DS's ears .......... again! .......................

[Northerner]

About 10 weeks agao my ds (27 months) had grommets inserted in both ears. Ever since then he has had a persistent discharge from both ears. It's a thick, green, mucus type discharge that looks very unsightly and must be uncomfortable for him. Since then he has had 2 lots of anti biotics (eardrops and oral)which do help for a short while but then this discharge returns.

Anyway, we are back to teh specialist on Friday, so I'm just wondering if anyone who's kids have had grommets experienced this afterwards and what they did to remedy it, or what could be causing it.

I really do not want to give him any more anti b's.

TIA

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Hi Northerner. My ds is also 27 months and has near constant discharge from nose and ears, although he has not had grommets inserted. We are currently trying dairy free diet with different replacements. Now on rice milk which he likes (well sort of!) and I think I'm beginning to see a difference but early days yet. Maybe worth a try. I've tried to find out about grommets for my ds and isn't the idea that they encourage drainage rather than it all being stuck in there causing pain? We are in process of being transferred from general paediatrician to ENT specialist.

My dd is 18 months and recently had an awful discharge from her ears. Took her to the drs who said she had a perforated ear drum as the result of a cold. She had antibiotics which worked for a short time but then it flared up again but without the discharge. She's now on a course of eardrops. So fingers crossed this will sort it out!!!

Thanks guys.

Strawberry - after the op a certain amount of discharge is expected but not this long after. Fluid shouldn't come out of the ear canal.

My main concern is that it could be effecting his hearing. Surely he can't hear cleraly if his ears are full of gloop

My DS 39 months is having grommets next Wednesday, what did you do to prepare yours for the op if anything? His are for hearing probs - he's never had an ear infection (touch wood), i'm interested in how others have found them and how long did you wait, we seem to have got them very quickly ( 6 weeks since we found out he had a hearing prob), but friends waiting having been refered by GP have letters saying it will be 16 weeks just to see the ent specialist at the same trust.

My ds has had green stuff coming out of his nose for 6 weeks. Gp said to try clarityn which didn't work. Went to paediatric a&e where paediatrician said to try Beconase nose spray. Both gp and pharmacist were surprised as ds is only 3.5 and it's usually not prescribed for under 6's. But this it seems is only because it's hard to administer, not because of the drug itself. Anyway, it worked wonders and the green stuff was gone within days. And the best part was how CUTE ds looked sniffing in the spray.
No grommets experience, but maybe worth trying the nasal spray if nothing else is working.

Sorry - haven't been ignoring you just missed this bit.

Sofiames - I don't think a nasal spray would work as it is his ears that are the prob, it's definatley not an allergy.

Geogteach - I'm guessing your ds has a hearing problem due to glue ear? Hence the grommets. Once grommets are in the difference is amazing, it's just my ds is prone to infections so we have a different problem to you. Regarding the operation, it will be far worse for you than for ds. When they gave my ds the anaesthtic (sp?) was by far the worse, but he was out of it so quickly. It is a very quick op and they are not in pain afterwards. In fact my ds only spent 5 minutes in recovery and then he was running around like nothing had happenned.

The hard part was no fluids, he really wanted a drink so we had to keep him distracted. Take some snacks along for him as ds was really hungary straight after the op. He loved his time on the childrens ward, and we were back home at 4pm.

Good luck and let us know how he gets on.

Been for pre op assessment today and they've cancelled because hia asthma is too bad. Bit disappointing having made all the arrangements for work and having dd looked after. Will probably get a date in August apparently as long as the asthma is under control, i'll be on mat leave by then so that'll make things easier. thanks for the advice

Geogteach - my ds had grommets put in yesterday - also for hearing problems (he also had adenoids and tonsils removed)...the grommet part of the op is very straightforward - the worst bit (as Northener said) is trying to distract a hungry, thirsty child (in our case he was also very tired)..we took along lots of new small toys (snap cards, portable fishing game, sticker book) to keep him busy..and we were lent a couple of great books on 'going to hospital' so we had been reading these to him for a few nights to prepare him.

The effect on his hearing has been amazing! He can hear my voice across a room now..has been complaining about the 'noisy traffic' when we went for a walk.....and has now discovered how interesting the tv really is!

Hope your son gets his op soon.

Northener - no idea about the discharge - we were told to expect it for about a months but obviously you ds's is much worse than that...hope you got some good advice from the specialist.

Northerner, the ears and nose are connected. It helps to clear everything out, so there is nothing for the infection to grow on.