Adenoidectomy and Tube Surgery. I Don't Think We Should Do Both.

My son (now 13) and myself have both had this done.

My son had tubes put in when he was a year told. It made all the difference in the world for him. He does have a hearing problem - but nothing so dramatic that it needs any other type of device to help him hear. He has NOT had speech problems.

When he was 11, he had his tonsils and adenoids out. It took him a week to recover. No speech problems.

I had my tonsils and adenoids out when I was 30. No speech problems.

What makes you think this is going to cause a speech issue?
If you don't like what the doctor is saying? Get a second opinion.

Good luck!

I've never heard of anyone having speech issues after the surgery.

I do think the surgery has been overdone in many kids for many decades (same with tonsils), and there are other ways to reduce the inflammation and improve immunity if there are no other issues. However, it is a good choice for many kids.When in doubt, get a second opinion. If I were doing it with my kid and there was no significant contraindication, I would do both things at once so my child didn't need anesthesia and hospitalization a second time.

We have had tubes, speech issues, hearing (muffled), and ear infections and adenoids out as well as allergies.

Adenoids out did not cause any speech issues. None whatsoever. None for my nephew (he actually had his OUT to help his speech, which it did).

Tubes helped them hear (ours were muffled also, but good range), helped speech (resolved it actually within days), and no more ear infections. No more fluid from allergies either (tubes helped that too). Adenoids out were for heavy breathing during sleep (like snoring) - kid rested, no more bags under eyes, and less worn out.

Not familiar with cholesteatoma sorry.

Not only would I do both tubes and have the adenoids out, I'd want the tonsils out too.
Our son had his tonsils and adenoids out at the same time right after his 4th birthday.
It was the best thing we ever did.
His speech was not affected.

If you are concerned, get a second opinion, especially from someone who specializes in hearing and speech. I am not aware of adenoid surgery causing speech issues.

I would ask for reports from both specialists (ENT and audiologist) to be sent to your pediatrician ASAP. Then the pediatrician can help you sort the information.

This is what I have experienced:
1. Tubes can help some children with their infections and some with their hearing.
2. If an ENT told me tubes were necessary for a cholesteatoma, I would schedule that ASAP.
3. Adenoid removal rarely causes speech problems and has beneficial side effects. However, since it was not made clear to you how this would benefit your daughter, I think you need clarity. Is it for the hearing, allergies, or the cholesteatoma?

Again, have the pediatrician work on this with you. If that is not possible, write out your questions, and talk to the ENT again. I would not base your decisions on the opinions of Moms whose children have speech/hearing issues only. I think the cholesteatoma is relatively unusual and may change what needs to be done. All my best.

I had my adenoids out and tubes put in at the same time and it helped my speech and hearing so much. I was almost deaf at the age of three because of my adenoids being so swollen, and my speech was garbled. The tubes helped fluid drain from ears. Both procedures actually improved my speech.

The doctors told my parents that the tubes were useless unless the adenoid came out, because the adenoids cover part of the area where to tubes need to go and prevent the tubes from doing their job. The adenoids need to go or the tubes are pointless.

My brother was told the same thing for both of his daughters when they needed the surgery.

Good luck.

the hardest part of any surgery is the actual being under anethesia - so I'm with your doctor on this one - get all of it done at once
getting adenoids removed DOES IMPROVE allergy symptoms and speech problems, I've seen lots of kids who improve in both those areas as soon as they are recovered... so speech problems get better when those are removed. Also if the adenoids are enlarged they could be pressing on her throat or sinuses and causing issues with speech, breathing, sleeping and lots more.

I wrote you a long post and, poof! It disappeared.

Has your child had a nasoendoscopy done? It's important that this is done before ANY surgery. If your child has any nasal speech, and expecially a short soft palate, you don't want to remove the adenoids. They are a roof to the soft palate and removing them makes the palate have to work a lot harder to touch the roof.

I went through this with my son. His ENT keep pushing me to take out his adenoids because he had sinus infections. He wouldn't do any diagnostic testing, and I simply wouldn't let him take out the adenoids without looking at the entire structure. I got a second opinion and did a nasoendoscopy, and turns out the the adenoids were small and uninvolved and DID NOT need to be removed. I'm so glad I didn't do this.

Do your research. Read about deep nasopharnyx, which taking adenoids out can cause if there are certain structural issues. If your child has ANY nasality in his voice, he can end up with hyper or hypo nasality that cannot be fixed from taking away the roof of the palate. If your child has an undiagnosed submucous cleft palate, taking away the adenoids will wreak havoc on her speech too.

Insist on a nasal endoscopy before you allow the adenoids to be removed. It's REALLY important.

I'd say your doc is the utmost expert in this field. He's the expert in these areas. If he says they need to come out then why not do it? They aren't needed for much and doing one surgery verses more down the road I'd go with doing it all at once.

I had my daughter's tonsils and adenoids removed at the same time we put tubes in her ears because she had tonsillitis as well as repeated ear infections.

it never hurts to get 2nd opinions (from actual specialists, not the internet) when it comes to surgery. no one wants their kids to go through unnecessary surgeries.

no clue why you think an adenoidectomy will affect her speech. i mean, maybe it will, but my kids had theirs out and almost all the kids i know had theirs out and i haven't heard of one single solitary case of a speech problem resulting. so if your daughter's situation is unique in that way, you need to provide the background information so that your discomfort makes sense.

tubes helped my kids somewhat with their chronic ear infections. they had to get 'em put in several times. i think it makes incredibly good sense to do both (assuming the adenoids DO need to come out) while the kid is under instead of more times under anesthesia.

the person to whom you should be asking to explain why the adenoid removal is necessary is the doctor who suggested it. none of us know your daughter's unique circumstance.
khairete
S.