Right off the bat, I am so incredibly grateful that Hannah has such wonderful doctor’s in her corner. Dr. Roy, her ENT, and Dr. B, her pediatrician, have been emailing back and forth (CCing me) about getting a handle on these choking/gagging and hyperventilation episodes that Hannah has now. She really has the best of the best, and everyone that Hannah has on her medical team really is so wonderfully caring!
Out of that discussion, it was decided that we get a pulse oximetry machine to find out if Hannah is actually desaturating (oxygen dropping) during these episodes so we have more to work with in terms of pinpointing where we go from here.
Instead of rewriting my thoughts on the situation, I am going to just copy/paste what I sent to them:
It seems that we are dealing with two separate but related items.
1. Tantrums. Probably normal toddler tantrums, but unfortunately she seems to lose control with her breathing when they happen which is when we get the hyperventilation episodes. Most of the time this only happens when she is in the car seat and we are driving somewhere. Even with the DVD on (which buys us time), she just doesn’t like to be restrained. Once we take her out and calm her down, she is fine and has very little residual breathing difficulties – takes no more than 15 minutes for her to be breathing completely normal again but many times it is just a couple of minutes.
2. Panic attacks (for lack of a better terms). This is when we mostly see the breath-holding spells and uncontrollable gagging problems that I mentioned earlier this week after seeing Dr. Schiffmann. These usually are the result of her feeling like she is choking on something or when she gets really scared (the latter doesn’t happen near as often). Last night she had another breathing attack which started when she awoke from sleep from what we think was gagging on her congestion (which happened a few months back if you recall). We did use the oxygen because it took almost 10 minutes for her gagging sensation to stop and another 90 minutes until her breathing was completely back to normal. She never started to turn blue.
Outside of these times, her breathing is perfectly fine all day and night (except for snoring these past couple of nights, most likely due to congestion).
She is exerting much more energy these days, as she has finally learned to crawl on her knees (for about 5 or 6 feet)…we think that she just does not like to be tied down and restrained anymore now that she is has experienced this mobility, which we think is why we are having more tantrums in the car seat on long drives (more than thirty minutes).
Even though I know they are both neurologically based, I believe the tantrum triggers are behavioral in nature whereas the gagging/choking attack triggers are neurological in nature. I can’t be sure, but this is just what my “mom feelings” are telling me.
We will see where we go from here…
I’d trust your “Mom feeling” over “doctor feeling” any day. I think you are on the right track! Just hope that there is a work around sooner rather than later! Love and hugs! C+B
.-= Cristina´s last blog ..Bertrand’s inner ninja =-.
It sounds like your perceptions are right on target. I’m glad Hannah has such a wonderful team taking care of her. Hopefully the tantrum induced breathing problems with fade soon. Happy Holidays.
BTW: I love that picture.
.-= Petula´s last blog ..Not just me… =-.
So I was thinking the other day as I was driving with my kids about Hannah’s car seat after my older one started getting car sick (as he does on longer trips). I don’t know if Hannah is rear facing or not. I keep my kids rear facing for a long time (as in it was slightly after my son’s 3rd birthday he got changed to forward facing, and that is only because he was too tall to rear face anymore (head wise, not feet)). It is a different very long comment why my reasoning for this, but it boils down to safety. Anyhow, at 3.5 years old, he can verbalize that he is starting to not feel well. Typically if he looks at something in the distance for a while, he will get better. It is definitely something visual for him. With Hannah’s visual problems, I was thinking “I wonder this started when they changed her to forward facing and something visual is bothering her after a while.” On the couple of occasions my son forward facing when he was younger (as in under the age of 2), he would just start screaming and wouldn’t stop until he was out of his seat, but we really didn’t have that issue if he was rear facing. There are a number of rear facing seats that go to 35 lbs (most of them are more expensive, but the Costco convertible one that I have is to 35 lbs rear facing, and it is a cheaper one).
Hi, I have been following your blog for quite a while and you are wonderful Mom. My daughter aslo has Neurological problems.
You can see our story on my blog. Just a thought Bella used to get really upset in her car seat and I happened to be
At my physio who checked her out and she had a spasm in her back. Once that was sorted out she
Was fine. Sometimes it can be so simple! Hopefully 🙂
Happy Christmas
Cathy