Glue Ear there are more options than surgery

[mish1801]

I wanted to post this thread as having been pressured by doctors to whip my daughters adenoids out and get grommets I've resisted and taken the following route.
I suspected my daughter was hearing way beyond normal levels a few years ago. She'd ask a question I'd be answering she had full focus on me and would be saying pardon what did you say. Also her lack of answering went beyond the normal childhood ignorance. I took her to the docs who whispered in her ear she turned around he said nothing wrong with her!
I then asked her teacher to keep an eye on her for a week and see if she felt there was a problem. She agreed there was and I asked the doctors for a referral. Her hearing was well below the normal levels and she had been lip reading and guessing. Her speech was good though and she was doing ok at school.
I was advised by the doc immediately have grommets. I did not ideally want my daughter to have general anaesthetic so I asked if there was another option. She then had some sparkly hearing aids made. The moment she put them in was priceless. This was about a year ago and she's now 7. After more research we started using some of the nasal rinses (horrible it squirts solution up nostril snot comes down the other) we only used them when she was getting bunged up. We have also been using otovent. It's a balloon that your child blows up with her nose. It encourages the eardrum to flex and release the fluid. I went back six weeks ago having felt shed been less snuffly at night to find her hearing had improved. 6 weeks later I've just been back and it's improved massively again. She is 7 years old which they say is the time a lot of children naturally grow out of it.
If you're a parent going through this I'm not saying dont have grommets, if it works for you and your child and you're happy to go ahead then good luck and I hope it works out. I just wrote this for anyone like me who felt pressured by doctors and other parents to just get it done! 10 weeks we have another test but the improvement was so massive this time I know we're in for the same again. Good luck if you're struggling with this and I hope this helped Michelle x

I agree - no need to rush into grommets. DS had glue ear on and off for years, but it wasn't holding him back at school, and to be fair, even though he had to tv on very loud, his hearing tests always came back within the "normal" range.

He grew out of it. I'm glad we didn't have surgery.

We used this very successfully with ds

www.otovent.co.uk/

It was recommended by a cranial osteopathy

There's a video on You Tube of it too

Blimey, where do you live that they so readily recommend grommets. In the last 3 PCTs I've had to fight tooth and nail to get my two kids the surgery.

Otoh..our doctors kept watching and waiting and didn't want to rush. But when son had grommets in and adenoids out it made big difference then. At age five .

My son had grommets and his adenoids removed at three and half years old. I feel that removing his adenoids really improved the quality of his life as he had a constantly runny nose before the operation. He had experienced 10 perforations before the operation.

However his grommets went very badly wrong. The grommets themselves fell out after 6 weeks, but they left holes which took 9 months to heal. Doing those 9 months my son had pus constantly dripping from his ears and smelt like a dustbin. The infection was anti biotic resistant and only cleared up once the perfortation healed. We were seeing the ENT consultant every 4 weeks for nine months!

When my son's glue ear returned we had the choice between extra large T-shaped grommets that would have to removed with a second operation or hearing aids. I chose hearing aids and my son had hearing aids for 18 months. Thankfully my son only has slight permament damage to the hearing in his left ear. His right ear compensates well and he has no problems at school.

Hearing aids are not as good as grommets for correcting hearing loss. Many children don't like hearing aids and they need to be retuned regularly as the pattern of hearing loss with glue ear flucates so much.

I feel that many parents push hard for grommets without understanding the risks. Our ENT consultant became very reluctant to do grommets on any child after seeing my son.

In our area the ENT consultants are quite dishonest to parents. They don't explain why they have chosen to do watchful waiting and pretent that their child is on a "two year waiting list". When my son had his grommets he only had to wait 6 weeks as he had such a bad hearing loss.

It can be interesting to see the audiograms for both ears. If the pattern of hearing loss is different in both ears then it can be possible to hear all the frequencies of speech.

otovent is crap. Small children cannot blow up a balloon, yet alone with their nose! I imagine it might work well for an adult with glue ear, but it is a waste of money for a child.

Interesting to read. DD has had the operation 12 months ago and it was very straightforward. Having read this, I would have tried your suggestions before risking the anaesthetic - but no one mentioned alternatives.

My son had grommets at eater for glue ear . He is 2 , we have had no end of problems since . He has had constantly dripping ears and they smell. Only this week has a go sent off a swab to get the correct anti biotics . They are better but not cleared . Bloody things , I just wanted him to hear so he can learn to talk .

