HELP!!! Any advice on ear problems

[lil_me]

Right its a few days before Xmas and tonight bout 6pm my youngest starts screaming and crying with ear ache, he doesn't usually cry or scream. Any advice on what can help ease it ? I've had an ill child every Xmas ay since they were born with everything from skin infections to conjunctivitis, help!! Please!! He's had a cold for about 4 weeks so maybe its part of that, I don't know, its just stressing me out now not wanting him to be ill or in pain again on Xmas day especially

Edited December 22, 2005 by lil_me

[loulou]

Hi,

 

If he's crying with ear pain, he probably has an ear infection, so i would go to your GP tomorrow in case you need antibiotics. Nurofen for kids is the best pain relief.

 

Loulou x

[Viper]

Lil me, have you tried giving him calpol and ibuprofen for children? They can both be given at the same time and work on pain in different ways. Don't worry about overdosing him, Calpol contains paracetamol but ibupofen doesn't. Obviously only give the dose stated on the bottle. I can tell you this as my GP and a hospital nurse both told me the same thing and I have used them both at the same time for years. In fact my GP told me that if more people knew about it there would not be the need for so many antibiotic prescriptions as the infection would clear up on it's own if the pain was controled by this method, particularly in earache and toothe ache.

 

If that fails or you want to check contact our out of hours GP or ask your pharmacist.

 

trust me I'm a snake.

 

Seriously I know it works give it a go, hope he feels better soon.

 

Viper.

[loulou]

Hi,

 

Yes, i will second that Viper! Nurofen and paracetamol work excellently together (you can trust me too, i'm a midwife!).

 

Hope he is ok.

 

Loulou x

[lil_me]

He's got asthma so I think the Ibrufen is a no no, I usually use the rotating trick with my other son which works a treat, I am on hold waiting for stupid GP out of hours to answer as I type as he's had the max calpol and he's screaming the place down. And I know the GP will refuse to see him tomorrow as they are ###### useless!!

Edited December 22, 2005 by lil_me

[DAS999]

Asthmatics only may have slightly worse symptoms with ibpro' I have sever asthmas but no prons with it. Phone NHS direct 0845 46 47. they can advise more on this. Out of hours GP or GP in the morning I would say.

[lil_me]

They are getting a nurse to call me back within an hour, our out of hours GP service goes through NHS direct, trying to find out if I can give him some nurofen at least, he's up and down like a yoyo and its so unlike him to scream like this and the screaming is setting his asthma off :S typical.

 

Forgot to say thanks for replying I am ready to scream at the mo

Edited December 22, 2005 by lil_me

[nellie]

lil_me,

 

I think you should seek medical advice. I don't think it's appropriate to give or take medical advice on a forum. I know you all mean well.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Nellie xx

[lil_me]

I know what you mean nellie, especially on the meds side which is why I wish to confirm advice before following it, not that I don't trust the wonderful peoples experience and proffesional opinions. Just wish they didn't take forever to get back to you.

Edited December 22, 2005 by lil_me

[DAS999]

I agree nellie (I will not mention what me job is )

[lil_me]

On way to GP out of hours now, wish me luck, just hoping he hasn't shoved something in his ear again

[DAS999]

Good luck <'> <'>

[Malika]

Hi lil

 

Well Hibuprophen or Nurophen are not generaly given to asthmatic, if I dare to suggest an old granny trick warm up a bit of olive oil (just put a spoon for 20 second in boiling water dry it up) and put some oil in it, (check the temperature) then some oil drops in the ear canal it is calming and harmless and has well some hot drinks with honey (not in the ear of course).

 

Hope things get better nothing worse that being in need of medical care during Christmas time.

 

Take care.

 

Malika.

[DAS999]

From a medical point of view (hinting at my job, oh well i will face the concequenses) oil is proven to work but PLEASE make sure it is not too hot. Ears are very sensitive and even if you are only warming the spoon the heat will transfer to oil very quickly. The only downside to oil is it can block the little "breathing holes" in the ear and cause an infaction to spread if the "gunk" cannot escape. Seek medical advise from a pro before using oil.

 

Oh and if you are thinking of jr asprin and are worried about ibpro, they contain the same "bit" that astmatics can be sensitibe to (NSAIDs).

Edited December 22, 2005 by DAS999

[lil_me]

We've just got back from out of hours GP, he's given him a prescription for codeine and more paracetamol (which I now know he can take more of than recommended dose as he's huge for a 4 year old) He said his ear drums are very red and swollen and this pain relief seems to be working so far, thanks peeps.

 

He did threaten to bite the very nice GP for sticking a 'nasty thing' in his ear.

Edited December 22, 2005 by lil_me

[lindy-lou]

hope the docs sort you out with antibiotics in time to give relief by xmas day,in the meantime a little warm olive oil in the ear is very soothing.

[Brook]

lil_me,

 

hope he feels better soon. <'>

 

My son has gone down with a temperature and throbbing headache today.

He's slept all afternoon, totally the opposite from the last few days of being very hyped.

 

Lets hope they are both better before Sunday.

 

Brook

[lil_me]

They decided against anitbiotics with it being viral, said if he's still bad in 4 days to go back and will prescribe them, fingers crossed he'll be better, settled to sleep now thankfully. hope your little one is better soon too Brook, its horrible when they are poorly, feel so helpless.

