constant ear infections, HELP!!! - Children's Health Message Board

Slaughter1 · 07-22-2002, 12:03 AM

Hello, my daughter is 14 months old. She constantly is fighting ear infections. nothing has worked so far. she started to get them at about 6 months old and has continued since. I feel so bad for her. Our doctor has said that this new medicine should stop the bacteria and hopefully she will be done. He mentioned that she needs to try one more medication after this. The shots. and if that doesn't work she will have to get tubes. I am so scared! I have heard nothing but horrible things about them. We have tried everything and the infection still comes back. it's like clock work. every two weeks she gets another one. well andyway....I have two questions. #1- this new medication she is on is called "Ceftin," and since she has been on it i have noticed she is weezing and cougs all the time. She is miserable. you can actually hear the congestions in her chest when she breathes. the doc says it is normal. it's all the fluid draining. but i don't know. has anyone ever experinced this med and if so how was your childs reaction? question #2- I don't know a whole lot about the tubes, except what I have read. does anyone have anything helpful to tell me about them. I think she will end up getting them and I just don't want her to! She is a huge swimmer and I don't want something like that to get in her way. HELP!!!

wattagirl · 07-22-2002, 10:59 AM

slaughter-my nephew had constant ear infectons and was just miserable all the time-they gave him so many antibiotics that hid body became immune to most of them-anyway,he finally got tubes in his ears and he was like a different child-so happy-when the tubes came out he started getting infections again so they had to put new tubes in-the procedure only took 15 min. which suprised us all-all i can say is that it made a huge difference in him-for the better

livenlearn · 07-22-2002, 02:21 PM

my daughter had tubes put in when she was 10 months old...... in the first 10 months of her life she had 20 ear infections..... every time she went back for a re-check she'd still be infected... or.... she'd be ok at the re-check, and then 2 days later sick again.... and sure enough... it was an ear infection... anyway, after her tubes, i was warned by the ent doc that she would continue to get them at first, but then she'd be much better.... she had 2 right after the tubes... and then ever since she's had maybe one or two a year... she's now 6..... and tubes were heaven sent for her(she was also on every antibiotic known to man)..... they REALLY did make a difference.... and i'd suggest trying them to anyone.... i know there's some discrepency about them in the uk... but, here in the states it's pretty common....

the procedure is pretty simple... and there's zero recovery time for the surgery....

good luck...

07-23-2002, 02:50 AM

The tubes are called grommets that are inserted to help drainage.

As the other poster suggested about TCM, I would suggest that you go and see a homeopath. Drainage remedies in conjunction with the constitutional remedy can help ear problems like this very quickly and effectively and can avoid the need for grommet insertion in the first place.

Marcelle · 07-27-2002, 09:54 PM

Hi.

Both my sons suffered from constant ear infections. I was totally against having them on antibiotics all the time, but when they had an infection, what could I do?

My oldest son had tubes put in when he was 11 months old and my younger son had them when he was 13 months. My older son had to have a surgical procedure to have one of them removed about 1 1/2 years later, but the other came out by itself.

Like you, I suffered with my children and worried what to do. I read that breastfeeding would prevent this from happening. It did not. I read that having them sleep on a slight slant would help. It did not. I was told to stop feeding them anything with dairy in it. That did not help at all. I was told to feed them with their heads higher than their feet (instead of level). That did not work. I went to a homeopathic doctor who gave "slight" neck adjustments (truly, I was petrified, but she only used a few fingers and pressed gently. My son did not even notice.)

So, as you can see, I tried everything I knew to try and was always on the lookout for an alternative to surgery on a baby.

As they wheeled both of them away from me on their way to be "cut", I felt my heart break and I ran outside the room to have a cry. The doctor was back telling me it was over sooner than I could get hold of myself.

They woke up, had bottles and were sent home. They needed tylenol for the pain for the first day. They both came home and took naps with me (for my benefit, not theirs).

They did get one or two more ear infections, but the tubes have greatly enhanced the quality of their lives (pain makes people miserable no matter what age they are).

As far as swimming and bathing, the doctor gave us ear plugs. That was no problem.

Although I hesitate to recommend surgery, if you have no other alternatives and feel that everything else being done is futile, you might really want to consider it.

I hope this helps.

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~ Marcelle ~