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Dr tells us we gotta do it since our baby keeps getting ear infections.
Did anyone here ever have this done on a child? Were a bit nervous.
Go to another dr and DONT do it before that.
The child might outgrow it.
There’s one very popular ENT in Brooklyn who tells anyone that walks into his office,”tubes!”
I hope you didn’t hear it from him.
Go to a good ent for a second opinion.
Always get a second opinion.
I used to have ear infections as a baby. I stopped responding to all the high dosages of medicine so the doctors were starting to suggest surgery, at which time my parents decided to look for other options. They ended up taking me to a homeopathic doctor who basically just gave me a natural pill, and the earaches disappeared. I might have had to go back maybe two or three times, and that was it; they were gone. Look into it. Don’t jump to follow the doctors’ scary suggestions before trying homeopathy.
The only thing is, it’s not accepted as a regular medical field so medical insurance does not cover it. Then again I don’t know how expensive it is, I was just a baby. But I’m guessing it’s less expensive than getting the tubes and the constant doctor’s checkups.
Let me know if you want to know more, I can ask my parents for more info.
Tubes are justified in many cases of kids with recurrent ear infections, but some doctors run to do them too quickly. I’m not a big believer in alternative medicine, but I have personally seen multiple cases of babies whose ear infections suddenly disappeared when they were taken off dairy. (For nursing babies, the mother also has to go off milk.) Have you tried that?
Be wary of anecdotal quasi-evidence that you get here. Get a second professional opinion and maybe a third. Medical opinions in the coffee room are worth what you paid for them.
My pediatrician wanted to send my baby to have tubes put in. On the advice of friends I took her to a chiropractor. My pediatrician absolutely discouraged me from doing this, but after about five visits her ears were completely clear and b”H have been clear since, for about the last eight months. I would do it again without hesitation.
I second the advice to get advice NOT exclusively from here.
Alt med may actually offer something. I was lucky to have a homeopath to work with. We were at the “this is the last infection, then we’re going to tubes” stage and gave acidopholous a try with the antibiotics. It worked! Acidopholous is safe and worth a try.
What else we did, I won’t say. Alt med is not covered by insurance, you can’t guarantee results and that you’ll find someone reputable, and this is definitely not the forum to discuss this further, find the references you need, etc.
B”H, I’m glad we avoided tubes. All that said, had we needed to do it we had a GREAT shaliach. A mensch, highly recommended, and as he said, he’s a mechanic when it comes to this. He does tubes, all the time, for years, knows what he’s doing and it would have been far from the end of the world.
(All this coming from someone who had her tonsils out 40 years ago, and that worked!)
According to our doc tupes is only needed if child has six or more ear infections in one season.
Shlomozalmen-
Dr tells us we gotta do it since our baby keeps getting ear infections. Did anyone here ever have this done on a child? Were a bit nervous.
I don’t see the OP asking for medical advice here. It’s ONLY a discussion.
As in any case where a procedure is reccomended a second opinion is a must.
As far as the experience, one of my children has had tubes inserted more then once. Tubes generally fall out after a year and my child’s eustachean (sp?) tubes had not developed enough after the first set of tubes to allow the fluid to drain quick enough. The concern is that hearing damage can result.
The procedure itself was very quick, there was about an hour after the procedure were we waited for anesthesia to wear off. My child did not seem to suffer any significant discomfort.
There are tubes that are designed to remain in for longer then a year and would have to be removed rather then fall out.
Regular follow up with the ENT is necessary to make sure they are effective.
We had the same thing with our son. He was constantly getting ear infections – which is miserable for a kid!! And we were constantly putting him on antibiotics. So the doc. suggested tubes – especially because he wasn’t really walking or talking yet. (I forgot how old but well over a year.) Sometimes so much fluid in the ears can affect their balance and hearing. So we did the tubes (I was also very nervous – I’m a young mother and this is the first time we had to do something like this with our kids). B”H shortly after the tubes he started walking and soon after started talking. (Late but … I felt bad that he missed out on a few months of hearing!!) We did bring him to a top ENT – Dr. Jones in Manhattan. She did the tubes. If a kid is having ear infections so often it might be good to do it! The kid’s fine shortly after the procedure – not such a big deal. And it makes a huge difference to the child!
P.S. My son does still get ear infections every so often but it leaks out of his ear so most of the time it doesn’t hurt him. (Which is the point of the tubes – to drain the fluid.)
All three of my daughters’ children had this problem AND tonsils, HUGE tonsils. The one who WE thought needed it the most, the surgeon said she didn’t need it. The kids were miserable getting sick all the time.
It is not so simple, that the Pediatrician just sends you to the surgeon and the surgeon schedules the operation. With my grandkids, the consultations went on for more than a year with each. The Surgeon watched the issues with each child until he decided whether or not the child really needed the procedure. No surgeon takes the risk of putting a child under anesthesia unless they are sure.
