repeat ear infections caused by allergies?

[Naty1]

anyone find that an allergy that causes ear infections? dd has probable soy allergy 3.8 and it causes like reflux.
she has suffecred from 3-4 ear ibfections in 6m. they are bacterial

[Naty1]

Bump?

[MadauntofA]

I have worked out that dairy doesn't agree with me as an adult, but am fine with goats milk and the new A2 milk. Looking online, there is an association with repeated ear infections as a child, and sinus problems as an adult. I was deaf from almost continuous ear infections when I was younger, and had constant sinusitis as an adult - completely gone since stopping cows milk products. So maybe something in it?

[MadauntofA]

Obviously not a true allergy, but intolerance

[BoyGirlBoy3]

My daughter takes a daily antihistamine, as doctor noticed a pattern of her getting a ear infection each april, ear infections stopped, so that's an allergy to pollen?

[Naty1]

interesting so seems possible then

[BoyGirlBoy3]

3-4 ear infections in 6 months, is quite bad, does he/she currently have an ear infection? have you been seen at the hearing clinic, or ear/nose/throat specialist?

[MayfairMummy]

DS has a non ige allergy to wheat (as well as other IgE and non IgE allergies). His eardrum/s burst approx 20 times due to recurrent ear infections (by the age of around 18 months - heal, burst, heal, burst etc). No one told me of the allergy link. He also used to be awake for several hours every single night. When we cut out wheat, he started sleeping through the night for the first time ever. His eardrums stopped bursting. We reintroduced wheat to check.... cue waking in the night and eardrums bursting 4 days after exposure to wheat. Repeated several times; same results each time.

Do not quote me on this ... i haven't got verifiable evidence (and do have a dodgy memory currently), but I believe it is something to do with the swelling of the Eustachian tube not allowing it to drain properly (similar to throat swelling?). The reflux means it gets fluid in there; which then festers... cue ear infection.

We have only once had an ear infection when he was not eating wheat, but at the time we had trialled corn, and i believe it was related to that (non IgE allergy again). Again 4 days after.

I should point out that we had an appt at the ENT while i was trying to figure it out and the doctor was USELESS. I cannot find words strong enough to say how useless he was. It winds me up just thinking about it. If you have an allergy specialist you are seeing, it's worth talking to them about it. Or you might find a sensible ENT who actually knows something and has some care/interest in stopping a toddler from being in such terrible pain all the time.

[BoyGirlBoy3]

MayfairMummy, what a lot your lo went through, bless you.

[Naty1]

That does sound awful mayfair
The fever started again on thursday to dd started AB fri pm.
Unfortuntaly she seems prone to wax so gp couldnt see the drum. Though that may be fortunate as when they can see they say its fine - but its not and bursts within days.
Her soy allergy isnt diagnosed but ive noticed she was sick as a baby with soy.
The infections have only started on starting nursery.
But do i think follow on from a cold most of the time.
She had never had 1 till starting nursery.
It may be that the tube is blocked and staying that way.
I havent seen an ENT or allergy specialist. Gp just says ear infections are one of those things.
But on her last infection GP has picked up a heart murmur. So no idea if all the bacterial infections have caused it. (However just a few days before a gp and A&E would have listened to her chest and heard nothing. They also couldnt identify the ear infection either though).

[BoyGirlBoy3]

If it was me I would go back to doctor, when you go in for appointment, just say, I have come for a referal to the ENT specialist. Ask assertively.

Also, I don't know if there is evidence for this, but smear a little vaseline, around nose, lips before you send her to nursery, i noticed a decrease in illnesses if i did this.

Also wash her hands as soon as you are home, with warm water and bubbled up soap. Don't give her anything to eat until hands washed. If that is too long then anti bacterial gel to hands, then give food.

I would also consider a correct age childs vitamin.

Appologies if you already do these things

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

DS1 used to get ear infections within 24 hours of eating wheat.

