Multipule Ear Infections

This may sound crazy to you, but have you taken them to a chiropracter??? My neighbor has done that and so has a friend of mine. They have both told me that they do that instead of antibiotics for ear infections. Let me know if you want the Dr.s' name. I personnaly have never been but they both swear by them. Just a thought. Good luck!

I'd try a chiropractor (tell them you are there for ear issues)-can't hurt!

Also-talk to the dr. about you being concerned about giving them antibiotics too often-you don't want to do that if you can avoid it 'cause the kids will evetually grow resistant to them but, on the other hand, you can't have them always sick without medicine too! Your dr. needs to closely monitor what types they are having, how much they are having and when they are having them (which he/she should be doing anyway, but they are busy too)!

Just a suggestion!

I hope for the best!
T.

Oh boy do I feel for you! My son had basically one ear infection from the time he was 6 months old until he was almost 4 years old. We just could not get rid of the infection. After that, we have battled 6 or seven infections a year, at least. I don't want to go into everything here, it would take so much space and time, but I just posted about this on my blog and think you would benefit from reading it. http://homeschoolblogger.com/weare3/426957/
I would suggest getting the adenoids removed. The adenoids sit on top of the other end of the Eustachian tubes and if they are the slightest bit swollen, they will block the other end of the tubes so that they cannot drain and therefore, they fluid builds up in the ear. I just wish I had known this many years ago. It would have prevented years of suffering and some permanent hearing damage. It also possibly would have prevented the need for surgery to replace his eardrum that was almost completely gone.
I do hope that you read my blog and find the info there useful.
Good luck to you.

I have to reinforce what has already been said by a few others. Ear infections are most often caused by allergies. The body is reacting to an irritant by creating congestion, which gets built up into the ears. Saline sprays several times daily can keep the nasal passages wet to allow drainage, but does not stop the congestion from being created in the first place. My son has severe allergies. Allergic to cow's milk, and soy milk, (plus many other foods) so formula after he was done breastfeeding was not possible. Many, many people are allergic to cow's dairy, soy, wheat, and corn and have no clue because they think being constantly congested is okay (even just a little bit of congestion is not a normal state for the body. These 4 ingredients are in just about everything you buy at a regular grocery store, except the produce section. It takes shopping at a health food store such as Whole Foods to get snacks and cereals without them.)
My 18 month old son's reactions to allergies are either skin rashes and/or congestion. He has had several ear infections, none of which have been treated with antibiotics. I simply take him to the chiropractor for an adjustment. After an adjustment, the congestion literally starts pouring out within the following hour. It is amazing and freaky! I have avoided all drugs except an herbal expectorant that contains guaifenasen and herbal stuff. It is made by Naturade and I find it at Whole Foods and the little health food store close to my home. We are doing NAET allergy treatments and are having great success with them. (Do an internet search to find out more info. on this. It has been very effective for him, and is totally pain-free and relatively inexpensive----much cheaper than a childhood full of drugs, ear tubes, and whatever else they do.)
I have found an MD who has been a great help, Dr. Gilbert Manso. His team is wonderful and will avoid antibiotics if at all possible. You can find him easily on the web. I most often use my naturopath, ND, but her waiting list is a year out, so you can do a search or check with your local health food store to find other naturopaths. Both of these doctors have been a great help in learning what foods to avoid . The naturopath does the NAET treatments and tested my son to find what his allergies were. She has honestly been our lifesaver with my son's allergies! Quite a few chiropractors do NAET also.
Good luck!

My son had multiple ear infections. I took him to a pediatric chiropractor two or three times for a mild adjustment to his neck. He has not had an ear infection since, and it has been a year now. Also his pedi recomended giving him probiotics to counter-act the bad effects of antibiotics. I bought Culturelle from Walmart and opened one capsule into his cereal each day. It helped with diarreah (sp?) and diaper rash and is good for them in so many other ways.
http://www.upwardquest.com/probiotics-benefits.html Hope your babies are well soon.

