Ear tubes is next step?

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My 17 month old just got her 8th or 9th ear infection. The last one didnt respond to antibiotics so they had to give her a series of shots to combat the infection. That was about 4 weeks ago. The doctors told me that ear tubes are the next step.

I just wondered what is your experience with ear tubes in your children? Im not looking for medical advice just personal experiences.
 
Hello Kate(name removed by moderator). I would go ahead and get the tubes for Kate. My son, now 12, has had several tube operations. They always helped for a period. Not getting them may lead to a permanent hearing loss. My son experienced some hearing loss but we were fortunate that he got most of it back as his ear drum healed.

This may sound silly but get references for the doctor. My sons doctor here in FLA said the Dr. that did the surguries in NY did not do a good job. He had 3 in NY and one here in Fla.

Hope this helps.
 
kate(name removed by moderator):
My 17 month old just got her 8th or 9th ear infection. The last one didnt respond to antibiotics so they had to give her a series of shots to combat the infection. That was about 4 weeks ago. The doctors told me that ear tubes are the next step.

I just wondered what is your experience with ear tubes in your children? Im not looking for medical advice just personal experiences.
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Hi! One of my sons has had repeated ear tubes put in since about 6 months–1 new set a year, approx., until he was 13. It’s very common having ear tubes put in, in children. See their Eustacian tubes are not fully developed and functioning until their teens, and some are prone to frequent infections. The surgery is painless, takes about 10 minutes, and not at all painful for them afterwards. BUT they do have to have a general anesthesia. 😦 I think most kids get ear infections. Unless it’s very serious (like my son’s was)-----I would just ride it through, with drops and Tylenol. They will grow out of it. If however, your little precious is in constant pain and screaming all the time, with constant brown stuff running from the ear, can’t sleep at nite, etc., it’s better to have the tubes. Repeated infections can also affect hearing later on (like was the case with my son). Only you can properly assess this.
God Bless~
Sparkle
 
I struggled and struggled with ear infections with my son. He also had a speech problem. When the doctor finally suggested it, it was a relief, and it worked, and I am sure that his speech problem cleared up quicker as a result. I would also suggest that removal of tonsils and/or adenoids be considered at the same time.
 
I know of a nutritional supplement which has had tremendous results with ear infections.

Here is what Amanda B had to say about how the supplement helped her son.

“I have had my son, Payden, on the products since he was 10 months old. He’s no longer experiencing ear infections and allergies that had plagued him as a baby — and doctor visits are few and far between,” Amanda reports.

If you want the product name, I can PM it to you. I don’t want to break forum rules by advertising the product.

God :blessyou:
 
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johnq:
I know of a nutritional supplement which has had tremendous results with ear infections.

Here is what Amanda B had to say about how the supplement helped her son.

“I have had my son, Payden, on the products since he was 10 months old. He’s no longer experiencing ear infections and allergies that had plagued him as a baby — and doctor visits are few and far between,” Amanda reports.

If you want the product name, I can PM it to you. I don’t want to break forum rules by advertising the product.

God :blessyou:
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I agree go to some natural herb store or natural treatment doctor and see what they have to offer. I dont think you should have any operations until you have looked into both online and at natural remedy sources.
 
My little one had constant infections. She didn’t show signs–fever, rubbing, etc. The doctors would tell me I was crazy, then say I was right. They finally referred me to an ENT after months and months of fighting with antibiotics. (They’d work for a week maybe, then the infection was back.) The ENT looked over her medical records then looked in her ears and nonchalantly said it looked like she was the perfect candidate for tubes. We were shocked with how casual he was about it! He said he could schedule her for surgery next week. We had fought with the docs for months and then this one just says, “Up, yeah… next Monday OK with you for surgery?” We discussed it, then called the doc and got a lot of questions answered and had the surgery.

We had a totally different child come out of the OR! The way she manifested the pain was in her temperment. She was constantly angry, getting in fights with other kids, etc. After the tubes went in, more than one person commented on how sweet she was all of a sudden and that she was so changed! She was an angel! On top of that, her hearing had been terribly distorted. She was almost 2 and still not talking. The next week after the surgery, she started chattering. She hasn’t stopped since!

