Ear/Nose/Throat

My three year old just had it done in his left ear and so far so good no ear infections. His right was a whole other story.

C.
I had the same situation with my 2yr. old. We were all set for the tubes and my friend told me to see a chiropractor first. I thought she was joking. Well, apparently not. After just 6 adjustments, there was no sign of infection and still no sign. (1 yr. later) I highly recommend you do that first. It was nothing short of a miracle. I am sorry I put my daughter through all those antibiotics, when in fact, she could have just gone to the chiropractor. Good luck!

YES IT IS SAFE I WOULS STAND BY TUBS ALL THE WAY 2 OUT OF 3 OF MY KIDS HAD TO HAVE TUBES PUT IN THERE EARS BEFORE THEY WERE A YEAR OLD AND THEY ARE BOTH FINE THEY ARE NOW 7 AND 4 AND I THINK THEY HAVE HAD 4 MABEY 5 EAR INFICTIONS SENCE THEY HAD THE TUBES IN THER EARS

Hey C. here is a website that i found may help you with your decision about ear tubes. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/Tubes-for-ear-infections

My 14 year old son had tubes put in his ears when he was 18months old. Before that he seem to constantly have an ear infection. It really did help him. He still gets ear infections periodiclly,but nothing comparable to before the ear tubes. He honestly didn't have any problems after. The only difference I noticed was he was very funny about getting his ears wet for a long time after. The percidure was fairly quick and in the end I feel it was the best decision for him.

Good Luck,
S. C

C.,
I am sorry to hear that you were told they need tubes. PLEASE try Chiropractic first. MDs are really good at performing this unneccesary surgery! MULTILPE times too! There are several techniques that are used by Chiropractors to "reset" the ear canal. It is safe and gentle and elimates the problem!!!
If you need help finding a Chiropractor in your area please do not hesitate to contact me!!!
-Dr. Heather

Hi C.,

My daughter had an ear infection for three months straight & was on six different prescriptions & nothing worked so at 13mo we had the tube surgery done & she hasn't had a problem since she is 25mo now. I too as any parent was nervous in the beginning about getting this procedure done but it was honestly the best thing we did for. Them taking her into surgery was the hardest part but I went to the waiting room was on the phone with my mother for maybe 10 minutes (crying) & the doctor came out to tell me she was done & on her way back to me I couldn't beleive it! Our ENT is located in Stroudsburg if you'd like their info let me know.

Good Luck!

K.

Well I am not sure if after the antibiotics don't work if there are other solutions to the ear infections. I know my chiro does procedures to try to help reduce the effects of the ear troubles. Both of my kids ages 5 and 15 almost 16 years old both have had the er tubes put in. It is a very common surgery and I have never had any problems. They were both doe at different hospitals and differents regions here in Central NY state. My daughter since she was little had ear tubes and then rehad them done with the addenoids taken out and then another procedure for her Tonsils, Annedoids rechecked (They can grow back) and ear tubes again. My now 5 year old (Feb 20) just had ear tubes and his addenoids snipped because of Fluid in his ears. He has sensory issues and I made the decision to go through with the surgery. He hears so much better now. Now he just chooses not to listen. You can research on the internet maybe some alternatives and try them. I don;t mess with ear infections though becuase when my daughter was around 2-3 years old she had a ear infection that didn;t go away and she has fever convulsions from the infection getting into her blood stream. She ended up in the hospital and getting IV's and meds to help her. Since she was little she bounced back pretty quickly but if she was older she wouldn't have recovered as quickly. This is my own personal reason to keep up on the ear infections and take them very seriously. I never ever want that to happen again. I hope this helps ease your mind if they do have to have the surgery to get the ear tubes. Just make sure you get a Dr. that you trust. I have a great staff of ENT docs at Bassett in Cooperstown and Herkimer area that I trust all of my families lives with.
Good luck.
J.

