Tubes and Tonsil Removal

i have not had to go thru this with my daughter but as a child i expiernced this problem. i didn't have the issue with the tubes but i constantly had ear infections, sinus infections, you name it. my mom kept telling them to take my tonsils out and they did not. my tonsils were larger than average. it finally came to the time in my late 20's when i was sick and on antibiotics for 6 months that i FINALLY went to an ent and within weeks they were out. since then, about 10 years, i have had maybe 2 ear infections and 1 sinus infection. will this help you? i don't know. but speaking from the patient perspective, i wish they had let me do it sooner. it would have saved a lot of problems. good luck.

try chiropractic and try an elimination diet. Tonsil enlargement is often the direct result of a food allergy, most often milk.
for a chiropractor see www.icpaforkids.com. good luck

The reason his tonsils are enlarged are because they are part of your son's immune system and they get enlarged when they work hard. They are not causing the ear infections... they are helping him fight the ear infections. Your doctor should know this. I am a chiropractor and I treat alot of kids with ear infections... they go away without drugs, without surgery and they don't come back. Please consider alternatives to surgery, your son will have a better future if you stay away from drugs and surgery. Good Luck.

The tonsils are supposed to help prevent infection, but after multiple problems, they can grow and become inflamed, becoming a source of infection. They might have grown in size over time.

However, you seem to have very strong reservations about this, and you seem to be looking for non-surgical solutions. Doctors usually take a surgical or medical approach - that's their training. If you are looking for another approach, why not look at strengthening the immune system through nutrition? So many kids have gotten fantastic results through a premier nutritional product, totally safe for kids - I just talked to a woman 2 days ago who was going through what you are. Her father is a physician too, and he is amazed at the results but fully endorses this. I'd be happy to share more!

Hi, I have three boys (19, 12, 2) and all three have had problems with their ears and have had tubes in. Hearing can be affected quickly so you should not wait too long. My two older boys also had their tonsils, and adnoids removed . My youngest has not had problems with his tonsils or adnoids but both of the others started those problems after two years old and after the first set of tubes. The surgery is hard because of their pain after but they heal much faster the younger they are. Ear tubes is so quick and the kids are running around within a few hours - actually I had a bigger problem keeping them still to get the drops in then anything else. If your doctor suggests seeing the specialist and the specialists agrees that there is a problem I would follow their advice.

I also have heard 9 out of 10 surgeries for ear tubes are done on boys. I believe it because I also have 4 girls and none have problems of this sort.

Good Luck,

B. O

My daughter had the same thing. She would have an ear infection every two weeks. We had tubes put in her ears at 2.5 yrs old and her adnoids taken out and it was a miracle. She no longer had any ear infections and now that she is 5 the tubes have fallen out. The other part of her having tubes in her ears was a marked improvement in her hearing. She had a hearing test before the tubes and after. All the "gunk" in her ears was causing some hearing problems that were found in her test. After the tubes her hearing improved and she talked a lot more because she could hear more of what we said. It was pretty cool to see the change of a related problem that we had never even thought of. I know the thought of surgery is scary but the benfits were worth it.
She was groggy after the surgery but after a day or so she was back to her old self and better! Good Luck!

When my twins were having ear infections I cut back on dairy and wheat. I gave them a sugar free caclcium/magnesium supplement and lots of broccoli. I substituted rice milk and millet bread and rice pasta and cut back on all allergic foods like soy. Not completely but enough that it made a HUGE difference. Kids (and adults) get food intolerances and because they dont act like allergies we dont realize that's what they have.
After three months of a switched diet. NO EAR INFECTIONS.

My son was diagnosed with large adenoids at age 4. We got a wonderful ENT Doc that recommended he would grow into it. Then he was diagnosed with Large Tonsils at age of seven. Same thing. Grow into it. He grew into his adenoids, I honestly believe the same will happen for his tonsils.

