Max

This post is all about Max and how wonderful he has been lately (sarcasm)!  For over a year now I have thought Max has had allergies.  He snores frequently, always has a runny nose, and doesn't sleep well at night.  He is always tired and when he is tired he is a real bear.  For a year I have been talking about taking Max to a sleep expert or allergist but always got talked out of it.  In the beginning of September Dale finally said something is wrong with him, take him to the doctor.  He was always tired and he threw tantrums like crazy.  The littlest things would set him off.  I took him to the pediatrician and she said he was fine but told us to increase his Claritin to 1.5 tsp. over the regular 1 tsp.  I was hoping this would help, but his tantrums and behavior just kept getting worse.  He always swallows like his throat hurts, he snores, his nose always runs, he wakes up frequently through the night just crying, and his has tantrums about everything.  I would say if there were less than 4 EXTREME tantrums a day, then it was a good day.  By extreme, I mean at least 30 minutes of not being able to console him.  We getting ready for school one day and Max didn't want to go, which had become a daily thing at this point.  I told the boys to get in the car and Max screamed he didn't want to go to school and ran upstairs.  I told him good-bye, closed the door, and went to buckle Will and Levi in their car seats.  I went back inside to find Max going potty.  He looked up at me with a smirk and said "Mommy, I peed on your bed."  Sure enough there was a stream of pee on my bed.  I was in shock which I would say was lucky for him.  I carried him to the car where he refused to put his seat belt on.  I finally managed to hold him down enough to get him buckled.  He then continued to scream and kick my seat all the way to school.  When we got to school he refused to get out and kept screaming.  I had to pull to the side where his teacher and I had to try to coax him out for at least 10 minutes before he went screaming.  He screamed for another 10 minutes there then went on about his day as usual.  This was my breaking point.  I called the pediatrician and she just gave me a number to a therapist.  This did not make me happy.  I don't believe that all of Max's behavior is because I think something is medically wrong, but I think that we need to find out what is wrong before I can figure out his behavior.  I am not against seeing a therapist, I just wanted to find the root of the problem first.  So I called an allergist.  I explained to the allergist everything that was going on.  He tested him and Max is not allergic to anything, but the allergist said I should take him to the ENT to have his adenoid checked.  I immediately made an appointment with the ENT that put his tubes in.  He said Max's tonsils and adenoids are huge.  We are getting them removed on November 9th.  He told me that often times kids with this problem are thought to have ADHD (I have thought this often).  When the adenoids are large they can block airways and cause sleep apnea (I am no expert this is just lay man's terms) and when kids are tired they don't function normally.  He also told me that often times these kids are bed wetters.  Max wakes up soaked every morning, even through a night time pull-up.  He said I should see great results from this and Max will be feeling better and sleeping better.  I still think Max will have more behavior issues than Will and Levi because that is just him, but I am relieved to know that he will hopefully start feeling and sleeping better.  I am also glad I stuck with my instincts and took him to see specialists.