HI C.,

My daughter had tubes put in a month ago and so far she has not had an ear infection. Prior to that she had about 7 or 8 in 6 months. I was really nervous about the tubes and tried to put it off hoping that they would go away on their own. They didn't and we scheduled the tubes. The procedure was not bad at all and so far like I said no infections. She is doing really well now. Everyone else that I know who has had it done has said nothing but good things about the procedure. Hope that helps.

Hi C.- My 2 older children both had tubes for their ears. They worked wonderfully. Neither had a single infection while the tubes were in place. When my eldest daughters fell out (which I guess happens over time), she immediately got an infection in that ear. We then had another set put in and again, she was infection free. When she was 7, we had them removed (an in-office procedure), and she has been infection free since. Apparently, the angle of the eustation (sp?) tubes play a part in infections, and most kids grow out of them eventually. My youngest hasn't had tubes, but only has gotten 1 or 2 infections a winter (seems like alot, but not enough to warrent tubes apparently). He was treated with a rocephin shot a couple years ago (an antibiotic shot), and that cleared up his infection quickly! But for recurrent infections, like my daughter's had, I definately believe the tubes were great! E.

C.,

We debated and debated also, but finally said it would be the best thing for our son and you know what it was. Don't get me wrong, I was scared to death to have my son sedated, but he came out of it fine.
The procedure was done in the morning. And by that afternoon he was back to hisself.

And it worked. When we left in the morning, he was pronouncing garbage "barbage" and that afternoon he was saying it correctly.

We both just stopped in out shoes when we heard him say it right for the first time in at least a year.

C. - I have 2 kids (4 1/2 and 2 1/2). Both of my kids had constant ear infections and both have had tubes. My daughter (4 1/2) only needed them once. My son (2 1/2) has had them 3 times so far (they can fall out as soon as 6 months but usually will last about a year). The procedure is literally 5 minutes and is a very safe procedure. The benefits of having it done far outweigh the negatives. I don't know where you live, but our ear surgeon was in Red Bank NJ and was excellent...if you need a referral, please e-mail me and I"ll give you his name/number. They were very professional and so great with the kids. I had no reservations about doing it as I really trusted the ENT that did the procedure. Also, the recovery is minimal. Both of my kids returned to daycare after the procedure was over and were not on anything other than tylenol for the first day. There was minimal bleeding/discharge and neither child seemed to even know that they had had surgery. Please e-mail me if you need a recommendation or if you have other questions. Good luck!

Do a lot of research on this. Doctors these days are soo friggin' quick to prescribe meds and surgery. My son has had a few ear aches and the doctor started talking about tubes.

I don't know where to look but I will begin looking to figure out what can be done. There are small steps to preventing ear aches like having your children sleep a little raised, like prop up the mattress with pillows or books. Also, absolutely no drinking fluids laying down. There's gotta be other stuff too but I'm looking for info just like you.

My brother got tubes in his ears about 12 years ago (maybe longer). from what I remember it was a pretty safe procedure then So I am sure it is really safe now and they were wonderful for his ears.

My 2 1/2 year old has tubes in both her ears. The procedure is quick and safe. They go into the surgery room and within 20-30 minutes they are out with the tubes in. My daughter was cranky after surgery but the change in her hearing was amazing.
The tubes help the child by draining any excess from the ears through the tubes and out. My daughter has had them for 3 months now and I almost forget she even has tubes.The tubes are in place for no more than a year and most of the time they fall off on their own.

I was just as concerned when I was told that my Charlotte would need tubes but I now no that its worth it. Without the tubes it was affectingher speech and I need to get her theraphy and now she can let me know if she needs something.

If you need anymore suggestions about it feel free to let me know.
My email is ____@____.com

I hope it helped.
G.

