Glue ear prevention

[LIZS]

Took dd(5) to dr yesterday with earache and temperature following her getting a cold virus last week with bad cough . She'd had ab's for an ear infection 2 months ago but saw a different dr this time. He thinks she is developing glue ear as her timpanic membrane on one side is bulging from the pressure of fluid behind , although not currently infected, and the other also has some fluid, so we have been given lots of advice of preventative measures to try to decongest and drain it off before it gets serious enough to require grommets. Apparently she almost certainly can't be hearing properly and probably not since her previous infection Might explain her recent grumpiness too.

tbh I'm shocked that she has developed this at the age of 5, having only had 2 or 3 previous ear problems, the only thing I can think of is that we always kept her bed head raised for reflux until last year, as now we've been advised to do for this.

Poor you, and her, too, of course. What preventative measures did they suggest? (DD is prone to ear infections, though nothing so far this year, thank goodness).

sorry to hear that LIZS

dd also developed it late - she definitely had no hearing problems till around reception time and then was virtually deaf in one ear.

If they get it when they are older, they tend to wait to see if it goes away as their head grows iyswim. This time of year is dreadful for glue ear because of all the colds going round.

I hope it's not hurting her too much.

Liz - does she have much dairy. Both my ds's, and dd suffered badly with glue ear and we were advised to cut down on dairy as it can increase mucous production.

Also a cranial osteopath can help with a technique to drain the tubes.

Thanks. She seems brighter this morning (still off school) , after nurofen .

Was advised to use :-
Full dose of Nurofen 3 times a day for a week, whether she feels pain or not , for anti- inflammatory purposes.
Decongestant nasal drops (Otrivine) twice a day for a week
Olbas oil etc liberally sprinkled over bed clothes and pj's plus vaporisers etc
Cool bedroom and light covers at night
Elevate the head end of the bed so she sleeps on an angle and the fluid can drain during the night rather than stagnate.
Drink at night to relieve pressure.

post crossed - no she doesn't have much dairy, perhaps splash of milk on cereal, a yoghurt and a small hot choccy drink maximum a day. CO might be a good idea, have used one for ds in the past.

Thanks. I do hope it works for her - earache is so painful for them, poor things.

We also found that heat helped DD when she was in lots of pain - one of those wheat bags that you heat up in the microwave, then wrapped in a teatowel and rested on her ear.

DD(5)had bi-lateral grommetts for severe glue-ear and associated deafness, she is also on a dairy free diet as dairy increases mucous production. Recently we have been a little lax(sp) and have been letting her have small amounts of dairy- now she has been increasingly snotty and is very mucousy around her airways and her hearing has gone down again. So would deffo second the dairy thing.

Don't know if your interested in alternative medicine? my son(4) back in july had started to get an ear infection due to too much swimming adn diving in cyprus.as soon as he started to complain of ear ache we gave him pulsatilla(homeopath) little white tablets for 3 days then took him to the doctor she said that all of the inflamation had nearly gone and that it was a very good idea that we had given him the pulsatilla. When ever he has had a cold from when he was a baby he has always had pulsatilla and has never had any ear infections and it defo helps with catar.