Hi J., I read several years back about the great responce rate with the use of chiropractic adjustments.
Seems that children don't have the reacurrences that are normal after the use of antibiotics for ear infections in small children. Hope that helps. C.

J.-

Let me give you my two cents - having raised four children with tubes. YES... .the tubes are to PREVENT future ear infections. You are RIGHT. If you ARE stating that they have had a constant infection SINCE the surgery, well, it sounds like the SURGICAL AREA is infected - this can lead to scar tissue - WHICH CAN AFFECT THEIR LONG-TERM HEARING... I'm with POSTER SHANNON ON THIS ONE - Run, don't walk, and get a second opinion, ASAP! I would do that BEFORE trying the more holistic methods recommended by other posters.

Keep us updated!

C.

Um...i think I would get a second opinion--from a doctor that is not in the same network.

I have not heard of that and it worries me. If the ears are draining correctly there is no reason for them to be infected. Infections are from the fluid sitting there.

We did tubes and never had a problem for the 2 1/2 years they were in, and had few problems afterwards! We had the long term tubes.

I would check with the gentlemen who owns Tri-Health off of Fuqua. Herman said that reoccuring ear infections stem from yeast in the body. Some studies have indicated that prolonged use of antibiotics by infants and small children may be cause for dev. of add/ adhd. Rather Herman suggest giving small children doses of a garlic supplement and garlic drops in the ear to cease further infections. Defintley worth looking into, good luck.

When my 4 year-old had tubes put in at 2 years of age, I was told that 10% of the patients could still have recurrent ear infections after this surgery. So “bingo” my son was one of those, and it sounds like your girls are in the same group. He would have an ear infection at least once a month after he had the tubes put in. I was really worried about it and I couldn't find anybody to give me any other solution to the problem.
So later that year, I went overseas for Christmas and I saw a pediatrician there. She told me right away that he needed allergy treatment. She prescribed Zyrtec, Singulair, and Nasonex and within a few weeks he improved a lot and since then he only had a few ear infections. That was 2 years ago and I still have to give him the Nasonex and the Singulair everyday.
So when I had my 2nd child, the pediatrician recommended the same treatment, because he was even more allergic than the 1st one and he is also asthmatic (my oldest son doesn’t have asthma), and also there is a higher risk of having ear infections if you have a sibling that suffers from them. But with my little one we are doing just fine, he is 2 now, and has had a few ear infections. We give him the Zyrtec, Singulair for the allergies, and the Pulmicort respules everyday as a prophylactic treatment for asthma.
So I would recommend you to take them to an allergy doctor for a 2nd opinion.
Good luck. I hope this helps.

J.,
I have a 9 year old son who had ear infections constantly when he was younger. He also had very big tonsils and snored like a grown man. Our family doctor suggested that we have his tonsils taken out. About 3 years ago, we had his tonsils and adenoids taken out and he has not had an ear infection since and his sinus problems have almost completely dissappeared. I don't know if your twins are experiencing any of the other problems that my son was and I don't know if having their tonsils and adenoids taken out will make a difference, but I thought I would share the information with you. Good luck and I hope you and the twins get some relief soon.

Get a second opinion!! My 3 year old had tubes for about a year and half and never got an ear infection and has only 1 since they fell out. Her health is much improved. Either way, the antibiotics your doctor has the babies on are not helping, so it sounds like something else will have to be done. I encourage that second opinion and good luck to finding and solving the problem. God bless your sweet babies!!

Your ENT knows what they are talking about... the tubes keep the air pressure between the middle ear and the outside world balanced so there is not perforation of the ear drums which is BAD!

It's possible the fluid is a reaction from allergies or infections.

I would suggest clearing out the fluid (with a q tip)that comes out in the outside part of the ear (don't stick the q tip in past the entrace of the canal as that could cause the fluid to compact and make things worse) 2x/day which will keep the "yuck factor" lower and decrease the smell..

