Grommets and hearing aids!

[blacksocks33]

So my 7 year old son has suffered with glue ear his whole life.
He had a speach delayed which was resolved when he was just shy of 3 following having grommets fitted. Prior to this he was also plagued with ear infection after ear infection.
As time ticked on and the grommets fell out things slowly started to worsen again.
Whilst he doesn't have reoccurring ear infections as such like he did before, he struggles very much with ear ache and leaky ears when he has a cold so winter is a bad time for us!! This then effects his heating for a few weeks after. His ears are also commented to be full of wax too.
Today he had a heating test (I asked for him to be referred last October 🤬) and he failed... hearing has slightly worsened in a year. Both ear drums are flat.
So now it's a conversation about grommets or hearing aids.

I'm more inclined for grommets. Reason being that whilst hearing aids will help with the hearing and can be adjusted, they won't help the glue ear and the pain he has during cold season.
But the consultants seems VERY negative about grommets. I don't understand why. They were like this last time... they were trying to talk me out of them before we even talked about them! Is it a cost thing?

Does anyone I've experience with this? I feel like my mind is made up but just wondering about others thoughts on grommets vs hearing aids?

Bump 😊

I had grommets numerous times between the ages of 2 and 19 (got a T tube eventually, which also fell out.) Had a burst eardrum in my late teens, a tympanoplasty as it wouldn’t heal ( potentially due to the amount of scar tissue) and still have a dodgy ear at 44. I avoided them for my son but did take him to a cranial osteopath.

On a personal level I would want grommets too my DC was a different child after them. She didn't have ear infections etc but was near mute as she had no confidence to answer questions etc.

Also hearing impairment also affects auditory processing and a different DD who was hearing impaired and after Johansen therapy had perfect hearing.

As hearing aids are uncomfortable and amplify everything I would want to try grommets too. Also cranial osteopathy can help speed up the process of the Eustachian tube becoming more angled so it drains better and they stop getting glue ear.

Presumably the flat ear drum indicates that when the consultant looked there was no fluid build up at that moment in time. Although we know it takes time to relearn to hear in between each blue ear "incident".

A lot of NHS ENT doctors are now reluctant to put in a second set of grommets also to insert grommets unilaterally this could be the reason this time

Another question I’d ask the consultant is how long their grommet waits are. Assuming you’re NHS then there is a very high chance that they are long +12 months.

If this is the case and he is struggling to hear at home and school then you can discuss the option of interim hearing aids and to be also listed for grommets. This way you will see if they genuinely think hearing aids are your best option as they will not be getting you off their waiting list by offering you aids

This will also have the added benefit that he will be able to hear whilst waiting. It doesn’t/ shouldn’t be either or unless there is a specific medical reason or guideline they can discuss with you.

Modern Paed NHS hearing kids are very good and fitted well comfortable. (Some children will wear them life long)

The NDCS do a good information leaflet but you may have already had that.

hope everything works out for you.

Our son had moderate hearing loss spotted at nursery at 3 1/2 years old. Self referred to test his hearing on NHS to find out it was moderate hearing loss (told it was the equivalent to being in a bath of water). 3 months retested to find no improvement and referral to NHS consultant took around a year.

Offered grommets and adenoids / tonsil removal as consultant concerned about sleep apnea. Consultant informed us both glue ear and enlarged adenoids is likely to improve with age without surgery.

Opted for hearing aids and self monitoring sleep initially to decide whether surgery was really necessary for our case. Used Otovent nose balloon twice a day. At 5 1/2 years old he had NHS hearing aids fitted and we had them turned down slightly (10 dB) as he found them too loud. They were really small hearing aids that were barely noticeable and they made a big difference to his hearing.

At 6 years old his hearing was retested and he no longer needs hearing aids and sleep seems to have improved. Audiologist was taken aback by the improvement. 😀

Grommets may not stay in, and can also result in permanent scarring. DS had grommets at 2 and again at 4. The 2nd lot fell out within a few weeks. He did grow put of the constant ear infections though, and still wears hearing aids for other reasons.

My 11 year old had 2 sets of grommets and then he got his first set of hearing aids aged 8 .