We have been told, 'There is no pathway that can cause that to happen' and 'parents make believe their children's allergies. His ENT consultant insists that all ear infections begin with a cold, despite me insisting otherwise.
(I have another allergic child who gets different also seemingly impossible reactions, despite my describing exactly what happens.)

I fear that by excluding wheat, corn, oats, sugar and dairy, he will never be able to eat them but he attends school regularly, can hear to learn, play and make friends and hasn't had an ear infection for 15 months so I stick with it.

[MayfairMummy]

BoyGirlBoy, he's a real trooper, bless him, with a very high pain tolerance. I used to be able to pick the night his eardrum was going to burst as it was the only times ever I couldn't deal with him and felt like i needed a 'break' (Dad was often away). Always burst within 12 hours of that, and he'd be fine again.

i actually need to food trial him again on wheat - i really should have done it already (he's been off it for over 2 years now), but i'm dreading the potential eardrum thing.

Naty, the gold standard for allergy testing is still to do a food diary - exclude the food for about 2 weeks, then add it back in and diary what happens. then repeat, if there seems to be issues (just to be sure). It's particularly important if it turns out to be a non IgE allergy. These don't come up on skin prick tests (but are still allergies, as they involve the immune system). Also good for verifying in circumstances like anotherday's where the reaction is unusual.

Having said that, there are obviously other reasons for ear infections too; i hope you get to the bottom of it without it taking too long.

anotherday, sorry to hear you've got dodgy advice too ... it's frustrating, isn't it! My GP told me (when DS's was clearly reacting to me eating dairy) that a)he couldn't have allergies as he weighed too much (he's a chunky one), and b)food doesn't get passed through the breast milk to react to. 8 months later she finally agreed to refer to allergy clinic but only when his whole face swelled up (still not sure what i ate to do that).. We cut out wheat, soy, corn, rye, barley, all the legumes (chickpeas, lentils, beans, peas, etc), gourds (squash, melons, etc), peanuts, treenuts, eggs and DS has been great since, except for cross contamination reactions. We have recently been food trialling, and can now eat maize/corn (though we're still to try sweetcorn), most of the legumes, and baked egg. There is hope! On the cut out / reintroduce note, have you seen the EAT study which got published last week? My DC3 showed allergy signs from about 2 weeks old and i've been following that since i saw a talk on it and i am SOOOO glad i did. Skin prick tests this week were all clear!!!! It took some tough nights in the beginning, but she has been reacting less and less each week. I am over the moon.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

The EAT study is interesting and it does make me wonder. However, DS is 11 and we have long passed the possibility of eating normal food on a weekly basis. When we tried, he was so unwell it was impossible to continue, same with DS2.

[MayfairMummy]

anotherday, I wouldn't have been able to do it with my first allergy child anyway; his allergies were too severe right off the bat. DC3 was much much milder. I think like all things, the study has its limitations, but I'm VERY glad i stuck with it. ..

Sorry to hear your DSs are in for the long haul too :-(

[Naty1]

I tried doing a skin prick test at home. But the alpro yoghurt i tried is only 6% soy anyway.
No wheal appeared. So not sure if that would make it a non ige or something not involving the immune system. Or even just not allergic.
But if not why on earth would a child suddenly keep getting ear infections?
In a way it doesnt seem to start with a cold more a cough. (So guess that could be asthma or reflux)

Sorry to hear others are suffering with this.

How do they test for non IgE?

I had effectively been excluding soy until nursery (who even though i said she was allergic have been giving it to her...)
The school meals next year will be the same and the company say you cant claim an allergy without proof from a skin prick test or RAST.

[Naty1]

Shes been sick at nursery today, though of course could be a virus.

[MayfairMummy]

Naty, the gold standard for non ige testing is a food diary. We have mixed ige and non ige; our specialist has detailed them both in their letters. They relied on my observations for the non ige, though. but i had a year's worth of food diaries by that stage!