So today was our appointment with Dr. Pfeffer, a pediatric sleep specialist. I absolutely love her! She was great and Josh even thought so since he climbed up in her lap during some of our appointment! That is not normal for Josh to do if he doesn't know the person. But she was great.
Anyway, the verdict? He definately has a problem! Ha-Ha... like I didn't know. But all kids have issues with sleeping at some point and all mom's deal with it at some point. At times I have wondered if maybe what he does is normal. But today I found out that it is very unusual, and we need to get it solved since it can lead to long-term problems. First of all, I learned alot about him personally. She was telling me about a lot of new studies that prove kids with developmental delays, preemies, and problems like Josh's have a high risk of sleep disorders. What his sleep disorder is..... is the big question.
She says her gut feeling is the wakenings are reflux related. She was surprised he hadn't had the Nissan surgery done when his G-tube was placed. So that is her biggest theory. Although she said with his neurological problems, she still wants to rule out 100% that he is not having seizures. So the first thing we are going to do is a overnight sleep study down at Primary Children's Medical Center. He will also have a full night EEG done as well then. If the EEG looks normal and they don't see any other obvious problems, he will have a 24 hr. PH Level done. This will require a 24 hr stay at Primary Children's as well. Then if that comes back with a reflux problem then she will be suggesting to his GI doctor to have him referred to the surgeon for the Nissan Surgery. I haven't talked to his GI doctor yet to let her know that Josh has been vomiting lately.
So in the meantime she gave us some Trazadone to help him sleep at night. This won't change any underlying problem going on, but should help him sleep better. We'll see.
All in all, I am very happy with our new doctor and I am glad I have finally have gotten in to get this whole sleep thing under control. Believe me... I can't function much longer on waking up every 1-2 hours at night! This has been going on for 27 months (hence how old Josh is, LOL)... so it's about time. I'll let you know how the meds work. Wish us luck!
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7 comments:
Wow. Well, a good doc is a good thing! :)
Lots for you to think about and look in to...sounds like you should be plenty bored... ;)
You have my vote for mom of the year. FYI! Glad you feel good about the doctor! Hope Josh is able to rest in those sleep studies. Lars did one once and he couldn't sleep with so many things stuck to him. He still doesn't sleep as much as he should (which might come in handy with a new born. haha) Good luck.
That sounds great! Well, at least that you're figuring things out. I hope everything goes well!
Yay for Trazadone! You will get at least 6 hours of undisterbed sleep
Dr. Pfeffer is the BEST!! Trazadone worked really well for Marshall at first, but after a while he got too used to it. Now he takes Clonidine and sometimes he sleeps all night! :) Good luck with the sleep study. We've had tons of those. They're not terribly bad, just uncomfortable but there was always a bed for me to sleep right next to him. His was done in Dr. Pfeffer's old office.
I hope you get some good sleep tonight!
Yea for good doctors! I am glad that Josh likes him too. I hope that even though you are still working on the problem that you can now get a little more sleep. Good luck with all the coming tests. Hopefully you will be able to get some answers.
I really hope you and Josh can get some sleep now! I don't know how you have survived so long with out it! You are both troopers!
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