United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I forgot to ask in my other post...Has any children had any hearing problmes? My daughter failed her hearing test when she went thru the screening process for Kindergarten, and I was wondering if she has hearing loss due to Erb's Palsy.

The nerves that have to do with hearing are CRANIAL nerves. The Brachial Plexus are peripheral nerves that come out of the spine. There is no connection between these 2 things.

Severe BP injuries are often acompanied by Horner's SYndrome, which have to do with the eyes, but not the ears.

Hearing loss may be due to many factors in children. Did they not give you any indication of what the cause was? Or what you are to do next?

Marieke (31, LOBPI)

The pediatrician did was thinking because of fluid in her ears, and may need tubes. Just thought I would throw my question out there to you all and see what kind of feed back I received. Thanks for the info.

Yeah, the tubes are a common thing... many of my friend's kids have them, or kids I taught in pre-k had them. Seems like it is fairly common these days.

Have a great first year of Kindergarten Tori!

Marieke (31, LOBPI)

Tori, I remember when I was a little girl I thought I was going deaf. I could not hear at all out of my left ear and very little in my right. This came on very sudden and lasted for a long time. My mom thought I was crazy, but took me to an ear speacialist anyways. Sure enough I had to have tubes put in my ears. It's a fairly simple and fast procedure, but once the fluid started to drain I gained my hearing back.

I am sure that is all it is. Sometimes it will eventually drain on their own and won't need tubes, and sometimes not.

Bridget Brayden's Mom (LOBPI) 3 month old
Kentucky

The informational leaflet from UBPN and The Brachial Plexus Palsy Foundation both describe hearing difficulties as being associated with obpi among the other 'weird' stuff that we apparently 'shouldn't' get but often do. Drs Spinner & co at the Mayo clinic have observed it in long term tbpi and have published a paper about this and other weird stuff that happens. Many of us also notice that we get a sore throat on the bpi affected side, & I get strange bubblings in the ear on my bpi side.
Of course, you can't assume that everything that happens on the affected side is down to the bpi, but it is an injury caused by trauma to the head and neck in both obpi and tbpi, and I believe there are many more effects than non bpi doctors, or even some bpi doctors who haven't had the benefit of studying patients long term are aware of. Doctors just know what they learn from text books and the cases they themselves see, they don't know everything. If you take the hearing problem further, check if it's just on the bpi side. I'd be interested to know.
Jen NZ

Thank you for the info on the hearing issue. I also felt that since she had such a traumatic birth, with bruising all over her left side, that may have caused some injuries other than her Erb's Palsy. I will take a look at that brochure you mentioned, and do plan on asking the pediatrician, but don't have to much faith in him right now, and am planning on switching to a new one.
thank you so much

Tori's mom:
I think there is a lot of "stuff" associated with the bpi that "shouldn't" be there.

Juliana, my bpi daughter, hears "differently" on that side and has been complaining of not seeing well on her affected side as well. (Eye doc appt coming up!)

As for fluid in the ears: I had this. My son had this. We had two very different kinds of fluid and different causes. His was onset early, caused by tiny eustation tubes. His fluid was puss-like and tinged with blood. It caused pain and constant ear infections. I, on the other hand, was not in any pain, but was deaf. I failed my 4th grade hearing test. My pediatrician was interested in allergies and thought that I might be allergic to milk and/or chocolate. So they took them out of my diet. Within 2 weeks my hearing had improved and by 1 month out, I was normal again. Of course I cried like a baby since I drank about a quart of milk a day then and LOVED oreos.

My point is that if there is fluid in the ears, don't run to do surgery. First check to see if there is an underlying cause for the fluid build up and see if you can reduce it with out surgery. I know tube surgery is common, but not all kids do well with it.

good luck,
claudia

Thank you Claudia, Tori has had a few ear infections, but not cronic. Talked at a early age, and her speech is very clear. Tori does currently have a cold, clear discharge and not running a temp. Pediatrician told me not to worry, she would be fine by the time she is due for surgery, next thing I know, she failes two hearing tests, he did mention tubes and of course I want to rule out everything before we procede. Thats why I think this message board is such a great thing! Great info and alot of support. Thank you everyone for all the great input. We appreciate it very much.