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Maternal (Expert Forum)
Re: constant ear infections
Patient medical question and answer from The Maternal and Child Health Forum. Health topic area and articles about newborn care
Re: constant ear infections
by De__0, Jan 01, 1995 12:00AM
Posted By Dee on August 28, 1998 at 00:08:43:
In Reply to: Re: constant ear infections posted by HFHS.RN-AM on August 25, 1998 at 06:55:21:
My daughter has also had very frequent ear infections since infancy. She is now 14 yrs old and still gets frequent infections. Even when she doesn't have an infection, she usually still has fluid. She often fails hearing tests at school but it is always blamed on fluid. The few times we are able to get her hearing tested when there is no fluid she hears fine. She is now severely allergic to Ceclor (anaphylactic) and gets hives with Amoxil and Penicillin, as well as Demoral (tho not an antibiotic). She was never healthy enough to get tubes when little. She just finished 10 days of Biaxin a week ago, and within 3 days of finishing medicines was in severe pain again, another infection or I guess the old one wasn't completely gone. Now it is five days of Zithromax. She has what is probabley lupus, as well as a five yr history of Graves' Disease. She is a competitive swimmer, so the ear infections can be a real problem, not to mention the pain and lost school days they cause her. I thought she would outgrow the problem, but at 14 it doesn't seem to be happening.
What should I do? I am certainly worried about her infections becoming antibiotic resistant. Is it possible she will still out grow this? Could this be part of her existing autoimmune problems? At this point in her life, she gets between 4 - 6 fairly bad otitis media infections a year, plus a couple of bouts of swimmer's ear not related to the otitis media. Her eardrum is intact. Sometimes she gets fever, sometimes not. Sometimes she gets a cold with this, sometimes not. Some time ago an MRI of her brain she got because of headaches (migraines) showed sinus disease but they told me it wasn't bad enough to worry about. Could that be related? She does not seem to have many cold/allergy symptoms. Also, could someone answer my post Lupus in a Child from July 31st. I think it may have been overlooked because it seems that the other posts from that time period were answered quite a while ago. Thank you for your help.
pic Area: Childhood Disease
My grandaughter at 6-7 mos had tubes put in both ears because she had constant ear infections and was on antibotilics. she would clear up after treatment but then start back up with fevers and ear infections again, so the tubes were put in.
Since then she does get brainagae from the tubes but half the time she gets fevers and ear infections again (almost a yr now.) This keeps her out of daycare alot and parents have to take off work. Plus she is on antibolitics treatment again and again, clears up with treatment but later gets them back again. I'm worried that down the road when in serious need, not that the ear infections aren't, that antibolitics won't help her because she has had to take so much of them this first yr of life.
Why does a child keep getting ear infections? Should something more be checked or done?
Thanks
_
Thank you for your question. You are right to be concerned about your granddaughter's continued ear infections. The first question I must ask though is she completing her entire course of antibiotic therapy when it is prescribed? It is very important that children take every dose until it is all gone, and not stop when the symptoms are gone or she feels better. As she intermittently gets drainage from the tubes, you can assume they are patent. Tubes do occasionally "plug up" or fall out. The pediatrician can tell if this happens by looking in the ear with the otoscope. Often, a continued ear infections can be linked to allergies. You may consider having her seen by a pediatric allergist. Are there allergies in the family? Are there a lot of allergens in the home....smokers, pets, molds, dust? Frequently with allergies the adenoids (adenoids) are enlarged. These sit at the back of the nose, and often are the reason for tubes in the first place. You didn't mention if she had an adenoidectomy when they put the tubes in. If she did, this would open up the other end of the eustacian tube and she would get drainage that way. You may consider looking at the policies of the day care center....is your granddaughter getting frequent exposure to colds or allergens there? I would suggest your granddaughter be seen by the ENT specialist who put the tubes in as well as an allergist. The longer she remains on antibiotics the more likely she is to be infected with resistant strains of bacteria.
