Ear Tubes

[Guest guest]

hi ,

In regards to the rat study about possible learning disabilities I'm not saying

that's not probable, however it appears to be highly unlikely that any 4 year

old human is going through multiple surgeries unless it is necessary. I agree

with you that if the surgery is not necessary to not proceed, but guess that's

obvious.

Upon saying that I do want to say that my nephew had multiple ear

infections during preschool years, and even though my brother and sister in law

did get the ear tubes more than once is permanently hearing

impaired; one ear more than the other. Now the difference is that your son

hasn't had an ear infection in 18 months...but in 's case in spite of

excellent care from two highly educated parents who like you studied the pros

and cons of every procedure; he developed a permanent hearing loss from the

frequent ear infections.

So in 's case in theory too many surgeries 'could' have caused a learning

disorder, but in reality if perhaps he had more surgeries than what he did have,

he could have had normal hearing. This is what was said after the fact.

has to wear a hearing aid and without it he's able to hear a bit without an ear

infection -completely deaf with an ear infection. They have looked into

cochlear implants with some of the professionals and there is a reason they were

advised not to go that route with .

It's probably as always a case by case basis. I'd seek advice asking at boards

for hearing impaired and deaf as well, my understanding is that 's

situation is not at all unique.

=====

[Guest guest]

( sent to me by mistake so fw on)

ear tubes

Thu, December 17, 2009 10:11:28 AM

From:

Cristal <gtzellner@...>

Add to Contacts

kiddietalk@...

karen -

My daughter had multiple ear infections her first few years of life. We finally

put tubes in June of 2008 and just recently one of htem has fallen out.

Unfortunately she immedately got an ear infection in that ear, after no

infections for a year and a half as soon as the tube was out - BOOM.... Next

time she gets an infection I'm calling her ENT and talking ot him about tubing

her immediately... I will ride it out for now - but I am not going ot wait until

she has recurring infections, b/c a) It's painful for her and she can't even

tell me due to her lack of speach, and I know the tubes helped her. The

anesthesia part of things is a concern, but there certain types you can use that

are supposed to be a little safer - unfortuantely I am not sure what you are

supposed to ask for. I'm not a huge believer that it causes any issues, at

least not in 's case so I have never questioned it. It's also just local

and they are not putting

your child under for a long time. If you have any concerns at all - my

suggestion would just be to go for it. If the tubes worked and your son was

infection free with them in, but starts to get infections again since it's out -

don't wait...

That's just my 2 cents!

Good luck!

Cristal

gtzellner@...

>

> Hi all - I'm a new poster here. I some questions about getting ear tubes a

second time. Here is the back story --

>

> By 18 mos, DS wasn't talking at all. Nothing at all. He is our third child

so we obviously knew something wasn't right. Hearing test was poor and tons of

fluid in the middle ear. He had several ear infections in the first year, so we

did ear tubes at 20 months. By 2 years, he was still not talking, so we met

with a speech pathologist and got our apraxia diagnosis which is 100% right on

from what I understand of my son and the disorder. Found out the hearing loss

was a red herring. He has no other developmental concerns and his receptive

language tests several months ahead of his age.

>

> It's been 12 months since the ear tubes and 6 months since the apraxia

diagnosis. We have speech therapy several times each week - twice for 30 min

with a private speech therapist and once a week for an hour at our home with a

birth-to-three specialist from the school district. DS is making so much

improvement -- he is making many many attempts, lots of imitation. His vowel

sounds are all very clear and he is gaining consonants and many combinations of

sounds. It's all starting to come together just in the past month and we are

thrilled.

>

> We went to recheck his ears yesterday -- one tube is gone, one has worked its

way partially out with some fluid on that side (he has a cold this week). He is

showing no signs of hearing trouble, pain or infection. The doc immediately

said repeat the tubes because there is fluid present and he has speech delay.

When I questioned her about the risks/benefits of the surgery, she dismissed my

concerns and said that because of the speech delay, she would do it no matter

what. I tried to explain that his speech delay was unrelated to his hearing but

I don't think she understood what his speech needs were.

>

> My concerns about the surgery --

>

> ** I recently heard a very compelling study from Mayo about the link between

repeated exposure to general anesthesia before age 4 and learning disabilities.

When I mentioned this she challenged me to prove it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102306350

>

> ** I wonder about the necessity of ear tubes when there are no infections (he

hasn't had an ear infection in over 18 months) and he appears to have little or

no hearing loss at this time. When I asked to have his hearing rechecked prior

to surgery, she said no.

> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7249965 & ps=rs

>

> ** I have heard that fluid in the middle ear will go away on its own within

days, weeks or months and that there is no real long-term difference in

hearing/speech for children who have ear tubes immediately vs delayed placement.

>

http://www.medicineonline.com/news/10/5889/Delayed-Ear-Tube-Surgery-Doesn-t-Dela\

y-Development.html

>

> Because of this, we are considering taking a wait-and-see approach, but I

wanted to get the advice of other parents of apraxia who may have encountered a

similar situation. What did you do for your child and why?

>

> Bruce

> Mpls mom to Grover (8),Adelaide (5), and Finnegan (2)

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My son had fluid in his ears since birth until he was 2 1/2 years old. He did

not have infections and we waited as much as we could because he was going to

eventually need surgery for the spine. We were trying to avoid extra

anesthesia. Four months after he got the tubes, he started talking. In four

months he was saying 5-6 sentences. Apparently he could hear us before but could

not hear himself well. Well... the truth is that know really knows what

happened. This is just the explanation that one ENT gave us. The thing is that

we were shocked to see how quickly he was progressing.

He is 4 now. He obviously has had colds since then, some of them really bad.

Every time he gets a cold, he gets fluid. However, we have not put tubes for a

second time because the fluid has drained by itself. I think if your son had a

cold recently, it is too soon to rush and put ear tubes again. It may take 6-8

weeks for the fluid to go and yes... it may go by itself.

Every time they put ear tubes, they are scarring the ear drum. My son had a

retracted membrane in the right ear for a while and still has a V shape scar in

the left ear. There is no simple surgery. All surgeries are risky. If they do it

too much, there may be hardening of the membrane, which can also lead to

hearing loss. If he is talking, has no infection or any other symptom, I would

leave it. As the child grows, the Eustachian tubes grow also and fluid drains

more easily. In general, if it does not bother him why another surgery? That's

my opinion. I hope my experiences help you in any way.

Laimi

From: B <wherethebrucesare@...>

Subject: [ ] Ear Tubes

Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 11:49 PM

 

Hi all - I'm a new poster here. I some questions about getting ear tubes a

second time. Here is the back story --

By 18 mos, DS wasn't talking at all. Nothing at all. He is our third child so we

obviously knew something wasn't right. Hearing test was poor and tons of fluid

in the middle ear. He had several ear infections in the first year, so we did

ear tubes at 20 months. By 2 years, he was still not talking, so we met with a

speech pathologist and got our apraxia diagnosis which is 100% right on from

what I understand of my son and the disorder. Found out the hearing loss was a

red herring. He has no other developmental concerns and his receptive language

tests several months ahead of his age.

It's been 12 months since the ear tubes and 6 months since the apraxia

diagnosis. We have speech therapy several times each week - twice for 30 min

with a private speech therapist and once a week for an hour at our home with a

birth-to-three specialist from the school district. DS is making so much

improvement -- he is making many many attempts, lots of imitation. His vowel

sounds are all very clear and he is gaining consonants and many combinations of

sounds. It's all starting to come together just in the past month and we are

thrilled.

We went to recheck his ears yesterday -- one tube is gone, one has worked its

way partially out with some fluid on that side (he has a cold this week). He is

showing no signs of hearing trouble, pain or infection. The doc immediately said

repeat the tubes because there is fluid present and he has speech delay. When I

questioned her about the risks/benefits of the surgery, she dismissed my

concerns and said that because of the speech delay, she would do it no matter

what. I tried to explain that his speech delay was unrelated to his hearing but

I don't think she understood what his speech needs were.

My concerns about the surgery --

** I recently heard a very compelling study from Mayo about the link between

repeated exposure to general anesthesia before age 4 and learning disabilities.

When I mentioned this she challenged me to prove it. http://www.npr.

org/templates/ story/story. php?storyId= 102306350

** I wonder about the necessity of ear tubes when there are no infections (he

hasn't had an ear infection in over 18 months) and he appears to have little or

no hearing loss at this time. When I asked to have his hearing rechecked prior

to surgery, she said no.

http://www.npr. org/templates/ story/story. php?storyId= 7249965 & ps= rs

** I have heard that fluid in the middle ear will go away on its own within

days, weeks or months and that there is no real long-term difference in

hearing/speech for children who have ear tubes immediately vs delayed placement.

http://www.medicine online.com/ news/10/5889/ Delayed-Ear- Tube-Surgery-

Doesn-t-Delay- Development. html

Because of this, we are considering taking a wait-and-see approach, but I wanted

to get the advice of other parents of apraxia who may have encountered a similar

situation. What did you do for your child and why?

Bruce

Mpls mom to Grover (8),Adelaide (5), and Finnegan (2)