We just did this last year with our daughter. After trying many different things we ended up going with the tubes and I didn't regret it one bit!
We are actually very natural people and like to try other options but she was in misery and I didn't intend for her to be in pain while I researched what we could try for her.
She has only had one ear infection since the tubes and before them she was actually on antibiotics at one point for 2 months straight. She had so many ear infections before the tubes I lost count.
We have a fabulous ENT and he was so gentle and caring. He was the first doctor to ever touch my daughter that she didn't scream and cry. She was so miserable!
Anyway, all that aside I would go for a second opinion if you have concerns. My opinion for my daughter was the tubes were the best thing to do. Although no surgery is easy to deal with, especially when it is your child, it is very quick and relatively easy to deal with. She was away from me for exactly one hr from putting her to sleep...the surgery...and bringing her to me in the recovery room.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!

N.

And PS: My daughter was beginning to have some lower level hearing loss and she wasn't speaking as much as I thought she should be. She was not a very happy baby. After the surgery she was totally different. Friends even commented on how much she changed and how happy she was. She became a little chatter box in not time at all!

DEAR C.,

MY SON HAD IT DONE ON HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY. THE EAR INFECTIONS CAN LEAD TO OTHER THINGS SINCE THE EARS, NOSE AND THROAT ARE ALL CONNECTED. FOR EXAMPLE, ACID REFLUX. WE WENT TO CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA AT THE VOORHEES OFFICE AND THEY WERE FANOMINAL! HE WAS IN AND OUT OF THERE AND MOST INSURANCES COVER IT. THE DOCTORS NAME WAS IAN JACOBS. RESEARCH CAN BE DONE ON HIS BACKGROUND AND I THINK YOU WILL BE IMPRESSES AS WAS I. GOOD LUCH AND FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ANYTHING ELSE YOU MAY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS.
H.

Hi C.,

I know of folks who have had good results from chiropractic and one who got no result from chiropractic. I also know people who have had good results from the surgery and those who have had complications. I think the sensible route is to try chiropractic first...it may help and it can't hurt. If it were me, I'd look for a chiropractor with advanced training in cranio-sacral techniques (see www.upledger.com for more info on CST). If that doesn't work, then go for surgery, which does cause problems in a small percentage of cases (definitely talk to the surgeon about the success rates and what can be done to avoid complications)but is most often a great help.

Best of luck to you and yours.

M.

well my daughter had the tubes in her ears when she turned 5....she is 7 now and the tubes have recently come out....i'm not sure if the tubes really worked but she has had only one ear infection and not a severe one since they have come out. i really had no choice because she has had alot of ear infections since she was about six months.