Google it. There is lots of stuff out there about how common it is for boys to have large adenoids and tonsils. He's got a small body right now but he's going to be a big guy. Some parts of him are growing faster than others. The latest recommendation is not to take out either the adenoids or the tonsils if it can be helped.

Getting rid of food intolerances will help a lot. Best.

My daughter had her tonsils shaved and adenoids removed at the age of 2 and a half. The adenoid was what was most likely causing her repeated ear infections. We had the tonsils shaved instead of full removal because it comes with less chance of side effects(bleeding). Her tonsils had grown so large so quickly that she was stopping breathing while sleeping and snoring horribly. Although it was very scary to undergo this surgery I would do it again. She sleeps great at night and has had only 1 ear infection in the last 2 years. Good luck it is a hard decision.

believe it or not the root of the problem may be from a food intolerance. Take out dairy and wheat first, sugar and soy may also be a problem. I would also take him to a naturopathic doctor, who can better diagnose and treat the root of the problem. Also chiropractic adjustments help. try figuring out what caused the recurrent ear infections and inflamed tonsils before surgery, these are all symptoms of something and unfortunately traditional doctors are trained to just treat the symptoms. Try a naturopathic doctor and eliminate those foods before going to surgery. Good luck!

I had my tonsils removed when I was 7 as well as tubes in my ears. Admittedly, the requirements for this surgery were much more strict at that time than they seem to be now (I am now in my mid 30's and have only known a few other people my age who had that done where as I can think of probably about 20 people around your son's age who have had this done or reccommended). They did it with me because I was at the Dr's office a few days after finishing meds for ear infections and sore throats up until that time. The tonsilectomy and tubes will, at the least, cut down on the amount of ear infections he will get. At best, he may never get another one. Each person is different so it's hard to say which it will be for him. As for the not catching the enlarged tonsils until now, the only thing I can think of is that a lot of people have their sinuses drain into their ears during and after colds to begin with. Some appear to be more susceptable to this draining turning into an infection and often outgrow the frequency. Maybe that is what they believed the cause to be and just recently his tonsils were more enlarged than they had been with previous ear infections to make it more noticeable. Good luck to you both!

Hi,
My 18 month old son just got tubes in his ears due to chronic ear infections as well. We went ahaed with it after learning that the constant build up of fluid could damage his ear drums and that his level of hearing was not as good as it could be. He had 9 ear infections in under a year, none of which ever really cleared up. Since the tubes, he is talking way way more (we thought he was already talking a lot) so I think he hears better and has not had any infections since. It's been over a month. The procedure itself is very minor..we got to the surgical center at 7 am and were home by 8am..my son was playing normally by 9or so. Good luck!

Hi N.,

Food for thought (a pun): I do not tolerate a host of foods. I've had fluid that I could hear but doctors couldn't see. I also had enlarged tonsils and bags under my eyes. I never had problems with ear infections other than swimmer's ear. Since discovering my problems with food, wheat being the biggest culprit, my problems have greatly diminished. If you want to experiment with diet to see if that is what is causing your son's maladies, I suggest ThePaleoDiet.com.

Good luck,
: ) Maureen

Hi my son now 7 years old had his tonsils & adnoids removed and tubes put in his ears at the age of 4. He had a few ear infections, but mostly had fluid in his ears and drooled like there was no tomorrow! Its definately a scary experience, but my son has never gotten another ear infection or fluid in his ears and he rarely ever gets sick, ever since he had the surgery done.
The doctors probably never said that your sons tonsils were too big before, because they don't like to get to those measures unless they really have to. We didn't find out about his tonsils as well untill they suggested surgery and also because of my issue with him drooling at the age he was at. I most definately suggest the surgery, but every kid is different and you should make the decision based on your feelings and thoughts.
My son couldn't breathe through his nose because his adnoids were too big as well and then the tonsils were too big to. So it really ended up helping him in the end.
Whatever decision you make God will protect your son and everything will be fine. Good luck and God bless!

