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My 7-year old son has blocked ears (fluid in the middle ear). It's like living with a deaf child, and it's affecting all of us! He doesn't have an ear infection (never has). He had this problem when he was 4-5 years old, and after a year of trying a chiropractor, conventional doctor, various dietary remedies, we finally went for ear tubes--which worked perfectly. But now the problem is back. We don't want surgery again! Have been seeing a naturaopath, but nothing he's given us has helped. The surgery doctor also suggested steroids, but that too seems a bit, well, severe for a young child. Could it be an allergy? I've read a lot on this site about the elimination diet, but don't know how well we could work that with a child, at least for the extended amount of time it would take. Just being honest here. The poor kid is already feeling tender about being hard of hearing, plus we've eliminated practically all sugar & sweeteners... He never has any dairy (we're vegan), and we've tried going wheat-free as well; made no difference. He had a fall on the head a year & a half ago (CAT scan normal)--could that have done something? He had double vision for 2 weeks, but no other problems that we noticed. This time around the problem happened about 4 months after we moved to a new area of the country.
Would like to hear from anyone who's had a child w/ middle ear problems that were not due to infection.
In Reply to: Child w/ ear problems posted by Ellen on April 01, 2002 at 02:33:49:
I don't know if the following applies to your case, but still take a look at
In Reply to: Child w/ ear problems posted by Ellen on April 01, 2002 at 02:33:49:
Hi, Ellen.
What did you learn from the ear archives? Have you actually tried TOTAL elimination of dairy for a couple of months??? This will take dare of at least 90% of recurrent ear infections in kids. Most of the last 10% will respond if wheat is added to this elimination.
Let us know what you learn.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Child w/ ear problems posted by Walt Stoll on April 02, 2002 at 07:55:17:
He's probably only had dairy, and then by accident, a few times in his life, and most of those were several years ago when we were overseas and not good at reading labels. No one in our family eats dairy products at all. I don't think we've been as vigilant as we can with wheat, though (it's just in so many things!), so we'll try harder with that. Frankly, I have more energy to deal with this now that some of the symptoms are gone--see follow-up to R's post.
In Reply to: Re: Child w/ ear problems posted by R. on April 01, 2002 at 02:41:47:
Dear R.,
We tried hydrogen peroxide in the ears the day after we read your post--and it's working! His hearing is radically improved in his right ear and somewhat in his left (the more blocked one). We've done 2 doses in the right ear and 3 in the left. I would have dosed him all day long, but he had to go to school. :)
My husband's comment was, "If this works, won't the ENT be thrilled to hear about it?" and then we enjoyed a good laugh.
I know we're dealing with the symptoms and not the cause, but they were (are) pretty important symptoms to deal with.
Side effects: He's lost a minor but persistent sniffle, and seemed his old bouncy and happy self (some of which was caused by being able to hear again). By the way, he said the drops felt cold but not unpleasant, and actually enjoyed the bubbling and popping and tickling.
Will post again if we get more results.
R., thanks so much!!!
In Reply to: Re: Child w/ ear problems posted by Ellen on April 02, 2002 at 11:13:05:
Thanks, Ellen.
Dairy only causes about 90%, wheat causes about 5% and egg, soy, peanut, etc. etc. makes up the next 4%. About 1% is caused by, one or a combination of many, other environmental chemicals. All recurrent ear infections (in children) have allergy at least at the base of the causes.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Child w/ ear problems posted by Walt Stoll on April 03, 2002 at 08:56:34:
We'll try first with wheat, then soy... we all eat a lot of
both of those. Would be a pain to do w/out!
My real question is, is it possible that he has fluid in his
ears that is not a result of an infection? Are there any
other causes of such a thing? The ENT said that
although there are no other signs of infection (no pain,
no swelling, no redness), that an infection was the
cause, and now the infection has cleared up but the
fluid has remained. I guess that sounds reasonable...
but I'm just wondering if fluid can be a result of anything
else (wonky anatomy? his head injury?).
Thanks for taking the time to answer. I really
appreciate what you do here.
In Reply to: Is it really an infection? posted by Ellen on April 03, 2002 at 13:27:26:
My sister has some ear tube defect, and she frequently has hearing problems and stuff coming out of her ears when she gets water in them.
In Reply to: Is it really an infection? posted by Ellen on April 03, 2002 at 13:27:26:
Thanks, Ellen.
The fluid is from the blockage of the eustacean tube and THAT is caused by the environmental hypersensitivity. The infections start because of the fluid in the ear.
It is a real crime that the doc doesn't take the time to fully explain. After all, time is money, I guess.
You saw how long it took ME. Your doc knows this as well as I do and he could have explained it to you.
Anything that alters the eustacean tube anatomy can contribute to this but those causes are among that last 1% of cases not covered by environmental sensitivity.
A good Cranial Osteopath (see the archives) could quickly tell if his head injury has anything to do with this.
Walt
In Reply to: Is it really an infection? posted by Ellen on April 03, 2002 at 13:27:26:
Most likely allergies or sensitivities to environment or food are causing the fluid. One of my daycare kids has this problem and we've been battling it with nutritional supplements. It's been almost a year now and she hasn't needed the 'dreaded tubes' yet.
In Reply to: Re: Is it really an infection? posted by Cheezi on April 06, 2002 at 01:22:23:
Hi--which supplments have you used? I've tried massiveoses of vitamin C, which have helped somewhat, but not nearly enough. What have you had success with?
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