perforated ear drum and middle ear fluid

Cherie - posted on 05/13/2013

My Daughter has had a bad ear for at least 18 months , we have been taking her to GP and he has said there is nothing wrong with her , she has aspergers , adhd , she hadd ear drops 4 times and she screamed with them all . we took her to A& E and they sent me a letter to say do not bring her back to tke her to GP because hospital is for people who are sick . I asked the GP to have her seen by ENT but he said that she should have her ear saringed first and so she did after she woz in loads of pain and she said her earing woz getting less . I took her back to GP and said please , please send her to ENT so after a long time he did the pain woz very bad she had it all in her jaw and whole side of her face . ENT sent her for a CT SCAN 2 months later they saw her again and told me she had 4% hearing due to infection she had debris in wall of the atic and tissie damage . A month later she had paralisation on one side of her face and blood cumming out her ear also her eye is blur . she had to go in to hospital for ear clean out under anasetic but she had a very bad reaction to anasetic and DR said she needed tests done . 10 days i phoned hospital for but she had no test they just said bring her in a month later for a 2nd go of clean out and they did but lucky i told them she had a bad reaction to anasetic because it woz not in her notes . she has been in very bad pain since and DR has not told me one thing what they found about her ear after clean out all they said is she will have to come back and find out then . I am so worried for her she has been so ill for so long with face pain jaw pain bad heads feels sick no school fo 3 months so if eny body can tell me eny think please do thankyou from a very worried mom :(

Christine - posted on 06/02/2009

Just wanted to let everybody know that John's ear drums healed well and their is no sign of fluid. He has been hearing well with his hearing aids. Thanks for your advice ladies.

Sara - posted on 03/13/2009

My daughter has had holes in her eardrums which has caused bleeding. It actually is a relief when they do pop for her and the fluid does drain. It is important to keep having them checked. Mine also has scar tissue from repeated perferations. I hope he feels better soon!! It is tough enough having permanent hearing loss, but then to put earaches on top and sore eardrums is so much worse for our kids.



There are ways to put medical problems in their IEP/504 plans for school to address sickness and allow him to educate at home during times where he is not functioning well with his hearing peers..that being if he is in a mainstream classroom of course. Talk to the school audiologist and make sure she/he is seeing him during these times. It is important he has access to his education even if he is experiencing flucuating hearing loss. Hope this helps. :)



Sara

Christina - posted on 03/08/2009

You can still go to the water park if you put ear plugs in John's ear to keep the dry inside. If the perforation has healed then he will not need earlplugs. I am not sure how your health ins works but we go straight to our ENT for any problems with ears. Even if it is just a ear infection. At first we did not and it just lead to more problems. My pediatrician is great but she is not the expert on Taylor's ear problems. I would encourage you to use the ENT if at all possible. I would insist on taking him to the ENT if there is a perforation of any kind or if there is still fluid. I know that what we would do for a long time with my other child who had ear infections because of fluid on his ear it this. We would put him on a antibiotic clear the infection but as soon as he finished his meds it would come right back. This is because all we did was sterilize the fluid not get rid of it. We had to put tubes in his ears. He also had two sets but never needed a third set. Good luck and let me know how things go.

Christine - posted on 03/08/2009

John's ear infections seem to be clearing up. He is hearing me much more easily and his frustration has diminished. He's finished with his drops in his left ear(no perforation) and will be on his oral antibiotics a couple more days. We've been trying to give him a break from his hearing aids, but he wants them in. I try to make sure they stay dry and clean, which we would do anyway. We have a followup appt. with his pediatrician this week. He will not hesitate to send us to John's ENT if necessary. It sounds as if the fluid may have cleared up but if not, I'm not sure the ENT would put tubes in right away. He's had two sets of tubes already. The last set fell out last fall after 2 1/2 years and his ENT said his ears needed a rest. I'm not sure how badly his right ear is perforated. His ENT is very good, so I'm sure he'll do what is necessary and no more. Drat! We were thinking about going to a water park this spring too! Guess thats put on hold again for while.

Christine - posted on 03/05/2009

Thank you ladies for your support. I hear what you both are saying. Every case is a little different and sometimes thats the trick isn't it? Trying to sort out what is the best thing to do for your particular situation. It can't be done if you don't know what your options are so I appreciate your input. We're having a medical emergency with another family member right now, but I will try to sit down and let you know how things are going for John as soon as possible.

Christina - posted on 03/05/2009

To Pamela McDermott....I feel like I need to defend myself here. First of I am I not suggesting yelling at any child. I am just saying that the amplification from the hearing aid is needed to carry the sound all the way through the ear to the nerve that sends it to the brain and allows for hearing. I do not agree with the hairdryer solution. Again I think this is very loud and I have been told by my ENT to never do that.  The reason that we opted for surgery was because the type of bacteria that was in her ear and the length of time that it was there before we knew she had a infection left her with basically no ear drum at all. It was 85% gone in one ear and 95% gone in the other. There was no way that letting it be would ever work. We only do antibiotic ear drops when she gets a infection.Before her surgery fluid would not build up behind the ear because there was no ear drum. It would drain out of her ear. Since her surgery two years ago on her left ear she has had only one infection and has had her hearing improve to only a mild hearing loss. The only other surgery she will need on that ear will be to correct the bones that have been so damaged by recurrent ear infections that they do not work properly. Following that surgery she will be able to get rid of her hearing aid in that ear.  She just had her surgery to repair her right ear drum a week ago. We are still waiting to see how that will improve her hearing. However, because one of the bones is fused solid and will not move she will always have to wear a hearing aid in that ear. By closing the hole and making her a eardrum she will be able to bath and swim without ear plugs in her ears to keep water out. At six years old it is pretty important to be like everyone else. 

