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Tubes in the Ear
fisch
Posts: 570 ✭✭
Anyone had this done on their child? We are on Em's 5th ear infection and are on our way to an ENT in the next month. I think we are headed in the direction of tubes, but don't know much about them, or the alternatives. I've heard it's a very simple procedure - I'm curious on other's experiences.
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Good luck!
Tara
The one caution I have is to keep track of them. My tubes fell out on their own after a few years and a doctor confirmed it. Nine years later, that's the space between our ages, my brother's doctor "removed them" with a vacuum pump. The doc was wrong.
After several severe ear infections and percieved adult hearing loss, an ENT found the tubes still in my brother's head. The tubes had to be removed under general anesthetic. After removal and a sigificant cleaning my brother's hearing is almost perfect, one drum healed closed and the other still has a hole in it. He just has to be careful to avoid getting water into his perferated ear drum.
Although he had a tough time of it my brother is still in favor of tubes and is considering placing them in his daughter's ears.
Has your Ped advised you to wean all pacifiers, bottles, thumbs when laying down? It's not a sure fix, but it could help ....?
Well I obviously have a different thought process on this than everyone else who has commented and while it seems you have made a decision already I'd still like to offer the other side. I faced this decision with Kate last April. To be honest I would have cut off my right arm before putting my child under anesthesia, particularly at such a young age. It is just something that I feel very strongly about. I know that sounds dramatic but what I mean is that I would exhaust every possibility before I would resort to the tubes. In addition to not wanting to put her under I believe that many times the ear infection is simply a visible sign of an underlying/harder to detect health problem. I went to the ENT and of course he said she needed tubes. What else is he going to say, that I should seek out alternative treatment options? That's like me (a Nanny) telling my boss she should become a stay at home mom! Her hearing was not affected at all at that point and I knew that if I found an alternative treatment and carried it out to a T and quickly then we could avoid damaging her hearing. Kate had all of the factors that can lead to tubes - she has tiny ear canals making it difficult for them to drain properly when fliud does get in there, teething and allergies. Our first step was to a Chiropractor. I was not a believer in chirporactic care and certainly never thought I would take my toddler there. Mel recommeded one in our area so I felt better having another Mom refer me to someone. She was wonderful and when Kate continued to get sick initially she sent us to a more holistic pediatrician. She put Kate on an immune boosting regimen. When Kate turned 18 months we were finally able to to both Igg and Ige allergy testing to find out exactly what was going on and eliminate the offending foods from both of our diets. She was also taking an over the counter pill to repair the damage done to her stomach. I really had to do a lot of research to figure out how this all caused ear infections (in a nutshell the offending foods irritated the lining of her stomach which as an autoimmune response created more mucus which created the drainage that led to the constant ear infections). Add the small anatomy, teething, weak immune system, heredity (my father and I have had ear infections all our lives and I had tubes as a child) and she was a constant ear infection waiting to happen. I had to do a ton of research and spent so much time and money at the various appointments - but she has not had an infection since April. She has had colds and viruses that haven't lead to an ear infection and she has been able to be off of all of her immune boosting supplements for the last couple of months (although I plan to restart as winter approaches to prevent as much as I can). That was our experience with ear infections and I would do it all over again if I had to.
And here is a post I put up recently when you mentioned the constant illness in case you are interested in combining that with the chiropractic care about Kate's immune boosting supplements:
I have been meaning to post for a few days...since I read about you hiring a Nanny to hopefully help your LO get/stay healthier. I figured if you would go to such measures to help ensure her health you'd probably be up for any suggestions!
Anyway, we went through the ringer with Kate's health - reflux, allergies, ear infections, high fevers and just generally catching anything that was going around. She wasn't in day care and exclusively breast fed (and nursed for almost 3 years) but that all seemed for not! Around 17 months we were referred to an ENT who (of course) was recommending tubes. He was willing to admit that we could hold off and/or try alternatives to surgery. There was just no way I was putting my baby through an operation if I could possibly avoid it. My whole issue with the tubes, or that line of thinking is that you aren't actually solving the issue or addressing what is creating the problem. Her issues were allergies, genetics (my father and I both have had ear troubles including lots of infections), small anatomy (hard for drainage to actually drain) and a weekend immune system (most likely from her difficult birth). We started seeing a chiropractor as well as a more natural pediatrician and pursued allergy testing and diagnosis. Finally knowing for certain what she was allergic to after 18 months of second guessing everything was a huge relief. Over the course of time we stopped seeing the chiropractor and the pediatrician. She *seems" to have outgrown her allergies. The one thing that we have continued for the last 2 years though has been the immune boosting regimine that the doctor put her on to avoid the surgery. If you have any interest, here is what she takes. Some things we are able to get at whole foods but several we have had to get at health food stores and the like. I'm sure they are all available on countless websites as well. She was on mostly liquid versions initially and now is mostly pills she can chew. Daily she takes:
colostrum: yes, they bottle it and yes she took this even when she was nursing frequently. She now takes a pill
vitamin d: almost all of us are deficient in this and it is really important when it comes to our immune systems. She takes a pill daily but when she has a cold coming on I increase it by also giving her the liquid in her smoothie.
dha: I didn't start this until she stopped nursing
probiotic: she now takes 1/2 an adult pill
At the first sign of allergies or a cold I add a couple of things to her smoothies (or OJ if she isn't in the mood for smoothies) and make sure she has them everyday for a few days. The 2 most important ones are briar rose and colloidal silver along with the vit d. There are a couple of others but honestly she's been doing so well I haven't restocked them so I'd have to look up the names if you are interested.
About 2 weeks ago we both started to get a cold. She took her usual supplements plus the 3 I just mentioned for 3 or 4 days (then we ran out). I got the cold full on but she never did.
I shudder to think of what I have spent on this stuff - I spend $50-$100 every time I go in the health market. But then I shudder to think what I would have spent on additional co pays, prescriptions etc. And she really and truly is healthier. I know that some of that is her body growing (her eustachian tubes were really small), learning how to blow her nose etc etc. BUT I really think that has made a huge impact on her health and I wanted to pass it along because I really feel for anyone who is going through the same thing with their infant! If you aren't interested, please disregard . If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them!
4.5 years!
4.5 years!
Not looking forward to the surgery, but hoping that the surgery will help everything else.
Progesterone therapy and baby aspirin daily
Two miscarriages in between (August 2012 - same donor as Maggie, and December 2014 with husband)
Maggie