At any rate, when he did my granddaughter when she was 2 1/2, we were also concerned that she wasn’t talking much. He said as soon as he put in the tubes a ton of fluid came pouring out. The night of the surgery when I went to be with her at home. She started talking to me clearer than ever. I was in shock. Her clogged ears were keeping her from hearing properly and speaking and we didn’t even make the connection.
My grandson had to have it done twice because the tubes came out on their own. Both of them had their tonsils out as well. But the sister in the middle whose tonsils look like they touch each other, the surgeon said, she will outgrow it.
Find a surgeon you trust and work with him. If the mod allows me to post our surgeon’s name just ask and I will do so. Just one more thing, I don’t want to make this sound so easy. It is not a difficult procedure for the children, for the parents even a few stitches on a child’s finger is major. So take your tehilim in hand and refuah sheleimah. Hatzlocha.
Don’t be nervous! We had tubes put in a child of ours that had terrible reflux so that what he was refluxing up was going to his ears and causing ear infections! He was vomiting for his whole first 14 months and getting so sick in the ears too ,but he couldnt tolerate the oral antibiotics so we put tubes in.
You should go to a dr. that is affiliated in a good (preferably city,if you are in ny)hospital. The dr. took seriously 5-7 min to put in the tubes, we had to wait a bit for the anesthesia to wear off, as someone else posted earlier. My son did not show any signs of distress after the surgery,quite the opposite,actually,he began to walk 2 days after,being that now he can balance better due to not having fluid in his ears!
The only down side is that we did have to schedule check-ups at the ENT every 3 months just to make sure the tubes were in place.
One tube fell out after almost 2 yrs,and the second tube was manually taken out at a check-up when the dr was able to reach in and grab it close to 3 yrs. At that time my son outgrew the vomiting and refluxing so they were not needed anymore.
The good part of tubes also is if the child gets an ear infection w/tubes,they dont ahve to take oral meds,you put the antibiotic drops straight into their ears for a week twice a day.
Hope this helped,dont be nervous…we all hate to take our kids to the hospital,especially for surgery,but this will really make your life and that of your childs much easier!
Good Luck!! And keep us posted!
tzippi
just wondering where your doctor is located. my son may need a 2nd set of tubes (he’s 7) i tried the dairy and acidopholis but it didn’t work
I heard from a pediatrician that a good alternative method to clear up ear infections is using garlic. There are a few different methods you can find by using Google. She said to just put a clove of garlic into the ear and leave it there for a few hours. My wife said that her mother did it when she and her siblings were young, and it worked wonders.
If you try alternative measures and they work that only proves that particular child probably would not have needed tubes. Any child that still needs tubes, these alternative methods will not work. Understand that tubes are used as a last measure and when tubes are placed it releases a build up of fluid that cannot be released on its own. This build up of fluid causes the infections, the pain, problems hearing, problems speaking, problems with balance and walking, etc.
Although surgery is always a scary option, think about what your child is going through and how the child might be effected in all these areas before you RELY on alternate methods. I am not saying to try what you can but do it while you check with the surgeon to see what he says. Don’t do it without seeing the surgeon. He might just tell you that your child’s case is not so severe and you should continue trying whatever you think might help.
bb8, I’m in the midwest. My point is that it shouldn’t be hard to find competent ENTs; they do this all the time.
Feif un, garlic oil drops are often recommended. Though probably helpful anyone should be very cautious of putting anything in their kids’ ears without consulting the doctor. (BTW, this was not a part of the regimen we followed as the kid in question was too squirmy.)
My family has been using this homeopathic doctor ever since my ear infections, and she really has a cure for pretty much everything. Yes even cancer I believe.
Maybe it’s just my that homeopathic doctor is excellent, or maybe Hashem just wants us to have these cures, but either way I don’t believe that alternative medicine is at all weaker or less effective than “the real thing”. Then again, maybe that’s just my experience and my family and I were meant to be cured from whatever we had, and maybe others have not had as good of an experience with it. But that’s just what I’ve seen; that it really works.
Then again, this thread wasn’t meant to be a discussion on alt medicine vs anything else so I’ll stop here. Achosid, good luck with whatever you end up doing! I’m sure it’ll all work out and I wish a quick refua shleima to your kid.
In our neighborhood, our Pediatricians recommend Dr. Delitzky (I’m not sure of the spelling) in Manhattan.
