to delay my daughter's operation while I look into the options?

[Runoutofideas]

Hi,
This is a genuine question as I really don't know what to do for the best. DD1 (4) has just been diagnosed with glue ear and the specialist has recommended grommets and adenoids out which will involve a general anaesthetic. I took her initially to the GP as I didn't think her hearing was 100% and she permanently sounds quite nasal, but her speech and language development luckily does not seem to be affected particulary. Her pre-school teacher was shocked when I told them the recommendation as she said she hadn;t noticed there was a problem, and was talking about dd1's fantastic vocabulary and sentence structure etc. I have been researching online and found that for some people cranial osteopathy has helped and also herbal remedies for shrinking the adenoids. Am I being unreasonable for trying these first rather than rushing into an operation which may not be entirely necessary...? If anyone has experience of grommets I'd love to hear from you.

I should add that we have private health insurance through my husband's job so waiting lists fortunately aren't too much of an issue.

my dd (3.3) was diagnosed with glue ear a couple of months ago. She also has pretty advanced speech, but i had been noticing her getting 'stuck' on some consonant (i.e failing to master them as quickly) where she had been sailing ahead previously. Also she kept saying 'huh?' to everything we said, which became annoying as well as worrying.

My GP was useless, saying she couldn't see anything wrong, and demanding to know why she had had hearing tests previously (we have a family history of deafness, although obv glue ear is nothing to do with it) but i put my foot down and asked for a referral which i had to wait months for.

Hearing specialists at the hosipital were absolutely wonderful with her, very thorough, taking her through all the 'games' very patiently. At the end, when we got the diagnosis of glue ear it was a big relief; I hadn't been imagining things, but also worrying to hear that surgery might be a course of action if it doesn't improve by itself.

We've got a follow-up appointment in a few weeks, to see how things have progressed. Surely your specialist shouldn't have been so quick to suggest surgery without a similar follow-up appt? At this age it can quite often clear up spontaneously, i'm surprised he/she doesn't want to wait and see?

If she's only had one hearing test, I think they usually recommend testing again in 3 months - and glue ear is often worse in winter so if they only test in summer you might get an overly-rosy picture.

Children cover up not being able to hear really well, and often don't realize they haven't heard, just find they don't understand what's going on a lot of the time, and end up missing subtle social cues (eg talking over people because they don't realise someone is talking) which can lead to stress and ostracism. Personal experience here - I had grommets 3 times, adenoids out with the first lot (I have other hearing problems too, not just glue ear), and academically was fine at my old-fashioned everyone-face-the-front primary school, but had big problems in the playground and anywhere with background noise.

I'd maybe watch and wait for a few months, have regular hearing tests, but strongly consider the op.

Hi Runoutofideas, have you considered taking your lo to a chiropractor? The chiro I take DS2 to says she can treat most cases of glue ear really successfully?

Thanks for all the comments. Would a chiropractor do the same as an osteopath or are they completely different?
I think we'll maybe try osteopathy etc for a month or so then if it doesn't seem to be working we can get her re-tested then book in for the op in August if it's still deemed necessary. That way she'll have recovered in time for starting school in Sept. Does this seem reasonable?

Grommets have about a 1 in a 100 chance of going wrong. The biggest problems being scarring of the ear drum, infection and sometimes the perforation does not heal.

My son's grommets went wrong. He his ear drums are very scarred but he can hear all the sound frequencies of speech. He has outgrown the glue ear and has some degree of hearing loss but the audiogram of each ear is quite different.

He did have hearing aids for 18 months which really helped him. Digital hearing aids work well for glue ear provided you can persaude your child to wear them.

I think its a good idea to consider the op. Your daughter is only being put on the waiting list, its not as if she is being operated on.

Thanks reallytired, but if I book it she'll be in within 2 weeks, so I need to know we definitely want to go ahead.....

Am hoping I get to see the school nurse soon for this very reason. Am sure DS has some hearing issues (and not just ignoring me). His speech has the cuteness of baby talk and he often babbles incoherently. The school HAVE mentioned his speech, but said they are just encouraging him to speak more slowly. I am going to ask that they speed it up. Grommets have made a huge positive difference to a class-mate of his.

We went down the cranial osteopathy route for DS who was 4 at the time - reduced hearing, persistent ear infections and grommet op recommended. He had 6 osteopathy sessions (but also involved daily exercises at home in between sessions) and we've never looked back. Not had an ear infection since (he's now 11) and hearing levels back to normal when retested.

Thanks everyone - really appreciate the input. Fingers crossed something works for my dd and any of you with similar problems.

Dd's friend's social development was really put back by glue ear. She is now at secondary but her hearing is still not perfect and the abrupt way in which she speaks and her difficulty in listening to other people and pick up voice cues is still making life more difficult for her than it need be.

I'm a bit of some of the claims alternative practitioners are making here. Exactly how can a chiropractor help glue ear?

Insertion of grommets is a very quick op indeed. No harm in putting her on the waiting list.

Ear candles are hookum:
Here

If a child has prolonged severe glue ear then I think it needs serious treatment. If grommets aren't suitable then digital hearing aids can help considerably. I think its a mistake to muck about with quack therapies.

My son went up two levels of the oxford reading tree a fortnight after he was issued with digital hearing aids.

