Advice concerning ear tubes

[silasmom]

Silas has had a lot of ear infections this year and is scheduled to get tubes March 16th. He won't wear his hearing aid when there is fluid in his ear, which has been rather frequent this winter.

I know many of you have been through this already. Any advice would be appreciated :)

[fia's mom]

I would appreciate any input also as Sophia is needing ear tubes as well. Thanks in advance!

[mom2E&G]

Hi
Everyone's experiences with tubes is different and I have heard many success stories. However, I feel the need to tell my experience because I wish I asked others before I did it for my daughter.
Elizabeth (now 5) had tubes put in when she was 3 1/2. She was born with bilateral hearing loss. She had many, many infections between 2 and when she gots tubes and each time, her hearing would drop drastically. We didn't know any ASL at the time, so it was a VERY difficult time because her behavior would also change drastically due to such frustration. So we followed the advice of her ENT and went with tubes. I asked him if there was a chance her hearing could get worse due to tubes to which he assured me "no". Although the surgery did help greatly to remove all the fluid, we noticed that her hearing was not what it was before the infections (her baseline). He told us it's common to have a slight drop in hearing because of the tiny piece of plastic that is now in her ears. The good news is that she had only a couple ear infections while the tubes were in. The bad news is once they both fell out (we got about 9 months out of them) one of her ears now had a hole in it which caused even more of a drop in her hearing....the other ear had some scar tissue which also caused a slight drop. Although we boosted her hearing aids up, I was still very concerned the hole wouldn't close and would require more surgery. The hole finally closed about 2 months ago (almost two years from when she got them) and her hearing got much better, however it's still not exactly what it was before the surgery. So to make a long story longer, the tubes helped with the fluid and infections but also brought on some complications. I don't want to scare people away from doing tubes because I have heard so many success stories from others but felt the need to let people hear another side as well. Whenever I talk about my regrets with her pediatrician, he says we had to do tubes because she was at risk for regressing in her language development and it was causing so much frustration for her. We now have found that Triaminic (yellow one) and Claritin work wonders for clearing the fluid so that's the route we will go with my younger daughter who is also HOH. Sorry this is so long but hope it helps.

[Jenrose]

Shiny was diagnosed as HOH at 9 months, and got aids at 11 months, despite some fluid. the HOH diagnosis happened with clear ears, but after that, we had maybe a total of 1 month in the next 7 months where she didn't have fluid in her ears... only a couple of infections, but she has tiny tubes and it takes forever for her to clear. So she started fighting her aids, and at 16 months they finally tested, and *with fluid* her hearing was better than it had been, clear, at 9 months!

So when she was almost exactly 18 months old, they put tubes in. The surgery was uncomplicated, one ear tested normal, the other worse than before the surgery. So we waited 3 weeks and tested again... and her hearing was normal. And not just a little bit normal, but normal through the whole range, she was responding at 15 db.

The tubes also make flying fun for her, no pain.

I wouldn't do ear surgery just for that, but it was a nice side effect. Her language has improved radically since the surgery, which is amazing given that most of the kids with her underlying condition don't talk.

[brenkachika]

My Katie-Jayne is not HOH, but she did have chronic ear infections from age six months on. She never slept much, unless she was on me in a semi-upright postition. It was a horrible time. Mommy was sleep deprived and GRUMPY. Big sister was in the very busy and inquisitive 2 year old phase. Daddy was working LATE hours as a Navy Recruiter. (And can you believe that during this time I somehow managed to become pregnant with #3? I still don't know how we managed that!) Katie-Jayne was on constant anti-biotics. Two days after a course of anti-biotics and she was screaming again. After 6 months of this we FINALLY got tubes. It was a blessing. A week later she was sleeping in her own bed all night long! (I like to co-sleep, but as soon as we are expecting a new baby I like to transition them to their own beds.) Napping! Mommy was almost normal except for pregnancy hormones! He tubes stayed in for almost a year and a half, and she has not had any problems with ear infections since then. I prefer the tubes to constant anti-biotics. I know some people feel differently, but the minimal risk of surgery was worth the releif our entire family felt. Tubes litterally changed our family dynamic. We went from short tempered grumpy people to well rested happy people. She is now almost 7.
I hope this helps. Let us know how it all goes.
-Kerry

[dmmetler]

DH has ear tubes as an adult. Apparently the part of his anatomy which was supposed to open up and allow the eustatian tubes to drain better as he got older didn't (at age 3 or so-although supposedly it may improve as he goes into senior citizen status). He has trouble understanding speech (but tests out just barely below normal on the digital tests), but lip reads extremely well.

Anyway, for him, the surgery usually is followed by some dizziness for a day or two, after which things are much improved-and if needed, there is a form of the tube which can be used for up to 10 years at a time.

When Alli started to have ear problems, given the family history, her doctor prescribed nasonex spray. Apparently, it can improve the functioning of the eustatian tube, and her pediatrician was hoping that using it would at least avoid the need for long-term tubes. So far, it's been wonderful. She's had only one infection since then (although I sometimes wonder what her teachers think we're doing at home since she'll take small bottles from the play kitchen and "squirt" her stuffed animal's or doll's noses!) and that was secondary to a pretty major sinus infection.

[jenml]

Success story with tubes:

My son is typically developing, but he had constant ear infections since he was an infant. He also had (has) an unusually high tolerance for pain, so he never told me about the pain in his ears until it was a raging infection. And when we did our ten day later checkup after antibiotics, there was almost an infection in the other ear (sigh).

