

Hang in there, you are not crazy, you are a mom and we know when things are not right.....even better than the drs.

Susanne

Thanks for the reply, Susanne.  I read some of your other posts and yes, it sounds like our kids do the same thing.  Emerson is only 17 months old though.  I wish he could just tell me sometimes what he's feeling!!!

I've been thinking about taking him to see a pediatric pulminologist for months now.  His surgeon wanted to see if removing his adenoids/tonsils would improve his breathing.  He also had tracheamalaica which is a floppy trachea.  This is due to his birth defect where his esophagus was attached to his trachea rather than going to his stomach.  Surgery has corrected everything, but a little runny nose turns into chest congestion and sometimes pneumonia very quickly due to his inability to always effectively clear secretions from his airways.  His pediatrician has always prescribed his breathing medications but I think we're to the point where we need a specialist.  

I don't mean to make it sound like my child is very ill.  He's actually done better than his surgeon ever thought he would for a child who couldn't even swallow his own saliva when he was born and didn't take his first bottle until he was 11 days old!  Overall, he is very normal and not small and frail like everyone expected him to be.  

Please keep me posted with what your neuro says.  I, too, am hoping they captured his breathing on tape and can at least see it even if he wasn't hooked up to anything yet.  Thanks again!

Sara