As far as school goes... she is receiving special services and meet with a AI specialist several times a week. She does sit at the front of the classroom very close to the teacher but she has not idea that it was done on purpose. She sits at a table with other students as well. Having someone to help her take notes is really not practical in kindergarten. However, we may find that helpful later on. We do have her repeat directions so that we check for understanding. She still wears both her hearing aids(no right hearing aid right now) and she has a FM transmitter as well. The teacher then wears a microphone and what is said goes directly into Taylor's hearing aid. 

We do leave hearing aids out after school and alot on the weekend when learning is not that critical. We just know we have to talk a little louder and make sure that she is looking at us. If there is alot of noise we do not even speak out loud we just mouth or sign the words because Taylor can read lips and know sign language. 

I would never not do surgery like her pedi ENT has suggested. Our goal is to get her as much hearing as possible and hopefully loose one hearing aid. I think that to suggest that parents just wait and let the ear heal on its own is wrong. I think that in small perforations that is correct but I still think that you have to follow the advice of the doctors. After all they have way more knowledge about this then we do.

Pamela - posted on 03/05/2009

To Christina Helms...OUCH! first, you do not wanna talk louder since it eardrums perforated and more sensitive. And as the school goes, you should have a special class for her addition to the classes she is going for, to get extra help on her classes, like a mediator between her and her teachers, if she has any questions, or if she got the info down correctly, etc. It would also help if she has someone in her classes sitting next to her helping her jotting down the notes by looking over next to her if she misses any words she needed. Sitting in front of the classes sounds good but if she's shy, may not be a good idea, it may help by sitting closer to the teacher desk on the side of the room or next to another desks grouped together. As far as surgery goes, if she keep getting fluid in her ears, make sure to dry her ear also while drying her hair every morning/night, and she need to keep the aid(s) out over night/long period of time, to prevent swimmer's ear, keep the ears clean by taking a wet/soapy(lightly) washcloth and clean the ear except the ear canal and if you have to, do so upside down so the water doesn't go into the ear. Please do NOT put anything in her ears while perforated even the ear drops that doctor will/have give you, too painful!!! Eardrops only makes it worse, by leaving the perforated ear alone for long period of times will help and heal on it own, it may not close all the way, like mine, I have a little hole in my eardrum in my left and wear the aid mostly in my good left ear, since the clarity in my right ear does not make sense to me to wear them except for loudness. I suggest that you may just wanna leave the hearing aids out of ears when she is out of school to let it rest and heal on it own before going any further on surgery and follow my instruction above, if it's painful, make sure she get the antibiotics she need, do not stay on the same one again, get a different one since she may prone to the one she took already and may not work again the next time. Heating pad is my best friend to my achy painful ear. Keep her out of pool and bathtub in mean times, sponge bath or shower will be better. Let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be glad to answer them the best as I could.

Christina - posted on 03/04/2009

My daughter was born with normal hearing and at 18months old perforated both of her eardrums due to a severe ear infections. She perforated them both to the point that they would not heal on their own. At 2years old she was fitted for hearing aids. She had a mild-moderate loss in her right ear that later went to severe loss and  in her left ear it was a moderate hearing loss. She has since had surgery on both of her ears to rebuild her eardrum. However due to the infections her bones in her ear are not in good shape. She has improved to a mild hearing loss in her left ear. She is still wearing a aid in that ear until she has more surgery. In her right ear it is not so good. She will have to wear a hearing aid in that ear for the rest of her life because of the bones. She is six by the way.

Having said all that dealing with the school has never been fun. They do not have that many hearing impaired children so they really do not know how to handle them. Until the problem is corrected he needs to have special seating close to the teacher. One of the things that we do with my little one is have her repeat back directions and such. That way the teacher can check for her understanding. The need to also make sure that he is looking at them when they speak. There really is not tactful way to approach this. Just ask for a meeting and talk with them about this.

Does your doctor plan to put a tube in the ear with fluid? Does your son where hearing aids? When the ear drum is not working right because of fluid or perforation the sound has to be louder for it to get back to the nerve.  

I would be happy to answer any other questions you have about this or discuss more of what I have asked of the school if you want. Just let me know.

Pamela - posted on 03/04/2009

I was born with the same hearing loss and still living with it...I find that putting hairdryer on the ear helps and take Mucinex as well with humifier on at night...and keeping the earmolds clean with soap and water and heat from the hairdryer helps....