grommets not working whilst in place?

[pinkdolly]

DD2(5) had grommets inserted two days after christmas. She has just been for a check up this morning.

The grommets are still in place, but her results of her hearing test were "borderline" and the test looking for fluid found her ears still to be full of fluid.

She has got a cold, unfortunatly came on yesterday afternoon. So I wonder if this could be the reason.

The consultant said he would like to see her again in a few months and decide what to do from there.

I wish I had asked more questions while I was in there but have had a couple of nights poor sleep due to puking 2 year old and bad back pain.

Anyway thought you wise mumsnetters might be able to give me some answers.

Q1) The grommets are supposed to stop this build up of fluid, just cant get my head around why it is there if her grommets are still in place.

Q2) Isn't the life span of grommets 6-12 months. Which would take us up to next month. Why then would the consultant not want to see us for another 4 months.

Q3) What happens if the grommets dont work? Is there alternative treatment available?

I am kicking myself for not asking these questions to the consultant. But you know what it's like when you knackered. My brain was just not working properly this morning.

Has anyone else's dc been through a similer experience?

hi - poor you; sounds like you've had a tough week! hope you are getting more sleep now (i totally sympathise; my two are just recovering from colds so not much sleep all round!)

my dc's haven't had grommets but i teach deaf children and children with hearing problems. it's been a while since i worked with anyone with grommets, but from memory i'll try to answer your questions and hopefully a wiser mner will come along and give you better anwers!

you are probably right that the cold has caused this fresh build up of fluid. the grommets have probably been doing their job all year (has dd noticed an improvement?), but the cold has probably caused a blockage.

I'm not entirely sure why the consultant would wait to see dd but it may be that he wants to check her hearing after the ear drum has well and truly healed from the myringotomy (wee cut to the ear drum to insert the grommets).

if the fluid comes back again, kids can be given grommets again and again. the problem with this is that there is an increased chance of scarring to the ear drum. as i said, it has been a while since i've worked with kids with grommets, so i'm not sure if there are any newer treatments.

most kids grow out of 'glue ear' in the early years of primary, but it's good to keep a close eye on things and to let her teachers know if she is having trouble with her hearing. intermittent hearing loss is sometimes confusing for kids in a learning environment and it's important that her teachers are aware of that.

hope it clears up for her!

Grommets are my biggest nightmare both of my two have grommets my DD has had them done 3 times and my DS twice in 18 months his only seems to last about 6 months .

I wouldnt worry to much if he has a cold that can give you a false reading.

My ds is there on friday and his grommets are again so I am worried what they are going to say

I hate keep putting them through the anesthetic

Thanx for your replies.

Sorry for not getting back to this earlier, aforementioned dd started vomiting yesterday eve. So has caught the nasty little bug from her little sister. Oh dear!

RaggedRobin- I have seemed to notice a little difference to dd since having the grommits. But thats mainly with her clumsyness. She used to get ever such bad knocks coz of her awful balance. That has improved somewhat (tho not 100%).

Her hearing has always been an ongoing issue. I assumed that it would get much better when the grommets were in place. To date it hasn't seemed to make a great deal of difference. Pre yesterdays hearing test I was just putting it down to her not listening properly/ignoring/being deliberatly difficult. But the results show therwise. Tho it's not a dramatic hearing loss and her speech is very well for her age. She has trouble mainly hearing people if there is background noise, asking for the tv/radio to be turned up etc.

She is, however, not in a school situaton as I home school her so she wont have the problems associated with the noise levels in school.

I suffered with this as a child and used to find it quite difficult to pick up the teacher's voice amongst the din of the other children. So i'm quite thankful she doesn't have to put up with that. My teachers always told me off for not paying attention, would hate for her to go through that.

Angmarie- I am like you, I hated dd having grommets put in. I am very ashamed to say that I sent dh down to the anesthetic room with her as I couldn't bear seeing them put her under. I did go to pick her up when she woke up and that was awful. She was crying and groggy and complaining about the canula in her foot. Not an experience I would like ot unnesecarily put her through.

Hence wanting to know if it is worth doing again really. I have requested the notes from the ent consultant, from prior to the grommets being inserted and afterwards so I can see for myself if there is any difference whatsoever in her readings.

i think the success rate is very variable with grommets, depending on the child. a doctor would probably laugh me out of town, but i sometimes wonder about dairy produce and their possible (?) link with mucous production. is this something you've tried? i don't know if there's any real basis to the belief, but it may be worth cutting down on dairy to see if it has an effect.

Hi, I know it's a long shot posting after all this time but I wondered how you got on pinkdolly. Our son has had very bad glue ear and developmental problems as a result. We are 5 months post grommets and while we have had some really good progress we also have bad weeks from time to time. I suspect that when he has colds the grommets don't work as well. Perhaps they are overloaded of perhaps they become a little blocked by ear wax. This sounds like where you were so how did your daughter do in the years after? Did her hearing improve again after this post?