 

 

Oh I nearly didn't get there, 2 cars crashed in front of me on the way, noone was hurt but I was shaking like a leaf by the time I got to the GP OOHU lol

[oracle]

Matthew and David have both had the throbbing headache and temp. It lasted for three or four days with both of mine. I have ear ache right now. - something I very rarely get.

 

Let's hope that all of the children are well by Christmas - we can even hope they enjoy it

 

Carole

[Viper]

Nellie you are quite right, I did say she should seek medical advice first.

 

Lil fingers crossed he will be sailing that sub (do you sail a sub and is it for him?) on christmas day.

 

Viper.

[Kathryn]

Lil me, I hope your son's earache has eased. My son (8) has just recovered from an ear infection which came on dramatically in the middle of the Harry Potter film. It wasn't much fun while it lasted. We were advised to zap him with the calpol and neurofen, which helped. He was prescribed antibiotics but I'm not sure they actually worked.

 

Fingers crossed all will be well in time for Christmas.

 

K x

[reuby2]

Hi all,

My son has only just recovered from an ear infection, he had antibiotics for the first week and then the next day ,he was really angry in his sleep and said his ears hurt so we took him back to the docs who said he had a really nast infection and that his ear drum was bulging and could burst, that there would be some blood but that it would relieve the pressure and the tear would heal naturally, any way we kept him in the house using calpol, ibuprofen and the different antibiotics and managed to avoid it bursting.

 

What I was a bit confused about was that even though he had this nasty infection he was jumping around the house yelling loudly when he was playing and apart from in his sleep that one time didn't complain.

Is this something to do with his ASD that he doesn't seem to respond to the pain as perhaps i would??

[Jill]

First of all I hope he is well soon blessim

 

Secondly, I'd be careful about oil in the ear in case his ear drum is perforated (as sometimes happens with ear infections)

 

Reuby

I think I read somewhere that an "indifference to pain" can be one of the indicators of autism, but I might have imagined it. I know The Boy is really tough - quite often comes in with lumps, bumps, grazes and cuts and we've no idea how they happened cos he never reacted. If he does cry, we know he is REALLY hurt.

[lil_me]

No Viper its the NT one who has got the poorly ear, he seems better this morning, keeping him topped up with pain relief, thanks peeps I don't know what I woul do without you all.

[Suze]

...............hi Lil me........we get plagued by ear infections.........night timei sworse when they lie down and pressure on the ear drum increases so sitting up helps.Also a hot water bottle used as a pillow helps,we do the calpol/ibuprofen and it works for us.Also you could try medised as it contains anti-histamine which aids sleep(you,d have to check regarding asthma).Hope he,s feeling better soon.Also blowing your nose as much as pos helps relieve the pressure on the ear drum.

[Skywalker]

My Dad had the same problem with hearing. He had to go to the doctors to get them cleared out. I think you should do the same before you need a hearing-aid. Because thats the safe thing to do.

[Valiant_Skylark]

Can I just say that this is the first full year that the boys and I have been GF/CF and/or CF and it is the first year that we have had astoundingly less colds/bugs/earache/chestiness/viruses.

 

All our friends have proven much more susceptible to "things going around" than we have (a miracle - based on our pretty disasterous past record), and we have had merely sniffles when others have been really poorly.

 

I don't know yet whether it is coincidence (I'll probably get flu next week because I've stuck my neck out here!), but I'm amazed at the improvement in our "resilience" so far.

 

In fairness, we are eating more healthily than ever too - because the boys will eat a wider range of healthier foods now that they are not hooked into eating bread and milk products all the time.

 

Also interesting is that having any form of milk now gives me pretty obvious symptoms: sore throat, earache, sinusitis, painful achy flu-like joints, "tired" limbs and a mood crash that has to be seen to be believed.

 

I'm posting this because I remember dragging the boys and myself to the local hospital at 3am, maybe 3 times a week, ALL WINTER, EVERY YEAR, to deal with excrutiating earache, that at one time (dread) became suspected encephalitis. (Moral: a simple earinfection can turn nasty, so suggest you don't ignore the, hopefully small, possibility that it can go "onto the brain" and act quickly if it does.)

 

Basically, I wish I'd had the opportunity to try out the GF/CF diet (with the evidence from Paul Shattock) then, instead of going through all those nightmare years. Perhaps, just perhaps, it might have made life easier? I can't tell you how dire those earlier years were, and if I said they nearly killed me, it wouldn't be far off!

 

Hope all gets better for you and your little ones.

 

VS xx

[reuby2]

I posted that my son had had to had antibiotics again, well guess what, a few days after finishing the course we have had to take him back and....... he has an ear infection!!

 

This is now the fourth set of antibiotics in the last month!!

 

I hope he gets well !!

[madmooch]

H has had a cold for weeks and he's really poorly with it, he was holding his head and screaming, we had to dope him up with paracetamol and ibupro and tixylix and because of his nose running soooooo much he now has an infection in the skin round his nose the dr gave some cream for it but it's a struggle getting it on him His nose is reallly sore and bleeds when i wipe it .

 

Hope your little ones get better soon Lil-me and Reuby <'>

[elaine1]

can i just add here that if you suspect an ear infection dont put oil or anything in it, it could result in a perforated ear drum.