ZOMBIE GROANING SON WITH SLEEPING DISORDER

Ever since Seb was born, he's always been a snorer.  Not only does he snore louder than a bear, he also sweats something chronic during his sleep.  I didn't think it was anything to be suspicious of.  He's a boy after all!  But after a minor operation last summer, I was pulled to the side by the surgeon who asked me if Seb had a sleeping disorder.

Of course I told him no.  But over the weeks I started watching him whilst he slept.  At first he would be ok but around midnight, he'd start groaning like a zombie.  It was frightening at times and quite often he sounded like he was about to be sick.

His sleeping became worse and during the day he would become so irritable that I considered we may have some behavioural issues.  His concentration at school suffered the most.  He was getting 0/10 on his spelling tests and he couldn't be bothered to do anything in class.  Teachers would tell me he spent lunch times sleeping in the wendy house and at his newest school, the complaints were similar.  They were unhappy with his incomplete homework, but he was falling asleep at dinner time and I couldn't get him to stay up.   I assured them he was a good boy and told them I was investigating his sleeping habits.

We finally got our appointment through to see the ENT specialist at our local hospital.  Our doctor told us he had super large tonsils and adenoids and he suspected Obstructed Sleep Apnea to be the problem.  So he issued us a saturation monitor to evaluate his heart rate and oxygen levels over night.

Today, we are going to get the results.  Since all of this became a possible problem, I've noticed other strange behaviour at night.  He had a spell at the start of the year where he'd wake up in a state of hypoglycaemia and this was extremely scary.  His blood sugar was very low and I wonder if it's induced by the possible sleep apnea.

Last week we had a horrendous night.  I noticed for the first time that he actually stopped breathing every so many breaths.  He stayed with us that night, on my lap and it lasted for hours.

After his worse nights, he's had to miss a day at school.  He's so tired all the time and I'm hoping that today we get some results.  If it comes back that all is ok from the saturation monitor test, I have no idea which direction we go in.  All I know is watching your son stop breathing whilst he's sleeping is very scary business!