Then again, this thread wasn’t meant to be a discussion on alt medicine vs anything else
too late
i know quite a bit about the subject
allopathy (“regular medicine”) is quite excellent and the only answer for most acute severe problems, heart attack, trauma, etc.
for the majority of the common chronic problems such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, it is worse than useless (except for advanced stages where it is necessary to control complications)
on the other hand the vast majority of “alternative” medicine is pure quackery and fraud. honeopathy is one of the most ridiculous although there are homeopathic practitioners that use a good deal of herbal and other treatments in addition to the useless homeopathic preparations. although most alternative medicine is at least harmless, as opposed to being in the hands of an allopathic practitioner
there IS something of substance to herbal and other natural remedies, but it tends to get lost among the quackery and hype.
the above consists of general statements. there are, of course, exceptions.
the above is the opinion of moderator 80 and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone else (though it should)
Please understand that putting tubes in the ear means you are puncturing the eardrum. You must check up on the risk that the drum may not heal properly, or may have scarring. This can affect hearing later in life.
It must be counterbalanced with the probability that the drum will be ruptured anyway due to the force of the fluid from the middle ear on the inside of the drum, or with the possibility that the infection can spread to other structures. It is not a simple decision. Please get 2nd and 3rd opinions from expert MD’s.
Feif Un I think what you do is cut a clove of garlic and put this in Olive Oil heat in a pot until it gets hot. Then you let this cool down, strain and funnel into a bottle with an eye dropper. Perhaps the OPs baby has a Chalavi allergy to dairy. Achosid does your baby drink and get some kind of reaction after drinking Milk?
Dr. 80,
It’s a bit difficult to figure out the totality of your advice so I’ll just focus on one paragraph:
for the majority of the common chronic problems such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, it is worse than useless (except for advanced stages where it is necessary to control complications)
What? You want to run that by me again?
Your patient is a white male, age 55, 5 foot 10, 245 pounds. He presents with glucose of 220, HB A1C of 7.8. Diagnosis of Type II Diabetes.
What’s your treatment plan, doc, especially since you appear to say conventional medicine is not the way to go?
Homeowner -You crack me up. I’m in regular medicine, but I don’t think Dr. 80 was talking about conventional -probably alternative. Hopefully he will clarify his post. Even though I’m on the conventional band wagon, before I gave my kid tubes I went to Dr. Zahler in B.P. and got natural and herbal meds. It got rid of the problem.
Achosid- I first would try feeding the kid upright, not supine like most parents do. I wouldn’t give any milk based foods or drinks including formula. Go to a naturalist, and if that doesn’t work try a good chiropractor (one with experience with ear fluid). And if these don’t work then go for the tubes. But this is controversial even amongst conventional docs; I’ve heard 25 years ago an argument between two physicians on the radio – one said not having the tubes put in will cause hearing loss and the other said you will cause more hearing loss with tubes than without! Nothing is clear cut even amongst regular docs. So I would recommend tubes only as a last resort. Don’t fault old time doctors, they were trained nothing in alternative medicine works, but now they train us to practice with considering alternatives as an option.
No, I’m sure it wasn’t garlic oil drops. The doctor would take a clove of garlic, cut it down if necessary to fit, and put it in the ear. I Googled it, and found this method mentioned online in a few places.
Definitely get a second opinion! Another think to factor into your equation might be how the fluid will affect the speech and language development of the child. My Dr. describes having fluid in the ears as “listening to someone talk underwater”. This will obviously affect a childs speech and language development.
I know that a few years back Brooklyn College’s audiology department was doing a study on another way to remove fluid from the ears. I am not very familiar with the logistics of it, but it basically teaches do certain things to relieve the congestion… As i mentined I really don’t kow the logistics of it but it might be worth looking into…
I know this is a bit off topic, o forgive me moderator, but i just have to say- “moving mountains” your screen name ROCKS!
gosh I wish I wouda thunk of that
my son had them put it about 8 months ago, in Israel. hasn’t had an ear infection since!!
My son had about 12 ear infections in his short life (he got tubes at 14 months). Antibiotics didn’t work on most of his ear infections (not all are bacterial). Chiropractic care didn’t clear up the problem and neither did dairy removal.
Our ENT (not an alarmist) recommended them. My son starting balancing much better by the next day.
A few notes about the procedure: if the person who goes with your child to surgery is pregnant, they are not allowed in with the child when anastesia is being applied.
If the child’s mother is still nursing, its best to continue at least until after surgery. When my son came out of surgery, he woke up out of sorts and crying, and I nursed him for about an hour and he felt much better.
It was a tough decision, but I’m glad we ultimately did it.
my older kids never had issues..
then my younger kids needed. They failed hearing tests miserably! speech was becoming an issue..
once tubes were inserted, my daughter said her siblings name correctly within a week!!
my kids didn’t even get traditional infections.. their ear drum kept bursting and discharging!
i’m pretty conservative… & definately hold that most ear infections are viral, hence antibiotics are doing worse than good.
chiropracter & otrher methods can help this stuff etc.. but at end of day.. if child ear canal is too narrow.. and HEARING & SPEECH is being affected.. tubes is a pretty safe and quick proceedure.
