Ok, I wrote a week or so ago about my daughter being reffered for tubes and abnoids removed. I am at the point where I would like to find out what the cause of her chronic infections are coming from. I don't just want her to have the surgery. Our peditrician has now put my daughter on 10 antibiotics without recomending anything that is the cause. I have done some research on line and have came up with some homeopathic techniques that I am now trying prior to her suregery which is scheduled in 2 weeks. We are hoping that something works. Does anyone have any good sugestions of doctors that have used another approach besides drugs or surgery? I am not completely against it although I would like to try to find out what the problem is and not just get a quick fix. I would greatly appreciate any advice or recomendations.
Hi R.,
My daughter just went to an ent...two were highly recommended from our pediatrician (dr. dina curran @ southdale peds)
1)Dr. Tedford
2)Dr. Rhodes (office is in childrens west)
we went with rhodes b/c of our insurance and was very professional about the situation. he has done tubes for a friend of ours daughter with severe ear issues and did a great job. good luck!
Hi R.,
I think you are right in questioning the blind "fix it" approach of your doctor and in trying alternative methods too. I did see your original request too.
My daughter was one year old initially when our doctor referred un to an ENT, and the ENT didn't really say anything useful. The only useful thing that they do during the ENT visit is the hearing test.
My daughter had several ear infection in a row, and our doctor said that she is still seeing fluid in her ears even after the infection is gone, which is why the tubes were an option at this point. Any time during a visit to our doctor she was saying that my daughter still had fluid in her ears. Then one time we brought her to urgent care for a different reason, and the doctor there looked at her ears and said no, he doesn't see any fluid. The again visit to our doctor who still can see the fluid. Then a visit to a different doctor (our was not available at that time), and the new doctor doesn't see any fluid. The again, visit to our doctor, and she still can see the fluid. This is very frustrating when one doctor says one thing and two others say different. That was going on for a year. When my daughter was two years old, our doctor referred us again to the ENT. We didn't want to go back to the same ENT since he wasn't very helpful the first time. He didn't say anything that we already didn't know, didn't want to advise anything, said that's our decision, and charges for the visit $300. But we would do a hearing test (which is only $80) without the ENT visit, just to find out what is the level of her hearing. I also decided to try a chiropractor, and we were going there several times a week for a month probably. My daughter didn't have any ear infections since then, although she did have several colds but they didn't grow into ear infections. I think the chiropractor probably helps, but not to fix an infection, but to prevent ear infections in the future. The chiropractor doesn't always help, though. And they also say that toddlers grow out of ear infections after two years old.
We ended up not going to the ENT, and not going to our doctor anymore since then. We think her hearing is fine, her development is fine, and they say the same thing in the day care too. She started to talk a lot lately too. One other thing I want to mention is that we took our daughter to Dominican Republic a couple of months ago just so that she could be in a warm weather for a while, and I think being on hot sand under the sun helped a lot, fluid started coming out of her nose right away, and was coming out for a week. Also, for that time, she was away form her day care, which is good too.
So, here are some of my suggestions that you could try:
- if she is in the say care, switch her to a new one where there are less kids and they don't get sick that often
- if at all possible go in vacation someplace really warm and take her with you
- definitely try the chiropractor, and give it a try for a while, don't expect results from one visit
- if you are concerned about her hearing, do a hearing test, or even, several, like once a months. The hearing tests are much less expensive than visits to the ENT and the results at least will give you some help in making an informed decision.
I know, I did not want to just put tubes in my daughter's ears when she seems fine and her hearing seems file. We were also frustrated with frequent ear infections, but as I said they stopped after the chiropractor visits, plus she was two years at that time, so maybe she just outgrew them.
Gook luck
We saw an ENT for a completely different reason (our son was tongue-tied at birth), but she was wonderful in the 10 minutes that we saw her! Her name is Dr. Inell Rosario at Midwest Ear Nose and Throat Specialists. good luck and sorry for your daughter's health issues.
Have you tried a chiropractor at all mine gave me tons of info on ear infections. Not all of them are bacterial some are viral and you can't use antibiotics for a virus. My dr. wanted to put tubes in my 2 year olds ears also. and I said no. The putting in of the tubes causes scar tissue aswell plus they say they usually fall and have to be put back in causing my scar tissue. the only way to tell the difference is to do a culture and most dr's dont do that they just say yep they are red is your meds. I would do more research before tubes.
