did your child grow out of glue ear?

[thisisyesterday]

ds2 has glue ear. he doesn't get any ear infections, but his speech is/was delayed.

he has caught up amazingly over the last 6 months, and we're due to see SALT on monday for another review

The audiologist we saw today was leaning towards an ENT referral with a view to grommets. However, I am not sure he needs them

if his speech is catching up then is there any reason to have grommets?
His hearing test today showed a little improvement, but he still isn't hearing very low frequencies, but as speech is generally higher frequencies it shouldn't be a problem at the moment?

So, just interested in hearing if other people have children who have simply grown out of glue ear without treatment, and if so, how old were they?
we've had some success with cranial osteopathy and the levels of fluid in one ear have dropped dramatically, but less so in the other ear

All my three had ENT issues. the boys had adenoids/tonsils out and grommets in at around 3, dd we waited and she grew out of it but still does have some issues with tonsilitis. I would say she grew out of the glue ear around 6.

Does ds have problems only with glue ear and not with tonsils/adenoids too?

The boys were both very badly affected - ds2 worse than ds1. ds1 had more infections but ds2 had worse speech and behaviour and for them surgery was the right thing. We refrained from surgery with dd as she has other health issues that put her at high risk under GA.

It's a very difficult decision - I think you need to consider whether untreated glue ear can cause permanent hearing loss. We were never told this but I believe it can be the case?

My ENT doctor said that glue ear does not cause permanent damage and he only advises grommets if indeed there is speech delay.
I hope, as he has suggested, that this will be the last bad winter for my DD3 (almost 5).

saggarmarker... no issues with tonsils/adenoids. it's is "just" the speech, which he really does seem to be coming along well with. He is still behind, but then he had a lot of catching up to do!
His behaviour is actually fine as well, despite the hearing loss he had

So, it does seem overkill to put him through surgery for a speech problem that could potentially solve itself (as could the glue ear itself)

I will definitely ask next time I see them though about long term effects of glue ear. I know my parents were told the same thing with regard to my brother, but I always thought that it was because of the number of ear infections associated with it? That is merely an assumption though so it's definitely something I'll ask about!

Instant- I hope your DD has seen the last of it too!

You could also try a Cranial Osteopath for glue ear. Is meant to be one of the things they're very good for, though may take four-five sessions.

I had glue ear as a child, along with tonsil/adenoid issues. Had tonsils and adenoids out at 4 but mum refused the grommets. I'm now 30 and still have hearing issues. Apparently I have narrowed eustachian tubes and grommets would have resolved that. I'm not saying that based on that you should get it done but please do at least consider how it will affect him in the future

have been havinf cranial osteopathy yomella :)

Imnotaslimjim... did you have narrow eustachian tubes anyway (causing the glue ear) or were they damaged by it going untreated?

I think I definitely will go with the referral to ENT actually, just so I can ask all these kinds of questions.

My ds1 (5) has glue ear.He has had many many ear infections over the years and then we tried this
otovent.co.uk/
we also use these for when he is having his hair washed and swimming www.swimstop.co.uk/iqs/cpti.30/dbitemid.221/sfa.view/small_items.html

Today i had to take him to the doctors for an unrelated issue and she checked his ears and was very pleased to tell us that his glue ear has gone

Hope the above links help somebody else as we have found them fantastic.

My dd had glue ear from about age 3. She is now nearly 6. We tried for a year to avoid surgery and tried cranial osteopathy and avoiding dairy, neither of which made any difference in her case.
She had grommets fitted aged 4.5 which made a huge difference. She was less shy and reserved in school and her confidence grew hugely. Previously she'd been coming out of school exhausted from the extra effort to concentrate and generally a bit bewildered looking. She had no speech delay, so we really didn't know what affect her hearing loss was having, until it was no longer a problem.
Her behaviour also changed - she used to go off into her own little world, and in a busy situation would go a bit loopy, but this stopped with the grommets too. The first set of grommets have now fallen out and I'm sure her hearing has dropped again, and her behaviour is worse again too. We have an appt soon to test her hearing and see if another set of grommets are recommended. If they are we will definitely have them fitted. The general anaesthetic is not nice for anyone, but for my dd the benefits far outweighed it.
Hope your ds gets better soon.