Reaching out you all here since ENT specialists in my city are all unavailable for another 6+ weeks..plus i dont trust them anymore really
4 year old who had ear tubes when she was younger and dont know if both fell out or not
Went to swimming park a few weeks ago
Now she has occasional drainage that is bloody and waxy looking. Every few days we have to clean her ear. No pain complaints, no fever, no appetite issues. No head trauma that we know of.
Anyone have any advice? We did amoxicillin and ear cleaning with peroxide and otc oil cleaner for ears...really frustrating as its been a few weeks now.
Thanks to anyone in advance.
EDIT: THANK YOU SO MUCH for the incredible advice all of you! You guys are incredible and I got all the help I needed. Thank you Thank you!
I think there is a chance the ear tube is “retained” Vast majority “fall out” spontaneously however rarely the tube just stays in place. Over time they get crusted and the tissue next to tube becomes inflamed leading to drainage, foul smell and bloody discharge Worsened by water exposure.
I would recommend getting some prescription topical antibiotic steroid ear drops. Should clear temporarily issue. Unfortunately if the tube is retained likely will need a quick procedure to remove it.
This is what I think it may be. I guess do some kind of telehealth appointment for the prescription. Do you recommend any websites? Im going to get a scope to look i there myself as well
Amazon sells a cheap otoscope for looking in ear. A photo if you see something will be helpful of course. Often there will be granulation tissue which will be a soft moist appearance sometimes with blood. Does not look like typical ear canal or drum or wax. Usually granulation means the tube has not come out or is wedged in skin and the granulation tissue is the bodies response.
If you could get a photo and send to MD you should be able to get the prescription. Sometimes it can take a few weeks to clear granulation instead of the usual 3-5 days on drops for infection.
This is some solid advice thank you. Can you recommend me an otoscope to get please?
https://smile.amazon.com/Otoscope-Teslong-Microscope-Inspection-Adjustable/dp/B07PHLG4C2/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?crid=12YGTVE1ZNWG5&keywords=otoscope&qid=1654789742&sprefix=otoscop%2Caps%2C320&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFUQVRJTzQxR1JUWU8mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAwODAyOTVHOUdJUk5DOTA1SyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzE5MjA5MVFHTEtQNjVFT0dGTCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
Something like this is better because you can capture images rather than directly looking in like a traditional type otoscope. Helps a lot for documentation especially in telehealth.
The difficulty is a 4 year old may have pretty small ear canal. Not sure about the wax removing tools.
I was in health care and we were exploring using these devices and I was impressed with the images. Of course officially medically approved devices cost way more but image quality similar. To be honest if you called any doctor or went to urgent care you should be able to get the prescription because a history of tubes and swimming and drainage will often be enough to prescribe drops.
Is there pain or discomfort? If so any doc in the box or nurse practitioner can get things started.
Thank you for the recommendation!
no pain no discomfort... ill have the scope tomorrow. According to my wife they looked in her ear at the urgent care. I guess the first diagnosis would be ear infection even if they looked inside? Thats the part where I feel more trained than a PA around here.
The swimming at a public part was a first time for her. The drainage is all new for her (shes never had problems with tubes) The drainage started a few days after the 3 day public pool excursion(Great Wolf Lodge) and has been ongoing for a few weeks now maybe once every few days and just in the morning. It seemed like a waxy bloody combination to me.
If you type “granulation tissue ear canal ear tube” and scroll images you can see what you are looking for. It could be as simple as too much wax trapping water with ear infection but usually that painful.
Thank you so much for all of your help it has really eased me today.
One other thing I thought about asking.. Is this an urgent situation? Its a 5-6 week wait right now for ENT(wonder why) and then will they be able to remove it on site or will I have to follow up you think? Is this something I could try to remove here at home or is it usually too embedded?
Good to hear no pain. Ear infections are usually painful. 2 varieties external and middle ear. Basically in front or behind drum. The middle ear infections are commonly called inner ear infections.
Both can have pain. No pain means more likely retained tube. Some ear tubes never move from original site but others are partially pushed out by drum (think sliver in finger) Tube is foreign material usually silicon or plastic. Meant to stay in for 1 -2 years. Most ENTs will recommend removal after 2 but certainly 3 years
Retained tube sounds like it to me to be honest. I will let you know tomorrow what I see if you dont mind. Also passing all of this information to my wife who is very grateful to you.
These responses are awesome. Way to go GW.
Yes you guys are all incredible. I trust you all over any professional. These responses are all so good. God is good
Sooner or later the tubes DO fall out,usually due to ear growth,if your kid is A-Ok,no fever or illness I sure your both in the CLEAR.
Yes Mom,kids DO gro-up.
We use as ear drops, full strength hydrogen peroxide. Lay her on her side and put a few drops in. She should hear fizzing popping sound if the drops get down in where they belong. 15 min each ear. Not painful at all. Another helpful thing to do afterwards is to hold one side (nostril) closed and blow hard 10 times out the other nostril. Then other side. This specifically opens/drains the eustacean tubes! With or without the inserted tubes that dr. put in. But the tubes need removing if still there! We have nipped earache issues in the bud by doing these simple things. Best wishes, fren! Also try to get her to chew up lots of the orange flavor vite c. She needs LOTS of it.
