Anyone been to an EarNoseThroat specialist?

[Gothel]

I have been given a referral to an ENT for DD1 as she has a long history of ENT problems, gets every cold going and gets it longer and worse than other kids.

I have no idea what the specialist will do, what he will want to know, how he will look inside, what I should ask him, how he might be able to help, what they might be able to do. Am I just putting DD1 on a grommet train? Grommets are the new tonsillectiomies, I believe.

Anyway just interested in hearing of any experiences, advice, pointers, if it helped you, anything...

[JabberJaw]

My oldest DD went to one a few weeks back i was hoping they would take her toncills out, but .

She has also been previously due to lots of ear infections, but because she didnt have one every month for 12 months (she had one month she didnt get one!) so they decided to give her a little longer before they did grommets.....she never needed them, now she rarely gets an ear infection, maybe twice a year.

I am still hoping to get a second opinion about the toncills, she has one very enlarged one that never goes down, and she has way more antibiotics than i like to give her.

All you can do is go and see what they say, ask for other options if they suggest something you are not happy with.

Does your DD have sinus problems? I too get colds that last forever, but really its a cold followed by sinusitis which is annoying and drives me insane. Had toncills and adenoids out when younger but this failed to help me at all.

[Lastcenturymum]

Don't jest about grommets. Would you rather a child who can't hear and hence have their learning compromised or one who can hear, is free of ear infections and isn't constantly on medication for infections?

They often do audio tests, look in their ears and do some other non invasive tests.

DD2 had 3 lots of grommets due to her ears not draining properly (also a burst ear drum ) and tonsills out at 8. Best thing ever. It took her a while to catch up at school due to her lack of effective hearing.

[Gothel]

it wasn't meant to be a jest, its jus you hear about a lot of kids getting them. When i was growing up everyone was getting tonsils out. Sounds like you and your dd2 had a shocking time, glad you're having a positive outcome.

[Amara]

We have seen a few now one private and 3 through the hospital. My son's was for grommets due to fluid that has been there since birth. It was causing bad hearing, speech delay and possibly his runny noses.

He had his op on monday. He can hear better now thats for sure. When he went in he had his usual runny nose but was otherwise ok. His nose was perfect after the op. I did not expect that but I had been told by one of the audiologists that runny noses and fluid in ears often go together.

He had several hearing tests before seeing the ent.

The doc may be thinking adenoid issues for your child. I believe they can also cause runny noses and they can sound very nasal when talking. Oh and snoring. My friend's child just had them out recently. He had grommets first though.

Not sure what they do if checking adenoids. If checking ears they look in there and put a probe thing in that measures fluid. In my experience all the hearing tests have had to be done at an audiologists.