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anesthesia side effect, night terrors?


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I know many of you on here's kids have had tonsils and adenoids out... My dd had hers out without any issues a few months back... woke up a bit at nights in discomfort but did really amazing. My ds had his out on Friday and since then he is having scary night terrors. At night he looks like he did when he first came out of the anesthesia (this freaked me out when I saw him after the surgery because my dd didn't go through that) I spoke to the ENT today and he said he had only one other parent report a problem like this and then indicated it went on for weeks... I can't do this for weeks. I haven't slept in 3 days. I'm getting worried... I googled and it seems to be it is not as uncommon as my dr. made it sound...

 

Anyone go throught this? How long did it last? Any long term effects?

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Hi - we were considering a general anesthesia for our ds (didn't do it) but I googled and found that there can be vascular changes with a GA that can disrupt BBB integrity. When our dd has a fever she gets night terrors, I beleive. 'cos of the effect on BBB due to the fever. If we give ibuprofen it does stop her having a night terror. So maybe you could try that...

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I can't give him ibuprofen I don't think because of bleeding I think they said... only tylenol. The only thing keeping me from totally freaking right now that I have done something awful is that the dr. said he removed really yucky infected tonsils from him.... other than that.. I'm' feeling pretty guilty right now.

 

Hi - we were considering a general anesthesia for our ds (didn't do it) but I googled and found that there can be vascular changes with a GA that can disrupt BBB integrity. When our dd has a fever she gets night terrors, I beleive. 'cos of the effect on BBB due to the fever. If we give ibuprofen it does stop her having a night terror. So maybe you could try that...
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Now you've got me thinking.... My son had surgery on June 15th (sinus surgery). He has had more vivid dreams since the surgery- probably 2 or 3 nights where he has told me about scary dreams the next day - like someone breaking into the house and hurting me and his Dad. He used to have these pretty regularly (and much more severely) when he was younger and in crisis (before we knew what the problem was), so I saw this as a mild return of symptoms. My son is also on antibiotics, and we decided to continue them past the 10 day mark that the sinusitis protocol calls for.

 

I was working under the assumption that the bacteria had to be stirred up when they removed the mucocele from his sinuses, and this may be some sort of a reaction to that... but now you've got me wondering about anesthesial

 

On a similar note, my son's worst crisis episode (that I mentioned above) happened at age 6 1/2 after they tried to do a PH probe for reflux. At the time, he had his tonsils in still. When they do a PH probe the take a wire an put it in your nose - then pass it down the back of the throat to the esophagus and down near the stomach. When they tried to pass the probe into my son's throat, he tried swallowing to move it down, but it just kept curling up around his tonsils and they never did get it down. While my son was very upset once they stopped, the real problems happened over the next few weeks, as he went into total PANDAS mode (rages, running away, bolting out of the classroom at school, OCD, lights on all the time, unable to sleep night terrors, etc). At first we thought it was post trauamtic stress disorder, but it just kept getting worse -not better.

 

We later found out that he was harboring bacteria in his tonsils.

 

When I discussed this with Dr. T. recently, he mentioned that they may have dislodged some of the bacteria in his throat and/or had some small lacerations from the procedure (similar to the PANDAS symptoms we see when some kids have dental work done). So... I wonder if the bacteria / incision piece isn't part of the problem.

 

Have you talked with a PANDAS doc about it?

 

I will keep watching this thread to see if others have had experiences with anesthesia. Thanks for the post.

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I haven't asked anyone but the ent and you guys yet. I saw Dr. T but it's been a while since I've had a reason to be in touch with him. In every other way I would actually say my son is more easy going and mellow than he has been... The only thing I have seen an increase in but today I think it was less was a throat clearing and he has had a throat clearing tic in the past so I immediately thought that... I immediately thought oh no it's the tic back but my mom and dh think it's just because his throat is irritated... My son says it's because it's irritated this time but not sure he's being honest on that. BUT today I think it was a lot less than yesterday and the day before. His overall mood though is good and he even told me the other night I no longer need to do something that was part of his bedtime ritual...

 

His symptoms in general are mild. His most severe time was almost 2 years ago now and although I felt like I was in crisis with him, I realize now that even that was relatively mild in comparison to what many others go through.

 

I hope I didn't do any permanent damage by doing this. I was so happy we did it when I heard the state of his tonsils... When he was first coming out of the anesthesia though I got this sick feeling in my stomach because of the way he was reacting as he came out of it... it was really upsetting to me to see him that way. They told me it was normal and very common and that my dd who didn't react that way and had such an easy time was the less typical scenerio...

 

 

 

Now you've got me thinking.... My son had surgery on June 15th (sinus surgery). He has had more vivid dreams since the surgery- probably 2 or 3 nights where he has told me about scary dreams the next day - like someone breaking into the house and hurting me and his Dad. He used to have these pretty regularly (and much more severely) when he was younger and in crisis (before we knew what the problem was), so I saw this as a mild return of symptoms. My son is also on antibiotics, and we decided to continue them past the 10 day mark that the sinusitis protocol calls for.