"Another helpful thing to do afterwards is to hold one side (nostril) closed and blow hard 10 times out the other nostril."
How does this open the eustachian tube?
Thank you so much for the advice...all things I will add to my regimen
That eustachian tube clearing is new to me as well!
Go to your pediatrician, or a clinic. Antibiotics are probably needed...most likely an ear infection. If she had ear tubes "when younger" the tubes probably fell out a long time ago.
This is not the time to DIY a solution.
ENT's suck...
Thanks we went to urgent care and a doctor prescribed antibiotics but I doubt she even looked in the ear...ent is 6 weeks out. I considered a second opinion from a pediatrician but seriously all doc offices in the area arent answering the phone. Im taking it as a sign to wait and ask you guys
What antibiotic?
Your pediatrician won’t answer the phone?
Amoxicillin
We got a new pediatrician that was okay with not vaccinating for our newborn at the time. My older 3 children have not gone back to a doctor since the mask bs. Wife has called multiple times to get busy signals. We take that as a sign from God but if you have better advice im all ears.
I wouldn’t wait on giving the Amoxicillin, it is common. You don’t want to mess around with the ears and causing worse damage.
I would get an appointment for a follow up with any pediatrician, but I wouldn’t delay the antibiotic. Not sure if you are in a rural area, but there must be several pediatrician offices around.
Yea we did give her amoxicillin for a week or so..3 times a day. I will try again to call around for a pediatrician..again we are nonvaxx now so our choices are limited. Big city too :/
Are you in the US ? I haven't had any doctor refuse service, and some have recommended getting the vaccine...that was the extent of it.
Yea man we had to have the kids up to date on all shots or we couldnt show up, period. Im talking about the regular childrens vaccines.. not covid. We jumped ship for vaccines after learning about all this shit with good ole' merica.
May I add that bacteria need sugar to thrive, so cut out the white sugar, corn syrup, and white flour in the diet of the kid and watch the ear issues disappear. Ditto colloidal silver as an ear rinse, or added into the water supply.
Don't rule out viral causes also, where IVM and HCQ play a role as broad spectrum OTC antivirals.
White sugar corn syrup and white flour is probaby whats keeping it thriving. I am making some health and diet changes anyways so I have to implement this.
I will keep viral in mind..have plenty of ivm paste. Thank you for your response
One of my kids burst an ear drum last month. Several days of clear/bloody drainage. Antibiotic ear drops I had from last summer and time fixed it (2 weeks). He complained of pain one morning, and the pain was gone that evening and the draining ensued. I used a tele doc to call in scripts for my kid last year when he had bad swimmers ear. 5 min video call explaining symptoms. I bought an otoscope for around $40 and it has lasted several years. Im basically an ent now between all my kids
Thank you for this. I have 4 kids under 6 so yea I kinda do need to step up and buy an otoscope. This post calmed me the most ..thank you anon
Glad I could help. It was my pleasure
Collodial Silver
Like a drop in the ear or in a glass of water to drink or what? Should I make it or buy it? What brands are legit?
Thanks
I drop 2 drops into the ear.
This is the one I used for my dog with great success.
https://s3.images-iherb.com/ssv/ssv23237/l/2.jpg
Thank you my dog has had issues in the past also..will get it asap
You are welcome, fren.
We kept our son's tubes in place for 4 years.
When they were first placed, the doctor insisted we were never to allow any water in there, and so we used those moldable clear wax plugs to keep water from going in when he bathed or swam. They worked great.
The ear tubes did their job, and stayed open and in place. And, if he ever got an infection in his ears, throat or sinus, it would drain out the open holes. Gross! But, it didn't hurt like it did when he didn't have tubes. And it cleared up much more quickly than before because it didn't stay in there, but drained out and dried out.
Once he'd gone long enough with no infections, we had them removed. Beforehand, the docs recommended we flush his ears with prescription eye drops to clean out the area. The drops drained right into his throat and he could spit out the liquid. Then he had to go back under anesthesia for them to remove the tubes and stitch the holes closed.
He's never had another problem with his ears since then.
Oh, forgot to add...
If she still has tubes in and she went swimming without ear plugs, and she has bloody drainage, she likely got an infection from the swim water getting into the inner ear through the open hole.
I'd keep a close eye on it. Do you have a temperature gun you can use to check the temp of the center of both ears? An elevated temp on the ear itself will mean she has an infection in that one even if the forehead doesn't read one.
Also, test her hearing and see if she is having any deficit. Doing salt water gargles and salt water sinus rinses will help flush out any infection in the back of the throat that may be contributing.
Good luck!
Yea actually I dont remeber ever being told we had to plug here ears for swimming. We went for 3 days to a swim park and not once did I think to shake the water out her ears. She got her tubes when she was like 1 and we saw a tube fall out a few years ago. Ill do the temp check but her balance and hearing is all maintained just a discharge . Thank you so much for your response and follow up. Were going to get the ontoscope and try for some eye drops. Thanks again friend