antibiotic to prevent ear infections?...

[ljmahr]

Has anyone ever heard of this?

My 18 month old daughter has been having ear infections all winter. She went to see a ear, nose and throat specialist and he said he wouldn't recommend tubes. What he recommended though was putting her on Pediasol and nasonex for the remainder of the winter and possibly putting her on this all of next winter also. While it is a low dose of antibiotic that she is getting I am still a little iffy about it. Does anyone know anything about doctors doing this??

 

[fallon]

I've never heard of such a thing...I would also be iffy on this. Most ear infection are viral therefore antibioitics aren't effective

 

[Lissa]

That doesn't sound right at all.

 

[ljmahr]

Lissa- I was hoping you would respond. Wasn't it your son who was supposed to get tubes?

My mom had said she had talked to someone that said doctor's try everything before tubes. Was there anything your doc's tried before putting tubes in his ears?

 

[Lissa]

He just got tubes yesterday. He too has had ear infections all winter. In fact, he's been on 7 antibiotics in the past 7 months. My doctor just said to get tubes.

 

[Lissa]

I don't know of any doctor that would recommend such a long period of time on antibiotics, even for adults. There is always that risk of resistance. Not to mention antibiotics don't just kill the bad bacteria, they kill good bacteria too.

 

[fallon]

I don't know of any doctor that would recommend such a long period of time on antibiotics, even for adults. There is always that risk of resistance. Not to mention antibiotics don't just kill the bad bacteria, they kill good bacteria too.

exactly...I would be asking for him to come up with something else

 

[1dayatatime]

I'm sure you already covered this but are there any dietery changes you could or have made? My boy had three ear infections back to back untill I took him off cow milk.

 

[Lissa]

I'm sure you already covered this but are there any dietery changes you could or have made? My boy had three ear infections back to back untill I took him off cow milk.

Never heard of that. INteresting.

 

[fallon]

Did that help?? Never heard of that.

I would say it helps a ton...we always avoid milk as much as possible dring a EI

 

[musicmom]

I guess I don't see the direct link between nasonex and ear problems? Is your daughter having sinus issue that are coinsiding with the ear infections? Maybe that's why they are not wanting to put tubes in? The main problem may be her sinus' and not her ears?

 

[ljmahr]

She has allergies also. She is already taking singular and claritan for that. I think I am going to be talking a little more about this with her doc. I never heard of changing something she is eating because of EI. I haven't found to much about staying on antibiotics this much by researching it, so I think I will be going back to the specialist just to talk to them.

 

[musicmom]

They had my daughter on Singular and Claritan. Singular has to be taken everyday faithfully for it to work. I didn't think either did anything. She was also on a steriodal nose spray. (did nothing)
Now we might go on Prednisone.

I'm sorry you are going through this. I know how frustrating it is. If you find out a cure or a good tip, please share it with me. I'm at a loss to.

 

[ljmahr]

So I took my little one to the doc yesterday and was talking to her about the specialist putting her on antibiotics. She said it was common and the doc was just trying to avoid a surgery (every surgery has risks... type thing). I am a little better about the situation now but will still talk to the specialist when we go back.

 

[Lissa]

Putting tubes in a child's ears is actually very low risk surgery. It takes about 5 minutes. Oliver had tubes put in last week. I hope he doesn't have to be on antibiotics for a very long time now.

 

[ljmahr]

I know it is a very low risk and that is what the doctor said also. But being put under anesthesia there is always a risk, even a minor one. Kenna's ear's looked really good yesterday, so hopefully she will just grow out of it.

 

[dfelix]

Don't put tubes in your daughter's ears. As she gets older, the ear infections will disappear.

Using Nasonex is a great product which will keep her nasal passages clear. My son is allergic to cats, dogs and many other things. He uses Nasonex daily.

 

[Lissa]

Don't put tubes in your daughter's ears. As she gets older, the ear infections will disappear.

Maybe. Maybe not. But if your child is having back to back ear infections for 7 months, you run the risk of him/her having permanent hearing loss.

 

[Shari Nielsen]

I DID hear about the long-term, preventative antibiotic option. One of my friend's dr's wanted to do that. I personally don't think that antibiotics should be used that much for fear of building up a resistance, but I do think they are needed every once in a while - not as a preventative measure!

She chose not to go that route and got her daughter tubes. Immediately her infections stopped. She said the most difficult part of the whole process was watching her daughter come out of the anesthesia. She was also told that they didn't have to worry about getting water in her ears which I know is a major pain for kids who have tubes.

 

[ljmahr]

Well, I wouldn't be worried about her coming out of ansthesia. (she just had a surgery and had to be put under 2 times in 6 weeks) But I know I am not comfortable really with the antibiotic. She goes back to the ENT specialist Tuesday, I think I will talk to him about it.