Glue Ear?

[Rez]

Has anyone any experience of this?

Isobel has glue ear - we are currently on a wait and see policy and have to take her back to the doctors next month to see if it has cleared but I suspect it hasn't. I took her to a cranial osteopath a few times but I was wasting my money as she wouldn't sit still and let them do the massages. They gave me a sheet so I could do it a home but I have the same problem.

The nursery were the ones who first suggested she might have a problem with her ears. I had no idea so feel really bad about that. At first I didn't believe it because she can hear things like lawnmowers and aeroplanes and always asks "What's that noise?" but the GP confirmed she has fluid.

The nursery asked me tonight if I mind if they put her under observation as they might be able to get things pushed through for me and now I'm really scared they have serious concerns about her development . She's not a great talker I'll admit, she could be clearer but she does talk in sentences and she's bright. They're making me paranoid as hell to be honest and now I'm getting the doctors appointment again asap, I don't care if it's early.

Has anyone had any experience with this? She's 2 years and 7 months by the way.

[Damsella]

DD had glue ear. It's not a major thing, I think. DD is 2 yrs 5.5 mths and is on the list for speach development as she's nowhere speaking in sentences yet.

A while ago (after she'd finally passed her audiology test) a load of gunk came out of one of her ears, but I think there's still stuff in the other one.

Don't fret too much, they don't seem so keen to insert gromets these days.

[Rez]

Thanks Damz.

I think the nursery is really not helping matters, they keep mentioning things like learning difficulties which then makes me feel even worse. I think tomorrow I'm going to ask her key carer to write down for me the reasons she thinks we need to get this pushed through - exactly what aspects of her behaviour and development are concerning them and why.

I should be grateful that they're on the ball as I'm obviously not but I can't shake the feeling that she's playing amateur medic and being a drama queen. Probably irrational and unfair but there you go.

I'll get her back to the doctors. I'm not keen on grommets myself as I don't want her to have another general - she's already had one for a hernia a year ago but I don't want her to be frustrated and way behind either.

Let's see how it goes I guess.

[Peridot]

Hi Rez,

Quite some time ago now but my younger brother had glue ear daignosed at around 4/5.
We realised he was hard of hearing as he used to pull our faces to look at him and was learning to lip read, bless him, plus he was suffering with bad earache and his speech wasn't developing very well, for eg, his name is Andrew but he would pronounce it - Ar-roo as he couldn't hear very well to learn it.
He had an op to fit some gromits (little tiny tubes) in both ears and remove the "glue" therefore opening up the ear.
After this he could hear perfectly, I think he had to have them changed once to larger gromits as he grew older and then had them removed completely from what I remember.
He had about 6 months worth of speech therapy and then was absolutely fine and his speech continued to develop at a normal standard to his age, so he caught up fantastically.
All of this was about 15 years ago so not sure if it is still the same process but as Damz as said, don't worry about it too much, it is an easy thing for them to sort and will have no long lasting effect

[Rez]

Thanks Gemgal, that's reassuring.

I will take her back to the doctors anyway and get the wheels in motion with the ENT, at least then I can't be accused of not doing anything!

[Angie]

Try not to worry Rez.

I had glue ear as a child and gromits inserted age 6. I talked late, and I believe my hearing problems probably did hinder my speach development at the time. It's certainly not the same as learning difficulties so the nursery shouldn't make you feel like that - I scored in the top 4% of the population for my English GCSE so obviously I dont have a genuine problem with my grasp of the english language . Your daughter's language will be fine once the medical problem is sorted

[Rez]

Thanks Angie

When I got to the nursery to collect DD yesterday I asked to have a word with her key carer. I explained how she'd made me feel and she was really full of apologies. She said there are absolutely no issues with her development other than her lack of clarity in speech and frustration when she's not understood. All other areas are absolutely fine and she hadn't meant to scare me.

The reason she raised it was because she thought we were waiting for a hospital appointment and she might be able to help get it pushed through but we haven't actually got to that stage yet. I said she'd really panicked me and she was very sorry. I said I really appreciate them being on the ball and they have done a lot to help, just watch the terminology!

I just need to get her back to the doctors now and keep doing the osteopathy massages on her. Thanks for all your replies.

[bubbasweet]

My story is pretty much similar to that of Gemgal's brother: I had glue ear twice as a child and had to have gromits inserted twice. I was on the NHS waiting list so long that my hearing (or lack of) got so bad that I couldn't hear the teachers at school. I can vividly remember sitting right at the front of the class and watching the teacher speak, but I couldn't hear a single thing she was saying, and my parents having to shout at home and me trying to lip read to work out what they were saying. I had very bad earaches as well - I can remember waking up in the night crying, lying with my ear down on a hot water bottle and the doctor coming to see me at home sometimes.

My parents paid for me to have the op privately in the end as the situation was getting a bit ridiculous and really wasn't much fun for anyone!