C., 1st thing you need to do is calm down. I was in the SAME situtation as you over the summer with my ( at that time 5 year old). She has always suffered from ear infections since the day she was born. When her family dr told me to take her to the ENT dr, i flipped!!!! After talking to him I realized that my baby girl was suffering, and had been suffering for awhile. At the check up the ENT dr said that she had about a 60% hearing loss ( that's a lot if you think about it). We had NO other options except either get the tubes done, or let her suffer and possibly loos all hearing completely. Well We optted for the tubes. I am NOT going to lie to you, it is scarey, mainly because you have to turn your child over to someone to do a major surgery on her, but you are a mom and you CAN be very brave. The surgery didn't take that long ( my little one had her tonsills removed, her adnoids removed AND tubes placed in her ears all at the same time and it took less than 1hour). The recovery time for her was what was so hard!! But like I said she had several things doen at once.After the surgery the Dr came in to talk to her father and me, and said that her hearing loss was more like 90% ( 10% more and she would have been deaf), well needless to say I cried!! But on the car ride home ( becasue it's an in and out proceddure) we had a motorcycle pass us and she started crying because it was soooo loud. You can not have them outside for a little while after wards, but the wind wasn't bad I put a hat on her, took her outside for about 10min's of fresh air ( she was sitting on my lap) and she didn't know what was making this werid noise ( it was the peacocks up the road from me that squawk ALL SUMMER LONG) and when i told her she said " wow mommy their loud, i've never heard them before", again I cried because it finally hit me that she couldn't hear as she should have been able to. As far as water in her ear's, I put cotton balls in her ears to wash her hair ( I just recently stopped doing that because they weren't permament only tempory tubes,and they are coming out)so she didn't get any water in them, and swimming time she had ear plugs ( the moldable ones you can get at the pharmacy) AND a swim cap ( I am a mom who is "better safe then sorry" so I doule protected her ears.The Dr said that if she was going to go under water in the DEEP end of the pool then she would need ear protection, but I didn't want to take any chances. The recovery time after the surgery ( once again mine might be different because she did have so much done) was difficult becasue Ihad to keep her quite, and calm ( that was funny), but I bought coloring books, puzzels and ALOT of movies rented and we spent one on one time together snuggling on couch and doing all of those things. The medicine that she was sent home with was Tyelnol with codine, tyelnol, and motrin ( the tyelnol with codine was giving toher that day she came home and for 2 days after ( ut I think that was becasue of her tonsills being removed) She NEVER complained about pain in her ears. If their dr suggests that they need tubes in their ears ask him/her what is their hearing loss. For every ear infection a child has there is scar tissue that forms and that is what takes away their hearing. If their hearing loss is NOT that bad, or if they do not suffer from ear infections, it seems every month, take them to a Chiropractor.There is a certain part of a spine that if it's out of wack WILL cause chronic ear infections ( Dr DONT like to tell you that becasue they don't belive in Chiropractor's) My cousin took her daughter to a Chiropractor becasue of chronic ear infections, after a little less than a year of visit's she has NEVER had another infection again( she was 1 1/2 years old when she started going, and she is now 13 years old). I hope this helps you out. And if I can help you out anymore with this please feel free to ask me!!!

Hi C.
I have a 12 year old daughter who had the procedure done in 2001. She was constantly having ear infections, and spent about 6 months on Amoxicillin to try to alleviate them. I finally gave in and took her to an ENT here in the rea (Port Jervis) and he felt it would be in her best interest to put tubes inher ears. I was a little leary at first but after the tubes were in place she was infection free UNTIL they came out. Within 4 months of the tubes coming out, she then again started with ear infections and has had 2 ear drum ruptures since, the last being this past new years. Back to the ENT we went again and she is scheduled April 2 for the procedure again. I am a firm believer that the tubes DO work. The procedure is done in and out day surgery and the procedure itself only takes about 15 minute, the longest part is just the recovery period while the child comes out of the anesthesia. The only downfall is water CANNNOT get in the ears after, so ear plugs have to be worn when swimming and bathing and showering. That can be abit tedious if the child is very young but they make "moldable" soft wax ear plugs that mold to fit the child's specific ear shape and they also make a "headband" style one as well. Just keep this in mind for the "aftercare" If you would like to know the names of the ENT we went to feel free to email me at ____@____.com luck and I hope everything works out for you and yours
Sue

C.,

My sister just had my nephew's done about a month ago. It is VERY safe, very quick, and makes a world of difference. He is 14 months right now, and the explosion in his language since then has been remarkable. He really couldn't hear, and the constant infections are painful. I am sure that some time to do it, wou will be scared to death, we all are when soemone touches our babies. But it will go fast, and they'll feel and hear so much better. From what I understand, it's really the only option to prevent them from getting the infections if they are prone to them. What happens is that fluid gets trapped in the ear, and because our ears are open, bacteria gets into the fluid, and that causes the infection. The rube allow the fluid to escape, and not build up. The only other alternative is repeated rounds of antibiotices to clear up the infections when they happen. That's really no good for the girls, and it doesn't stop the pain of getting the infections, or the hearing loss that comes with having fluid in one's ears all the time.

They let my sister in the operating room to hold her son's hand until the anesthesia knocked him out, and then she was already in rcovery with him when he woke up. As far as he knows, she never left him for a minute! They'll be all right. Get them a new toy and some ice cream, so you can feel better about the whole thing.