20+ years ago, our 7 ish year old had ear infection after ear infection. he also could not hear me talk to him in the same room. his pediatrician said no to tubes and kept giving him anti biotics. my husband and i took him to 2 ENTs who both agreed that he should have tubes inserted in his ears. we followed the recommendation of the ENTs and did the tubes. the very same day he could B”H hear. he had the tubes in till they made their way out of the ears themselves. one thing he could not do was go underwater in the pool. no biggie , better to hear and wait a year to swim underwater. the doctor have retired but the procedure was done at NYU in Manhattan.
by the way, for the 12 months before the tubes were done he visited the pediatrician 26 times.
My brother could barely hear. Then finally my parents put tubes in. It was quick and easy. The doctor said that it was like my brother was hearing us how we hear others underwater.
mewho -Who was this pediatrician? If you don’t want to say his name, what community do you live in?
Here is what I think everyone needs to know about surgery of any kind: There is very little if any government regulation of surgery, nothing comparable to the regulation of drugs. There is no requirement for a surgical procedure to be reviewed for efficacy. If there are scholarly, scientific reviews of a particular surgical procedure, and the procedure is found to be ineffective, there is no legal requirement for a duly licensed surgeon to stop doing the procedure.
If a surgeon has recommended a procedure, you should ask him/her to identify the scientific studies, if any, that have evaluated the efficacy of the procedure, and then read them yourself, and satisfy yourself that the results of the study are valid.
As for the procedure that Achosid asks about – “tubes” in the eustacian tubes – i.e., a myringotomy – I do know of a patient who had the procedure several times, and they were ineffective, and the underlying disease resulted in a material loss of hearing.
An old-time internist I know gave a clinical but unscientific opinion about the case. He said that “in the old days, when we just yanked out the tonsils, we saw far fewer complications than the complications we see following the tube nonsense.”
As for the procedure that Achosid asks about – “tubes” in the eustacian tubes – i.e., a myringotomy
the tubes are placed in the eardrum not the eustachian canal.
Thank you for the correction. The surgical tubes are placed through the ear drum and lead to the eustacian tubes. The ear “drum” is, I believe, a thin membrane. The surgeon makes a slit in the membrane and inserts the surgical tube, so that the tube sits partially on the “outside” side of the membrane and mostly on the “inside” side of the membrane and enables fluid to drain into the eustacian tube. If the surgical tubes are expelled by the patient’s body after the surgery, or are surgically removed, the ear drum membrane may heal itself, i.e., close the slit, or may require surgical repair. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I am not a physician or surgeon (and I don’t play one on TV). “Medical yenta” might be more accurate, and no one should follow the advice of any yenta without getting some independent, professional advice.
I had 3 sets of tubes as a child. I suffered chronic ear infections as a kid and it had a profound effect on my hearing. As an adult (mid 30’s) I still get 2-3 ear infections a year. In fact 2 years ago I was scheduled to have tubes put in. If not for a last second insurance problem I would have had it done.
My son had a severe speech delay, due to hearing hearing loss- caused by fluid in his ears. He got tubes put in 5 weeks ago. His speech improved drastically already!Till now he was hearing everything as if he’s under water!
nfgo3 – Please verify your info before you post.
“enables fluid to drain into the eustacian tube”.
The ventilation tubes cause air to come in and fluid to go out!
Anatomy Lesson -“eustacian tube” -is between the middle ear and pharynx (throat). Its main purpose is to drain the ear (there are other purposes also). If it gets clogged, you can have problems. Also, bacteria can travel up the tube to the ear.
Bowwow -try some of things I posted above or some of the posters above naturalists approach, before you go for tubes again.
health,the pediatrician has long since retired.
ontheball: The surgical tubes may have positive short-term effects, but that does not alter my main point, i.e., you should not simply evaluate the effectiveness of a surgical procedure by your own observations. Seek out a scientific study – starting with the surgeon who proposes the procedure – that establishes on a scientific basis that the procedure does what it is supposed to do, or that it is successful in some specified percentage of cases.
Health: Yes, I try to verify information before I post. I don’t understand the balance of your comment, starting with your reference to “ventilation tubes”. Who said anything about “ventilation” tubes? Your anatomy lesson is consistent with my understanding of ear anatomy.
nfgo3 -Myringotomy tubes are ventilation tubes. My comment was on “enables fluid to drain into the eustacian tube”. The fluid goes from in the ear to out, not to the eustacian tube, when there are tubes. Reread my anatomy lesson.
Health: I think you are right and I am wrong, which of course proves my point – get reliable information on medical matters, not from those folks who blab on the internets.
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