 

I was working under the assumption that the bacteria had to be stirred up when they removed the mucocele from his sinuses, and this may be some sort of a reaction to that... but now you've got me wondering about anesthesial

 

On a similar note, my son's worst crisis episode (that I mentioned above) happened at age 6 1/2 after they tried to do a PH probe for reflux. At the time, he had his tonsils in still. When they do a PH probe the take a wire an put it in your nose - then pass it down the back of the throat to the esophagus and down near the stomach. When they tried to pass the probe into my son's throat, he tried swallowing to move it down, but it just kept curling up around his tonsils and they never did get it down. While my son was very upset once they stopped, the real problems happened over the next few weeks, as he went into total PANDAS mode (rages, running away, bolting out of the classroom at school, OCD, lights on all the time, unable to sleep night terrors, etc). At first we thought it was post trauamtic stress disorder, but it just kept getting worse -not better.

 

We later found out that he was harboring bacteria in his tonsils.

 

When I discussed this with Dr. T. recently, he mentioned that they may have dislodged some of the bacteria in his throat and/or had some small lacerations from the procedure (similar to the PANDAS symptoms we see when some kids have dental work done). So... I wonder if the bacteria / incision piece isn't part of the problem.

 

Have you talked with a PANDAS doc about it?

 

I will keep watching this thread to see if others have had experiences with anesthesia. Thanks for the post.

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Thank you Dut!

 

And oh how I hope that time frame holds true for us... cause he had this done Friday morning. I will say last night was a little better than the night before.. he was still up a lot but the night before he was so inconsolable he was throwing up. He just was in such a panic and so out of it.

 

 

 

Hi - according to this article the peak disruption is 24-48 hours.. so if what you are seeing is as a result of the anesthesia , then you should see a fairly quick resolution

 

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r487w7k527454780/

 

sorry, it's only an abstract...

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Another thought - is he taking anything for pain? ... tylenol with codeine or loratab liquid or anything that could be feeding into this?

 

I really DO NOT think you did any permanent damage. Even if it is from bacteria, it is good that the bacteria has now been removed and this is the last tonsil bacteria you will have to deal with!!

 

Hang in there! Hopefully it is just from the anasthesia and will be less and less each night!

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Hi there. My son, pre pandas even, had terrible horrible night terrors, starting at age 1. He had T&A removal at 3.5 and I do remember a massive peak in his night terrors around that surgery. As if we didn't have enough stress and guilt from it all?

 

I would suggest waking him one hour after he falls asleep to change the sleep cycle. I never did do it myself, but it was recommended to me by many doctors. By the time it was, we had them down to a science and they only lasted a few minutes. However, if he had one and they were REALLY bad, we had him drink a bit of ice cold water, which helped. So you could also try that.

 

Good luck!!

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Kimballot, thanks for that! The only night he had the prescription pain med was Friday night (he had the surgery friday morning) and I didn't give it to him again because I thought maybe that was what caused it that night and he really didn't want to take it)

 

Tantrums, that is a good idea to break the sleep cycle.

 

Last night was MUCH better. I brought him in my room though but I am doubting that is what made it better. He was funny because he used to beg to sleep with us when this pandas stuff came to a full head and then we got that under control... last night I set him up in my bed and he looked at me and said, "Ok, but why am I sleeping in here?" He flipped and flopped like crazy but no waking, no crying, no moaning.

 

Tonight I am going to put him back in his room. I am hoping there was really something to that 24-48 hour thing...

 

I don't know if I just didn't pay enough attention to the papers we got but the anesthesiologist should really mention this as a possibility so that if it happens parents don't freak and know that there will be an end in sight.

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We dealt with night terrors for several years, and they actuallly subsided AFTER the T&A. What I learned (the hard way) for my son was NOT to wake him up. His terrors would usually begin 1 1/2 hours into his sleep, with sleep walking or talking. Usually he would wander to the bathroom (though sometimes in his stupor would mistake something else for the toilet -yuck) and start calling for me. If I could gently lead him back to his room and back to bed with minimal talking, he would go back to sleep. If I jarred him past the stupor stage to ask him something ("what do you mean? or - say that again") or woke him up in any way,that's when the screaming would start. At that point I would just sit next to him and wait it out. Everynow and then I would try to touch him. If he could tolerate a light touch without screaming further, the I knew he was coming out of it and eventually could cuddle him back to calm. He was young, but almost never remembered any of it in the morning. Is your son remembering them? Must be painful to be screaming after T&A!!!!

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The waking up suggestion is for BEFORE the night terror, so one hour after they fall asleep. The terror always seems to happen 90 minutes into sleep. Something to do with the REM cycle I believe. I only ever woke DS up during a terror when it was just really really bad or the were one on top of another, which happened rarely. that never did seem to help though :unsure:

 

So glad you had better sleep last night!!!

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Thanks everyone. I definitely found out that waking him was a bad idea... that was when he got so hysterical he was throwing up the second night. The problem was that I didn't realize they were night terrors at first. I assumed he was waking in discomfort like my dd had done... so I was trying to calm him down to offer him tylenol and or a drink or ice pop... big mistake.

 

Tantrums... yes it was about 90 minutes into each night.. like clockwork. I held my breath at the 90 minute mark last night.

 

Wornoutmom, no he has no recollection of it.... In fact he was so proud of himself for not crying at all about his tonsils... he woke up patting himself on the back. I was thinking HUH? He told me that sometimes he wakes up and just takes a sip of water and goes back to sleep.. That is sooooo not what happened. And yes, I imagine the screaming and crying was not helping his throat.

 

I feel a bit more prepared now if it does happen.... to just let it happen so long as he's safe. But gosh, mommas instinct is to wake him up and hug him tight.

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