stridor sounds

[momtofourboys]

I have a question, however I am not sure I am in the correct area. I have a 4 year old son that has many medical issues. He does have asthma and cardiac issues. when he was 2 the pulmonologist preformed a bronchoscopy on him and nothing was abnormal. The reason for this is due to the fact that he is exercise intolerable plus it sounds like he is wheezing, but they say it is not. yesterday when we vistied the new asthma doctor, he said asked if he snores I said well know he doesn't "snore" but he sounds as if he is having some sort of stridor and his o2 sats and heart rate are normal when this is happening. he just doesn't have hte stridor at night it is most of the time. worse when walking or running He said from an asthma standpoint he is very stable, however the loud breathing and the stridor that seems to becoming from his throat is something to be re examined again. I know they are looking for anitomical abnormaliteies. he is thinking that Chris ahs some"floppiness" going on in his throat. he has ordered a chest xray (hasn't had one in 1 1/2 years and trying to get one of his throat. then he said we would go from there. he is going to be doing a PFT in May and this will help out with many od his issues. Chris has pulmonary stenosis and shunting with is heart as well as a few other things. those two things need to also be addressed as he is desating many times. It is a good possiblity that they are going to do another brohc on him. Also I forgot to mention that this stridor sounds started after he was under general anestesia for removal of teeth that were damaged by an abscess. he went into distress AFTER the proceedure  I am not sure if that is important.
My question to you is what is the FLOPPY thing in his throat are they talking about. I should have asked but trying to take all of this information in and stuff I kind of forgot.
I am so sorry for all of the spelling mstakes.
Thank you for your help
Michelle

[momtofourboys]

Thank you so much for your advice. The pulmonologist took an xray as a first step. so hopefully I can get a refferal to an ENT and have test done.
As far as cardiac, I am going to keep going to one that will listen to me as well as other Doctors
Thank yo again
Michelle

[National Jewish Health]

The floppiness could be in the soft palate or it could be a collapse of the portion of the throat behind the tongue, called the pharynx.  If your son truly is having the stridor you describe below, that is indicative of upper airway obstruction, from the vocal cords on up.  Two recommendations:  1) that you have your son evaluated by a pediatric ENT doctor, and 2) ask the ENT to decide if your son should have imaging, such as a CT scan or MRI, of his throat to determine the location/cause of his presumed upper airway obstruction.  If he has such an obstruction, this could also result in a sleep disorder and, in many instances, this can cause asthma worsening.

The pulmonary stenosis and shunting with desaturation is equally worrisome and he should have another pediatric cardiologist evaluate this.  In some instances, surgical correction of congenital heart abnormalities is age related.

Good luck.