We went back to the doctor today to check on the persistent ear infection. Bad news - after six weeks, it's still there and this time she recommended another antibiotic and a trip to see the ENT to talk about getting tubes. Sigh. We'll certainly do whatever is best, but it's pretty scary to think we're already at Def-con 10 rather than trying another approach. So if you know of a good ear nose and throat specialist in the Washington, D.C., area, let me know.
My theory (as an uneducated WebMD reader so my opinion is worth nothing and may even be harmful) is that he had a viral infection that lead to the ear infection. He was on antibiotics to kill the ear infection, but that also killed the good germs. So the antibiotics didn't work on the ears and made him more vulnerable to another cold that led to another ear infection. It also doesn't help that he's been in a school day-care setting so I have the added guilt that his illness is due to his school. Sure, he'd probably be in the same place if I wasn't working and he were in preschool, but Mommy Guilt usually isn't rational.
Here are some creepy pictures of the procedure. Yikes.
In other medical news, a woman in my playgroup had her second son Wednesday. At home. In her bedroom. Without a doctor or pain medicine. The story goes that she had bad back labor that masked that the contractions were so close together so by the time she finally realized how close they were together, there wasn't time to get to the hospital. Her husband called the paramedics who were there within five minutes and came in once the head and shoulders were out. She's my new superhero. I know, second kid, blah, blah, blah, but wow. Just wow.
1. We were about one ear infection away from doing tubes too, so I feel your pain. And Jack feels Andy's pain. If go with the tubes, see if you can go to Children's Hospital. It's wonderful. And big hugs to you and Andy.
ReplyDelete2. Holy crap! Was that Sharon?
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteear problems are very often caused by an intolerance to foods, especially dairy products - this is quite commonly known, which you'll see if you try to Google eg. "ear problems dairy" (without the quotation marks).
See eg. this page:
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/health/earinfections.html
Any homeopath know how to treat your childs problem (without surgery of course!) since it's very common, so I would recommend seeing a homeopath straight away.
Many kind regards, and I hope you solve the problem soon.
Susanna
Did you know that in 80% of cases of minor illnesses souch as sore throat, the ear infection symptoms (otitis media), sinusitis and the common cold, which are in most cases caused by a virus, against which an antibiotic is useless.
ReplyDeletesource: http://earinfectionsymptoms.blogspot.com/
Tip reduce ear infection symptoms:
ReplyDeleteHelp baby with ear infection symptoms sleep through the night by slightly elevating the mattress in the crib by putting a blanket or another safe item under the mattress. source:
http://simplewebsurf.com/ear-infection-symptoms/
Your standard inner ear infection is almost always bacterial. This is true even though colds and flues are mostly viral.
ReplyDeleteHere's why:
The ear infection is secondary. The primary illness (cold or flu) causes fluid to build up in the middle ear. This becomes food for bacteria.
Viruses and Bacteria:
Viruses don't eat food. They are essentially RNA that get into the nuclei of our cells and cause these cells to make more viruses, etc. Our immune system attacks them, and thus we feel sick. Bacteria are little animals that eat food.
Antibiotics:
The word "antibiotic" has two parts "anti", meaning against, and "biotic" which means living. Antibiotics don't work against viruses since they are not really "alive" in the most common sense. Bacteria, such as the ones that can thrive in fluid collected in the inner ear, are alive, and so they can be treated with antibiotics.
Best, Ariel