Given the fact that the NHS has to save money, if there was a more effective cheaper solution I think NICE would be recommending that as a first port of call.

If you feel your consultant is being dishonest with you, you need to report it.

When my ds was referred for grommet after a huge fuss from me, we were told the waiting list was forever so I requested hearing aids in the interim, to be told that they wouldn't work with glue ear.

But anyway, all my kids are in and out with grommets as was I and my brothers as children. No problems at all. Usually sent home within half an hour of waking after the op.

This is interesting. My two year old was saying a few words at 15 months, then stopped (except for mama). He has had tympanometry three months apart which showed glue ear and zero vibration of the ear drum. I have seen two consultants. Both were keen to watch and wait because of the risks. When I asked how risky the op was they said 1. it is more dangerous driving home today and 2. it's as safe as crossing the road. Neither could quantify the risk. I would wait for surgery except that I am convinced it is holding his speech back.

I was told that I could be referred for hearing aids but not at the same time as being on the wait list for surgery (seems logical to me to try hearing aids first before trying surgery) I was also told that hearing aids work really well with glue ear because glue ear does not distort the sound waves, it just turns the sound down.

stella1w
Depends how you quantity risk. The chances of dying in a grommets op is minsicule. The most serious risk is permament hearing loss.

Most cases of glue ear clear up within 6 months without any treatment.

"I was told that I could be referred for hearing aids but not at the same time as being on the wait list for surgery"

Thats not strictly true. You can be referred back to ENT by paediatric audiology if your child doesn't get on well with hearing aids. Given that paediatric digital hearing aids cost the nhs 2K a pair then its a bit silly to fit hearing aids and then do the op 3 months later.

StarlightMcKenzie
What shocks me is that you used to live in Herts and its likely that your children saw the same ENT consultant as my son.

I find it frustrating that paediatric audiology is seperate from ENT. I suspect that some ENT surgeons have no clue what paediatric audiology can do.

I had glue ear growing up and had a good few sets of grommets back when they were new and you had to stay in for days after.
I cannot describe the pain I went through with constant ear infections, I missed loads of school as a result. The grommets were a god send.
So absolutely look at alternatives to save a general anaesthetic. But honestly they truly changed my childhood.

When I asked about risk I was expecting something like...

0.5 per cent of two year olds have problems with the GA.
1/200 cases of grommets will result in permanent hearing damage. (not the actual figures, but the approach)

When I asked the doctor to quantify the risk, he said, how dangerous is your journey home? I was put out by his unprofessionalism because he was the one comparing the risk of surgery to driving home!!

And I appreciate kids grow out of it but ds has had it for at least six months and isn't talking at all..

I am also puzzled as to why they don't do the op on one ear at a time to reduce the risk. I had one eye done at a time when I had eye surgery, for example.

"I am also puzzled as to why they don't do the op on one ear at a time to reduce the risk. I had one eye done at a time when I had eye surgery, for example."

Most children with really bad glue ear have reccurring bad ear infections. My son had a history of constant ear perforations. His grommets were to prevent him from suffering from ear perforations as well as improving his hearing.

When I was two I had an myringotomy (piecing the ear drum without putting a grommet in it) to drain pus and my adenoids taken out. There is less risk of infection with a myringotomy as the hole is not kept open. The hole heals within a fortnight. I feel that its a pity that this operation is not availabe as an option.

Interesting, why is myringotomy not available as an option?

ReallyTired- my young DS managed with the Otovent easily. You have to use the otovent balloons, not ordinary ones. I can't remember how old he was but he hadn't started school. Well worth trying IMO

stella, it is a short term solution. It heals too quickly.

My daughter had a grommet operation a week after a perforated eardrum. There was so much gunk in there she had to have antibiotics to clear the remaining pus.

Just to update on this my daughter had another check today completely clear its gone! All that pressure from the hospital finally vindicated in choosing hearing aids and waiting. Hope this helps if you're trying to decide what to do. She's now 7 and has had glue ear for years. The hearing aids were amazing as an interim measure. However, if you choose grommets good luck I believe that's also a good option. All I'm saying is there is a choice, surgery is not the only option and if grommets don't work there is only so many times you can have it done before scar tissue makes it impossible to redo so sometimes good to wait