Glue ear.

[MissBrightside]

Has anyones child had this? I think my son may have it.

My 4yo has a mild to moderate hearing loss and has been recommended that he has hearing aids. I have been waiting for months to get in to see a public ENT specialist.
The audiologist tells me he does have a blockage in his ear which may be a cause of his hearing loss. I have been taking him to an audiologist for over a year and his hearing hasn't changed. He has been on anti-biotics which did nothing, he has had a CT scan which showed nothing. He gets large amounts of wax everyday and recently he has been complaining about having a blocked ear and freaks because he can't hear.
I decided not to get the hearing aids until I see the ENT as his speech is fine, he is doing great at Kinder, he just says "what" alot of the time.
Im just hoping his number comes up soon with the ENT as this blocked ear has been occuring for the past 3 days and I dont want to put ear drops in as I dont know whats going on with his ears and don't want to hurt him more.

[ZooKeeper]

If it is glue ear, try the following until you can get it worked out -- no dairy products, something like euky bear or vicks in the pillowcase on a swab, teaching him to blow his nose HARD, holding both nostrils firmly shut, that often clears the tube. i was deaf from glue ear as a little one, they put grommits in eventually but that leaves scarring which can reduce hearing long term or later in life. also don't let him put his head under water till it's cleared up and be careful with hair washing water isn't going in.

a lot of Aboriginal kids get otis media glue ear, my theory is it is our lactose intolerance makes the body produce extra snot in places like ears as well, as i have found even as an adult my hearing is crippled if i eat a lot of dairy, except cheese, for some reason good cheese (well matured) is OK, could be the cheese-makin bugs eat the active lactose being as it is a sugar compound.

one thing i've seen work for ear infections or ear aches is my friend would bake a whole onion, then let it cool to lukewarm and put some drops of the juice in the afflicted ear. guess it's the sulfur in the onion acts as a topical antibiotic mebbe? the earliest antibiotics were sulfa drugs. not sure if i'll be trying it but it worked for her kids, they have perfect hearing despite numerous infections never treated by GPs.

[gremily]

Why is it taking so long to get into an ENT?!! We got in within a month to see ours after we'd seen the Audiologist!

Dd2 had moderate hearing loss and after seeing the ENT we decided grommets were the way to go. After the op the ENT said he'd never seen so much gunk in a child's left ear! Her right one was pretty bad, but the left was totally blocked.

Before seeing the ENT we had tried ear drops but they hadn't worked at all. People often ask if she had any ear infections but there was never anything. Things like her rubbing her ears were put down to tiredness and teething.

We had another hearing test and she basically has perfect hearing (no one has perfect hearing, the ENT explained, but it's as good as it can get).

We went private with the ENT because it was the quickest way for us to get in and have the op done (I think we had the op done 2 weeks after we'd seen him). If we'd gone public, despite being a hell of a lot cheaper, it meant we'd have to wait a minimum of 6 months to have it done. That was too long for us to wait, so much of her development was being compromised by not being able to hear.

If you have a paediatrician I would ask for a referral to see an ENT (you might be able to get a referral from a GP aswell).

[gremily]

i was deaf from glue ear as a little one, they put grommits in eventually but that leaves scarring which can reduce hearing long term or later in life.

I think perhaps you should have said it MAY leave scarring because it is not the case that it always does.

This excerpt is taken from the info sheet (The Australian Society of Otolaryngology: Treatment with grommets) our ENT gave us before dd2's op:

Calcium deposits and scarring (tympanosclerosis) of the eardrum can occur due to glue ear, recurrent otitis media or grommets. Tympanosclerosis usually does not affect hearing.

[ZooKeeper]

The ENT who checked my ears when starfish was born said the scarring on the drums was caused by grommets and that he usually found some scarring (and reduced hearing sensitivity) was the inevitable result, but that it was preferable to the loss of hearing without the treatment. the scarring reduces hearing only fractionally, while glue ear can lead to profound deafness, which I used to have.

one of the other conditions you mentioned, calcification of the eardrums, can occur without grommets causing it BTW, one of my great-aunts is deaf as a post from that, it runs in the family. my mum had it mildly, meant she could not accurately sort conversation from background noises.

hope your little fellas op goes well and his hearing sorts out, it is such a precious thing the ability to hear the world.:fingerscrossed: