ear tubes in 4yr old

My 4 yr old is having ear infection and for last few months (4 months
to be precise) he has been under some nasal spray medicine. Last week
the ENT specialist asked us to go with tubes. He did hearing test and
found that there is a loss of hearing for 30 decibals(no sure if I am
right about the units though ) According to him my son has fluid in
the (middle ) ear and tubes shall remove all the fluid and hearing
will be restored.

My son has no problems hearing and talks well


My questions :
I am scared of the surgery especially the ansthesia part.
Should I be worried? The idea of having my son under anesthesia is
scaring me. Will he be alright? God forbid if something were to
happen
to him I won't be able to live.I love him more than anything in this
world. I am very worried
Should I ask doc to put him under anti-biotics? Will it dry the fluid
and we can avoid surgery? Or am I worried for nothing?


Please any thoughts , experiences will help.


Appreciate you reading my message.

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:46:47 -0800 (PST), wrote:

My 4 yr old is having ear infection and for last few months (4 months
to be precise) he has been under some nasal spray medicine. Last week
the ENT specialist asked us to go with tubes. He did hearing test and
found that there is a loss of hearing for 30 decibals(no sure if I am
right about the units though ) According to him my son has fluid in
the (middle ) ear and tubes shall remove all the fluid and hearing
will be restored.

My son has no problems hearing and talks well


My questions :
I am scared of the surgery especially the ansthesia part.
Should I be worried? The idea of having my son under anesthesia is
scaring me. Will he be alright? God forbid if something were to
happen
to him I won't be able to live.I love him more than anything in this
world. I am very worried
Should I ask doc to put him under anti-biotics? Will it dry the fluid
and we can avoid surgery? Or am I worried for nothing?


Please any thoughts , experiences will help.


Appreciate you reading my message.

Hi-

My daughter has had this surgery. I was very quick (lasted about
10-15 minutes) and there were no problems at all with the anesthesia.

However, there can be a concern over anesthesia, so I understand where
you're coming from. My suggestion would be that you talk to your
doctor, or another doctor and voice your concerns. Perhaps an
anesthesiologist would be willing to talk with you.

In our situation, my daughter had significant hearing loss and the
fluid in her ears wouldn't clear up in spite of a couple of courses of
antibiotics and antihistamines. If I were in your shoes I might opt
for trying medicine first. Any doctor with their salt will be willing
to try this unless it's either not working already, or there is some
other issue why you cannot.

Nan

antibiotics will only clear an infection, ears can be filled with fluid,
cause a hearing loss, but not be infected.

Have you considered seeing a natropath? Our daughter got an ear
infection aged 18 months, antibiotics cleared the infection, but her
ears remained full of fluid, we realised we were probably on a path to
tubes and with that age being so critical for speech development we
headed to the natropath.

He recommended stopping dairy (dairy promotes mucous production), a
homeopathic remedy and ear drops that contained garlic. The store was
out of the homeopathic remedy and we weren't super strict on the dairy,
just cut out the obvious stuff, switching milk to soy milk and offering
other proteins instead of cheese. Within 3 days of that and the ear
drops there was significant improvement, we added in the homeopathic
remedy and at the next check her ears were clear. It also reduced the
proportion of time her nose was runny.

We got it cleared up before the point of surgery and before the hearing
test we'd booked, her hearing test was fine and she's been fine ever since.

Cheers
Anne

On Feb 29, 7:47*pm, Anne Rogers wrote:
antibiotics will only clear an infection, ears can be filled with fluid,
cause a hearing loss, but not be infected.

Have you considered seeing a natropath? Our daughter got an ear
infection aged 18 months, antibiotics cleared the infection, but her
ears remained full of fluid, we realised we were probably on a path to
tubes and with that age being so critical for speech development we
headed to the natropath.

He recommended stopping dairy (dairy promotes mucous production), a
homeopathic remedy and ear drops that contained garlic. The store was
out of the homeopathic remedy and we weren't super strict on the dairy,
just cut out the obvious stuff, switching milk to soy milk and offering
other proteins instead of cheese. Within 3 days of that and the ear
drops there was significant improvement, we added in the homeopathic
remedy and at the next check her ears were clear. It also reduced the
proportion of time her nose was runny.

We got it cleared up before the point of surgery and before the hearing
test we'd booked, her hearing test was fine and she's been fine ever since..

Cheers
Anne




Thanks for all the replies.
My son's doc(regular physician) had given him some antibiotics at
least 5 months back and the fluid had dried up at that time. Since
then the ENT specialist never prescribed the medicine.
I am going to another ENT specialist tomorrow and see what he has to
say.
Wish me luck

Anne --

Although milk is credited with causing mucous, it doesn't seem to
actually do that. However, undiagnosed milk allergy is quite common;
your child may have a mild allergy to cow's milk protein. Drastically
reducing the amount of milk in her diet may have simply cleared up the
allergic reaction.

Or waiting longer may have been all that was needed. Or indeed, the
homeopathic drops.