The tubes fell out on their own about 18 months later like they were supposed to. We didn’t know it. We started noticing her attitude again. She was just always arguing with us. Always mean. We always had to have an eye on her. We took her to the docs for an unrelated visit and found out why; she had raging ear infections again. Again, no outward signs. No fever, no complaints of pain (which she was definitely old enough to voice this time), no tugging at her ears, etc. We went through the antibiotics again, with no improvement. Then it got to the point where her ear drum was sucking itself inward and her ear infection was threatening life long harm. We actually isolated her from society for a month on doctor’s orders to make sure she didn’t catch anything else while we tried to fight it (no kids, no company, no grocery stores, on and on). It didn’t help. Again we went to the ENT. 5 minutes later, he again said, “Up, yeah. How’s next Monday?” Because of her age the second time around, he also said he would remove her adenoids. We again were worried. We went home and researched and called the doc with questions, then agreed.

The very next day she was a different child. We realized a lot of her obstinance came from frustration not being able to hear us well. Her speech improved drastically. The change in her was phenomenal. A recent hearing test puts her close to perfect.

I had to make sure that there was nothing else that was going to work. But after trying everything and still seeing it not work, I am so very glad that we went through with the tubes surgeries. It has made a HUGE difference in our little girl.
 
i am a speech-language pathologist and deal with the issue of ear tubes on a very frequent basis. these tubes prevent fluid build-up in the middle ear. this fluid may or may not be infected. if it is infected, the fluid can hang around for over a month even after the infection is gone. that means for over a month per ear infection, your child is hearing as if he or she is underwater. this is obviously not good for speech and language development, not to mention the constant pain of ear infections. there is always a risk, of course, with general anasthesia, but there are other options, so talk to your doctor about using a less intense sedation to reduce some of these risks. but there is a night and day difference after the tubes are placed and i’ve never had a patient regret having it done. good luck with your decision!

leigh
 
Hi Kate(name removed by moderator)~

I am 23 years old and had ear tubes put in at age 4. Up to that time I was a pretty sickly little girl with very frequent ear infections. After I had the tubes in I don’t think I had another infection again.

I’ve also worked in child care for the past 5 years and (like lgatny) in this time I have never heard of a parent regret having had this done for his or her child. Usually the difference post-surgery is extraordinary.
 
Hi,

My daughter (now age 8) had ear tubes put in when she was 6 and it was a big help. She was getting around 5 ear infections a year before we did it (usually with a 104-105 degree fever!) and now hasn’t had one in 2 years! The tubes fell out about a year ago (as they’re supposed to do) and she’s still doing fine. I would definitely recommend it.

God Bless,
Gary
 
I had the tubes as a child and it was awesome! I had hearing and other problems that vanished when I got them. I still talk too loud, as a result of not hearing myself for so long. I presume it is because of the hearing loss being at a certain stage. It didn’t hurt to have the tubes, and all the pain stopped.
 
My coworker’s daughter had ear tubes put in. The doc thought she had grown enough by the time she was three, took them out…
then the poor girl got three infections in a row, and the tubes went right back in again.
They definitely help!
 
As one of the children who got tubes back in the late 60’s!!!They were fairly new, as a young teen (and most of my young life) I had ear infections, They were put in 1969, and again a better type when I was 15 in 1971. I since have had no real problems. I took so much pennicillin as a child, only to be immune to its effect. I am living proof of no “long term” effects (I am now 49) with tubes. The only problem is because of the delay of getting tubes I have some hearing loss that was never recovered.
 
all 3 of my kids had tubes put in, sinus and ear infections seem to run in our family. I also had repeated ear infections, had tonsils out at age 5 which did not help. Guess they did not do tubes back then, so I have some hearing loss. 2 of the grandkids also have them. Son improved most dramatically, his intermittent hearing loss cleared up when the congestion and infections cleared up and he was a “new man” at age 4.
 
They changed our daughter’s life, and very much so for the better. Before them she was ALWAYS sick, she was almost completely deaf for a year and had to go to special preschool to overcome a learning delay because of it.

After the tubes, ALL of the problems disappeared and never returned.
I cannot say they are right for every child, but they were certainly the right choice for ours.
 
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