Also, my pediatrician said that she couldn't understand alot of what Henry was saying (articulation-wise). I understood him, and we used ASL at home as our first language, so if I didn't understand his speech, he'd sign it... no big deal....

For these two reasons, Henry got tubes at 3 1/2. The tube surgery and recovery were completely unremarkable! People said he spoke clearer than ever and understood nearly everything he said.

(Henry also had his tonsils and adenoids out that same morning due to his infections or whatnot... that was more difficult to recover from, but it was all the same day).

We used a pediatric ENT surgeon (the only one I know of in Southern CT, from Yale NH), and it was a great experience. Henry lost one tube a year later, but it will not have to be replaced. He had only two recurring ear infections six months after the surgery (and I still think it was from being in the pool EVERY day of that hot, nasty summer last year).

So... that's our experience, for what it's worth....

[TarheelTuckers]

My son, Dallin, is 18 months old. He began having chronic ear infections at around 9 months and kept a constant infection and fluid in the ear. In January, when he was 16 months old, we had tubes put in. He had not had his hearing tested previously (except for at birth), but he wasn't speaking any words including dada or mama. As soon as he got the tubes though, he started speaking within the day! It was such a drastic change! His behavior improved tons also!
Our experience was just great with them. He has had them for 2 months and hasn't had any infections.

[Planecrazy]

I have had no experience with tubes, but a year or so ago I remember seeing an episode of "Beyond Tomorrow," where a new procedure was being profiled for this problem. What "they" do instead of tubes is to use a precision laser to create a small drainage hole.

As I recall, the advantages were supposed to be both comfort, as well as less risk for permanent eardrum damage (the holes close naturally over time). Also, the procedure takes just seconds (versus surgery) and the only minor issue for the child is that for just an instant they hear a load "bang" (although my understanding is that it is a virtually painless procedure) when the laser is activated.

I'm sorry I don't know more, but for those of you who actively struggle with ear infections at least it's a possible option to explore, especially if the child has a hearing problem to begin with. I also don't know if this procedure is even being done in the U.S. It's possible that the program covered the procedure in Europe ("Beyond Tomorrow" is an Australian production, but their stories are covered worldwide).

Anyway, hope this is helpful, and good luck!!

[meredith_tiffany]

Both of my girls have tubes due to cronic ear infections as infants (they slept with us as well in a semi-reclining position because the fluid build-up made it very hard for them to sleep). My 4 year old, Erica, got tubes at 22 months and, because of our family history, our youngest, Olivia, had the surgery at 10 months. Since the tubes, both of them have only had one or two ear infections. Olivia speaks much better than Erica did at the same age, but I am not sure whether that is because she got the tubes a year earlier, or because of ST!! and the tubes definitely improved the sleeping situation. :) The ENT did mention that Erica has had a tube fall out but the hole is still not closed up, so if it does not close up, she will have to have surgery later on. She also has one that has not fallen out yet, and if that doesn't fall out by June, she will have to have surgery to remove the tube because the chances of the hole in that ear not closing up increase significantly. So either way she may have to have more surgery.

[lovemy6sweeties]

I know that is not the norm though :)

We initially did tubes because of ear infections and the fear that fluid build up could cause hearing loss and further speech delays in our little guy (common in children w/ds). After the tubes he only had a couple of infections, and since they've fallen out, he's only had a couple more. For me, the 10 minute surgery (it was a total breeze) was worth the peace of mind of knowing that he would be able to hear better and not have so many infections. My 2nd daughter had constant ear infections til she was 2, and for some reason her pediatrician would not recommend tubes (and I was young and didn't know better). Her speech was really affected, and she did not speak well til she was in kindergarten. She could speak in sentences at an early age, but she was fairly unintelligible to anyone but us.

Our experiences are different, as Brady is not hard of hearing, and doesn't wear hearing aids or anything - but - overall, I have to say that I feel positively about having the tubes placed for him :)

Good luck with your decision!!!!

[ajberchielli]

My son basically has had fluid in his ears since about 1 month old. Doctors never did anything about it, it oviously hindered his hearing and speech development. It wasn't until closer to age 2 we finally got them to agree to tubes. This opened a whole new world for our son, however, in our case it didn't help with infections he still got several between age 1-3. They finally fell out and the fluid is building up again pretty much immediately. So a new doc placed set 2 of tubes in in Feb 2007.

But my husband had a ton of tubes and ear infections from infant- teen years. I think my son inherited the narrow and tipped eutashion tube from daddy.

Yes it is surgery, but it is so quick...they will be bringing him out of it before you can even sit there and think about it.

Best wishes!

[Jenny C.]

I have a question on ear infections and ear tubes? My question is, is it normal to have a lot of ear infections with tubes? Clare is 3 1/2 yrs old and on her secon set of tubes in two years. Her first set lasted about a year and they fell out she got the second set within 4 months of the first set. She has a lot of fluid in her ears and she gets a lot of ear infections. She doesn't feel pain or has a high tolleance we're not sure which. Most times I can tell if she has an infection is when I smeel it and the fluid id leaking out of her ears when her tubes are pluged than I don't know. Alot of them we found out about at rutine drs. visits. She also usually gets them in both ears at the same time. Clare is non-verbal but she can hear. She is learning all of her signs from Signing Time. she also has PVL, low muscle tone, oral adversions, sensory processing disorder, has trouble regulateing her temperature.
Jenny

[brenkachika]

From what I remember when my foster daughter got her tubes more than a year ago, it is not a garuntee that there will be no ear infections. Most kids experience not getting infections, but some will continue to get them. It is probably better for her that the infection can drain and not cause pressure and pain. I hope that the ear infections let up with summer coming.
-Kerry