--Beth Kevles
-THE-COM-HERE
http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the GMAIL one if you would
like me to reply.

On Feb 29, 9:59 pm, (Beth Kevles) wrote:
Anne --

Although milk is credited with causing mucous, it doesn't seem to
actually do that. However, undiagnosed milk allergy is quite common;
your child may have a mild allergy to cow's milk protein. Drastically
reducing the amount of milk in her diet may have simply cleared up the
allergic reaction.

Or waiting longer may have been all that was needed. Or indeed, the
homeopathic drops.

--Beth Kevles
-THE-COM-HERE
http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html-- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the GMAIL one if you would
like me to reply.

Still don't know what to do?

wrote in message
Still don't know what to do?

Get a second opinion and see what another ENT has to say. Homopathic
remedies have not been approved by the FDA and I would be skeptical to start
any kind of treatment like that on a child. You could end up doing worse
damage or putting something off that should not be put off. As a mom of a
child that was born with a chronic illness and that had to have multiple
surgeries, the anesthesia is usually not a problem with a healthy person.
Also, the length of time a person is under is more riskier. When they put
tubes in, the average time is about 20 minutes, not long at all and the
anesthesia won't be as strong as an adult would get or even a longer
surgery.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

On Mar 1, 7:23*am, "Sue" wrote:
wrote in message
Still don't know what to do?

Get a second opinion and see what another ENT has to say. Homopathic
remedies have not been approved by the FDA and I would be skeptical to start
any kind of treatment like that on a child. You could end up doing worse
damage or putting something off that should not be put off. As a mom of a
child that was born with a chronic illness and that had to have multiple
surgeries, the anesthesia is usually not a problem with a healthy person.
Also, the length of time a person is under is more riskier. When they put
tubes in, the average time is about 20 minutes, not long at all and the
anesthesia won't be as strong as an adult would get or even a longer
surgery.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

Sue-
I really appreciate the response. I am taking him to an ENT today and
see what he has to say.

On Feb 29, 7:46 am, wrote:
My 4 yr old is having ear infection and for last few months (4 months
to be precise) he has been under some nasal spray medicine. Last week
the ENT specialist asked us to go with tubes. He did hearing test and
found that there is a loss of hearing for 30 decibals(no sure if I am
right about the units though ) According to him my son has fluid in
the (middle ) ear and tubes shall remove all the fluid and hearing
will be restored.

My son has no problems hearing and talks well

My questions :
I am scared of the surgery especially the ansthesia part.
Should I be worried? The idea of having my son under anesthesia is
scaring me. Will he be alright? God forbid if something were to
happen
to him I won't be able to live.I love him more than anything in this
world. I am very worried
Should I ask doc to put him under anti-biotics? Will it dry the fluid
and we can avoid surgery? Or am I worried for nothing?

Please any thoughts , experiences will help.

Appreciate you reading my message.

You don't need to put tubes in his ears. There is another process,
which was done to me personally. I grew up with constant ear aches,
ear infections, trouble hearing, and the initial recommendation was
for (the barbaric) tubes in the ears. An older doctor at the
Children's Hospital, took a culture from my throat, and made it into a
serum and injected me with it. It boosted my immunity system, and the
problem corrected itself.
Commonly, doctors were also giving me antibiotics all the time, which
was also part of the problem. They make your immunity system week.
My father made the decision to take me off of the antibiotics
completely. For about a month, I was sick as a dog, then I started to
get better as my immunity system took over. Over 50 now, I'm very
healthy and never get sick almost ever, when people get sick around
me. I don't use those flu vaccines at all.
Some doctors will know about this procedure, but not too many. They
just don't do it anymore, because it is more expensive. Do some
research, you'll find what I'm talking about.
Toodles, Fred )

wrote in message
...
My 4 yr old is having ear infection and for last few months (4 months
to be precise) he has been under some nasal spray medicine. Last week
the ENT specialist asked us to go with tubes. He did hearing test and
found that there is a loss of hearing for 30 decibals(no sure if I am
right about the units though ) According to him my son has fluid in
the (middle ) ear and tubes shall remove all the fluid and hearing
will be restored.

My son has no problems hearing and talks well


My questions :
I am scared of the surgery especially the ansthesia part.
Should I be worried? The idea of having my son under anesthesia is
scaring me. Will he be alright? God forbid if something were to
happen
to him I won't be able to live.I love him more than anything in this
world. I am very worried
Should I ask doc to put him under anti-biotics? Will it dry the fluid
and we can avoid surgery? Or am I worried for nothing?


Please any thoughts , experiences will help.


Appreciate you reading my message.


When I was a kid I had ear tubes. They saved my hearing and were the best
thing my parents could have done. I just wish that they would have done it
sooner.
I remember a few days after having the tubes in I suddenly could hear things
that I never heard before, like bird chirping and I could hear everything
*so* much better. Also the pressure that I felt in my ears vanished, I
think that was the best effect.
I also stopped having ear infections and no longer had to take nasty
medications for them.
Luckily, my children have never had ear problems, however if they did and
ear tubes were recommended, I would have it done.