Hi N.,
My son has been having frequent ear infections and respiratry troubles. We just started seeing a chiropractor. Google chiropractor and ear infections in young children. t will explain what the chiropractor can do to help your child and it makes sense. My son had just come off of antibiodics and a week later complaining his ears hurt again. I took him to a chiropractor here in Mashpee and his ears did look red...we are now being seen and my son has been improving. I am going to keep this short as I am running out but really look into natural remedies before putting him through tonsil removal. I'll tell you it's not suppose to be as bad for young children but getting my own tonsils out at age 25 was awful...worse then all 3 of my natural childbirths. Ok that's it I'm off. email back if you want to. You a good mom to look into all options before having him go through possible uncecc. surgeries.

I understand your reluctance to surgery for your son, as a mother. As someone who suffered numerous ear infections as a kid I know what he's going through.

Ear infections can be excrutiatingly painful AND emotionally traumatizing if they recur so often. I have vivid memories of being a child and suffering in pain.

I had my first set of tubes put in when I was about a year old and had them re-installed (for lack of a better term) every six months until I was seven, when they finally took out my adanoids. (that's 13 sets of tubes!!!) I've continued to have "ear issues" but they are to a FAR lessor degree! Now it's more of a paranoia when I get water in my ear or feel a cold coming on... But that's the "emotionally traumatizing" part I was referring to.

I was speech delayed due to the hearing loss and also have lots of painful memories of my big brother having to "interpret" for me because he was the only one who could understand what I said!!!

The bottom line is this...
The ear surgery is absolutely painless as I recall. Get that Curious George book, "George goes to the Hospital" :) You don't even stay over night for tubes!
Having my adanoids out hurt a little, but I hardly remember the whole thing. I remember having ice cream and my mom stayed with me in the hospital overnight.

Also, speaking as someone who later went into the field of deafness/hearing...having fluid in the middle ear, repeatedly and/or for long periods of time, damage those three very important, little bones by eating away at them.

Just a thought.(do the surgery!)

N.,
My husband is a chiropractor and treats kids for ear infections...they rarely have them again after treatments. My son is 7 and has never had an ear infection. If I were you, I would look for a personal referral to a chiropractor that treats kids in your area. I would absolutely look into alternatives before I let anyone do any kind of surgery on my son:-(
We also avoid dairy, definately causes mucus to form and keeps ears infected.
Hope this helps,
E. K.

Not personal experience, but thought I would pass this on for what it's worth. A friend avoided adding tubes in her son's ears by taking him to a cranio-sacral practitioner. Kinda goes along the line of chiropractic care, but is a more gentle manipulation. He never had another ear infection after that. Anything less expensive and non-invasive is worth consideration IMHO.
Best of luck to both of you!

N.:

I myself have not had the tonsil experience with the tubes, but a good friend did and when they put her daughter's tubes in they took out her tonsils. It made such an improvement - knock wood, no more ear infections and she actually slept better after her tonsils were out. As for why they didn't notice the tonsils before, maybe they weren't big enough to be an issue.

My son did have tubes due to multiple ear infections and mild hearing loss. The surgery lasts about 10-15 minutes and my son recovered very quickly - he was running around the house in the early afternoon (surgery was at 9). He never had a problem with his tubes and hasn't had an ear infection since. The tubes came out on their own this past summer, everything healed nicely and so far so good.

Good luck!
C.

My experience with this is that they tend not to mention tonsils unless the problem persists. A generation ago (maybe more) they would take the tonsils out at the drop of a hat, but now they are taking things more slowly and seeing if other things work first. That is probably why they did not mention it before. My now 11 year old had her tonsils out three years ago but it was only after years of sore throats and a sleep study which determined that they were probably causing sleep apnea. So, see what the specialist thinks and take it from there. It is a fairly easy procedure and we were in and out within a half a day. She was older though, so it was a bit easier to handle. Best of luck to you!