Wednesday, August 01, 2007

The Albuterol Test.. and Yea, ME!

I've probably mentioned in several of the last posts that Ig hasn't been sleeping lately. It's an ongoing motif in my world. I've learned to function -- heck, even earn a PROMOTION -- on 4-6 hours sleep. (I used to swear I couldn't get by on less than 10.)

Ig, now 19 months old, wakes up at 11:00 almost every night, usually at exactly the moment I'm turning off the TV to go to bed. If he sleeps beyond 11:00, he's up at 2:00. Sometimes, he wakes up at 11 AND 2.

And he doesn't just wake up, he SCREAMS. It's horrible. There's not letting him cry it out -- no one would sleep if we did. And honestly, I'm not inclined to. My mom-sense tells me there's something really wrong, something beyond separation anxiety.

In the past, when Oz was waking up like this, we found out that we needed to put him back on Flovent. When Ig was waking up during the winter, we learned that he had chronic ear infections and needed tubes. So for me, the net-net is, if he can't sleep, he's either in excrutiating pain or not breathing well.

I brought this up with the peds at his 18-month checkup last week. She thinks it's just separation anxiety, and that I'll end up with this kid sleeping between his dad and me until he hits puberty....but she agreed we should see the pulmo "if I'm concerned."

Duh.

Anyway, as he's getting over strep, he did sleep a few nights when we dosed him up with Dimetapp and Motrin. But then the screaming started again, so...for a test (YES, I'M GETTING TO MY POINT NOW) I gave him albuterol before bed last night.

And guess what...he slept til 5:00 AM.

So, I'm trying again tonight, to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. It's only 10:20 now, so I can't say yet, but I'll post a quick update in the AM.

One final note...I've won an award for this blog! Did ya notice the new bling in the right-hand nav? I'd always hoped to win a Tony Award, but y'know...this'll do!

I'd like to thank HealthCentral for this honor, my loyal readers, Google - for the free blogging platform, my stunningly smart co-workers, and of course, my wonderful children...(OK, I'll stop now).

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