They will be fine.. .it's just like any other infection but you can see and smell it.

I have worked with children for 13 years and have had parents tell me about the same experiences.

One of the fun things about being a parent!

J.

Hi J.-

I have 3 children. My oldest had constant ear infections...antibiotics made no difference and I knew were not good for him. My second had some ear infections. When I began giving them both a really good quality nutritional supplement with plenty of Vitamin C, the ear infections stopped completely. They never had another infection of any kind until my son punctured his foot jumping barefoot onto a stick. They are both in college now and truly never had any other health issues. My third child had one ear infection that I know about. That's it. She's 11 now, and again never gets anything. Making some basic dietary changes and seeing that they got some of what they were perhaps deficient in made all the difference in their health all the way into adulthood.

I would recommend probiotics for your child especially after all the antibiotics which will damage the immune system making it harder for anyone to maintain their health in the future.
The Candida Wellness Center (online at www.theyeastanswer.com) has a good probiotic for infants and young children and others for older children and adults. They also provide information.
You could also go to Donna Gates' site (look for Body Ecology online or the book The Body Ecology Diet) for good dietary info. and how to incorporate probiotic foods into the diet.
The antibiotics your daughters are receiving are not truly "health care" but rather are "crisis management" and don't seem to be even doing a good job of that.

All I know is that allergies were the real culprit when my oldest was having this problem. We never went for the tubes, because a friend of ours had to do that for her son, and he was never any better. I was also told that if you let a baby lay down with a bottle of anything other than plain water, that this will cause ear infection as well. Since we learned about that, she has only had one infection since. The last one that she had was really bad, but allergy medicine was prescribed, and she got over it quickly.

My husband is an ENT doctor. I asked him about this. Drainage from the ears after tubes being placed in the ears can occur. It is basically the fluid that would be causing infections and pain if the tubes were not there. If the drainage doesn't resolve after a long course of antibiotic ear drops, then the tubes may need to be removed.

I don't know if I agree that it's okay for them to continue having ear infections after tubes. I'm not a doctor, but conventional wisdom is that the tubes stop the infections.

My son had chronic infections, we finally did tubes, he didn't have a single infection until a year later when one of the tubes fell out.

It sounds just a little off to me - what with the smelly discharge, antibiotics since surgery. If it were me, I would make an appointment with a new ENT and get another opinion.

Good luck! S.

I experienced the same thing with my son, now 15 years old. I wish I new then, what I know now! My son had an ear infection like clockwork every 5 to 8 weeks. I never new if it was the same infection that never recovered or he just was prone to them. It was frustrating, painful and took many hours from work - back and forth to the doctors office. Since we were active duty military; Alex saw a different doctor every time and no-one put the pieces together. Until finally, he was around six or seven years old we got referred to an allergist off base. After being tested; he had numerous food allergies and indoor related allergies and Asthma. Everytime he had an allergic reaction to something he would get all these cold/cough related symptoms (ear, nose, eye, throat) that lead to ear infections. The civilian allergist (retired Mil)new the routine and recommended his tonsils and adenoids be removed as soon as possible. They were extremely enlarged and required surgery. Once his allergies/asthma were managed and the surgeries complete: he has not had another ear infection! Not to say that your children have allergies; but there could be something else going on that is causing the recurring ear infections. My son had experienced speech related issues that went up to first grade when I approached the teacher and went to the doctor. All those ear infections caused him muffled hearing during the time of early speech development. He always talked "baby talk" because that was the way he would hear and mimick speech. After two years of having a wonderful speech therapist; he has no indications of every having a speech problem. I would definitely follow up with a doctor and look in to it. If there are things that can be found and resolved before it creates other problems. I wished I was more persistent earlier on. He had already been allergic to baby formula when I brought him home from the hospital and I put him on Soy formula. I had no idea the allergies were related to the ear infections and apparently none of the doctors picked up on it either. Good Luck and don't hesitate to pursue medical issues in the best interest of your children - follow your instincts...