Good luck.
HFHS.RN-AM
*KEYWORD: Otitis Media, allergy, myringotomy, tympanoplasty
In Reply to: Re: constant ear infections posted by HFHS.RN-AM on August 25, 1998 at 06:55:21:
My daughter has also had very frequent ear infections since infancy. She is now 14 yrs old and still gets frequent infections. Even when she doesn't have an infection, she usually still has fluid. She often fails hearing tests at school but it is always blamed on fluid. The few times we are able to get her hearing tested when there is no fluid she hears fine. She is now severely allergic to Ceclor (anaphylactic) and gets hives with Amoxil and Penicillin, as well as Demoral (tho not an antibiotic). She was never healthy enough to get tubes when little. She just finished 10 days of Biaxin a week ago, and within 3 days of finishing medicines was in severe pain again, another infection or I guess the old one wasn't completely gone. Now it is five days of Zithromax. She has what is probabley lupus, as well as a five yr history of Graves' Disease. She is a competitive swimmer, so the ear infections can be a real problem, not to mention the pain and lost school days they cause her. I thought she would outgrow the problem, but at 14 it doesn't seem to be happening.
What should I do? I am certainly worried about her infections becoming antibiotic resistant. Is it possible she will still out grow this? Could this be part of her existing autoimmune problems? At this point in her life, she gets between 4 - 6 fairly bad otitis media infections a year, plus a couple of bouts of swimmer's ear not related to the otitis media. Her eardrum is intact. Sometimes she gets fever, sometimes not. Sometimes she gets a cold with this, sometimes not. Some time ago an MRI of her brain she got because of headaches (migraines) showed sinus disease but they told me it wasn't bad enough to worry about. Could that be related? She does not seem to have many cold/allergy symptoms. Also, could someone answer my post Lupus in a Child from July 31st. I think it may have been overlooked because it seems that the other posts from that time period were answered quite a while ago. Thank you for your help.
pic Area: Childhood Disease
My grandaughter at 6-7 mos had tubes put in both ears because she had constant ear infections and was on antibotilics. she would clear up after treatment but then start back up with fevers and ear infections again, so the tubes were put in.
Since then she does get brainagae from the tubes but half the time she gets fevers and ear infections again (almost a yr now.) This keeps her out of daycare alot and parents have to take off work. Plus she is on antibolitics treatment again and again, clears up with treatment but later gets them back again. I'm worried that down the road when in serious need, not that the ear infections aren't, that antibolitics won't help her because she has had to take so much of them this first yr of life.
Why does a child keep getting ear infections? Should something more be checked or done?
Thanks
_
Thank you for your question. You are right to be concerned about your granddaughter's continued ear infections. The first question I must ask though is she completing her entire course of antibiotic therapy when it is prescribed? It is very important that children take every dose until it is all gone, and not stop when the symptoms are gone or she feels better. As she intermittently gets drainage from the tubes, you can assume they are patent. Tubes do occasionally "plug up" or fall out. The pediatrician can tell if this happens by looking in the ear with the otoscope. Often, a continued ear infections can be linked to allergies. You may consider having her seen by a pediatric allergist. Are there allergies in the family? Are there a lot of allergens in the home....smokers, pets, molds, dust? Frequently with allergies the adenoids (adenoids) are enlarged. These sit at the back of the nose, and often are the reason for tubes in the first place. You didn't mention if she had an adenoidectomy when they put the tubes in. If she did, this would open up the other end of the eustacian tube and she would get drainage that way. You may consider looking at the policies of the day care center....is your granddaughter getting frequent exposure to colds or allergens there? I would suggest your granddaughter be seen by the ENT specialist who put the tubes in as well as an allergist. The longer she remains on antibiotics the more likely she is to be infected with resistant strains of bacteria.
Good luck.
HFHS.RN-AM
*KEYWORD: Otitis Media, allergy, myringotomy, tympanoplasty