I have a suspiction that many children who have SEN might have had had undiagnosed glue ear when young.

oh yes....they wanted to put grommits into ds1's ears...(and he was effected by his lack of hearing ability)....but, because I had heard that so many fall out all the time, etc...we decided for hearing aids instead....and he had the ear-plug-mould thing done...than he had another test, and they decided that his hearing wasn't that bad at all....
saying that it was such a long drawn process....he simply had grown out of it before they decided to take action (and it was not us delaying...)...

but like I said...to me the adenoids seem to be more the problem, because your child can have sleep apnoea without you necessarily knowing, and it isn't a good thing to have...

I think you should definitely try other options first. Of course you should. Don't feel bad. If you can sort this out with other methods first then that's far superior to surgery. Then if they don't work, have the surgery. Win win.

My son has ear/hearing/glue ear probs. He had a really low-level ear infection which the Drs ignored - by the time we managed to get to a specialist it turned into a permanent perforation - which he will need to have closed surgially when he is a bit older. However, the Consultant gave us antibiotic drops to clear up any ear infection really quickly - which worked so much better than the normal antibiotic course for ds. The consultant also said that he had glue ear in his other ear - and he can, at times, get a bit loud, not hear things, and it is obvious when he is going through periods of not hearing as clearly as his speech is affected.

However, our consultant recommended not going for grommets, but to try to avoid them unless it became really necessary (this might have something to do with the same person fitting 4 sets on my husband when he was younger). He said that the chances were that ds would grow out of it as the tubes that affect this area grow larger and therefore become more easily drained.

However, when we first went about this, I also found that cranial osteopathy did help with the general congestion, and keeping ds off cows milk also benefited. He is now back on cows milk without a problem - but it definitely made him more congested (which is all part of the same problem) when he was younger (he is now 4).

And just so that other people reading this thread know, glue ear isn't anything to do with ears blocked with wax - so talking about things that will help with loosening wax is not really relevant.

gothanngeddes - I'm not an alternative practitioner, but I do support alternative therapy, DS2 was treated very successfully by a chiropractor following a traumatic birth. I think it's all about personal choice tbh I would be a bit about insertion of grommets into my child's ears

"How does an ear candle work?"

It doesnt!

I have also seen a lot of successfull treatment with the Ear Candling over the last 5 years. No-one can truly explain the way they work - ie some will tell you they suck the wax out. I personally don't believe this theory and am more inclined to agree with the theory that the burning of the candle creates a massage effect on the eardrum, which in turn loosens the wax and helps it to release itself. I often see parents whose children will wake with a lot of wax on the pillow the following morning. When you see the residue in the candle after treatment, it's often an indication of how blocked the ear is & how much resistance the vaccum effect of the candle burning has had

what a load of absolute garbage!!
shows a complete lack of understanding as to what glue ear exactly is and should NOT be allowed to advice parents if spouting such rubbish

macdoodle
too true

I was told to take my baby to see a chiropractor because we had breastfeeding problems. I was desperate enough to consider it, because that level of vulnerability makes you willing to try things you really have no reason to trust. Fortunately his tongue problem was diagnosed before I wasted my money.

A bit of info on the history of the treatment.

"One Daniel David Palmer invented the therapy in Davenport, Iowa, in 1895, when he convinced himself that he had cured a janitor's deafness by "racking" his back.

Inspired by this miracle, Palmer developed the theory that "95% of all diseases are caused by displaced vertebrae", rather than, say, the germs that so bothered conventional doctors of the time. Chiropractic therapy was a new religion, Palmer declared, and he was a successor to Christ, Muhammad and Martin Luther. At home, he practised vigorous racking on his children.

His son, Bartlett, described how he beat them with "straps until we carried welts, for which Father was often arrested and spent nights in jail". Bartlett bought the first car Davenport had seen and paid his father back by running him down on the day of the Palmer School of Chiropractic Homecoming Parade."

Chiropractors sued Simon Singh when he described it as bogus - not on the grounds that it worked, but on the grounds that they believe it works. Intentional fraud, as opposed to misplaced faith. Not entirely a legal course of action that inspires me with huge confidence in the efficacy of the treatment.

Frankly, I'd run any alternative remedy past Quackwatch before trusting it. Ben Goldacre is also excellent on the unscientific basis of many alternative remedies. I'm sure some do work - I believe acupuncture has been proven to in some instances, and aromatherapy makes some sense in terms of mood alteration (if a bad smell can make you sick, a nice one may soothe) and massage is plainly really helpful in some instances. And the placebo effect is powerful, agreed, so hey, if homeopathy helps to harness it, great. But... ear candling? For glue ear? How on earth is that going to be of any use?

I'd want a second opinion, but I'd want one from another doctor who specialises in that field. My brother is deaf, and it wasn't picked up on early enough because his speech was good. He'd have been far better served if they'd noticed it and done something about it as a small child.

Please read this on ear candles before going down that route.

I love his blog, seeker.

Ministry of Sleep - See if you'd said Chiro help a bad back, fair enough, that's what they do.

But how can a Chiropractor do any sort of manipulation that will affect the inner ear? How?

To insert a grommet, a small incision is made in the ear drum, a ton of nasty gunk is removed via a special suction catheter, then grommet is inserted (it really is a 10min job). What could a chiropractor do that would have a similar effect.

I'm not anti alternative methods, I'm anti people claiming they can treat what they obviously can't. That harms alternative medicine more then any skeptic.

My dps little sister now has vastly reduced hearing at they put grommets in but one was put in on top of another one. She suffers a lot now and bleeds from her ears most days. I wouldn't opt for an operation unless it was necessary. The grommets made her hearing worse too and it's permanent.