United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Maia has had problems with her ears since the beginning of the summer...she's been on antibiotiocs for inner ear and for outer ear infections...she's been to her doctor a few times and even to the E.R. over July 4th. (This was at the time when she lost her function and they thought an ear infection invaded her plexus). At the ER they said it was NOT an infection.

Then we started just using numbing ear drops because everyone was saying that she was not infected but she still had pain...these drops numbed and warmed her ear. And that gave her some temporary relief.

Then she started crying out in pain again so I took her back to the doctor at which time she felt it might be her jaw acting up again and TMJ so she told me to make an appointment with a specialist. So I worked for days on trying to find a specialist that was well recommended, then doing the insurance bit...well you know how hours and hours can go by doing this stuff. Then I finally found a specialist and made an appointment - the first one available - at the end of August. Referrals made and everyone done.

But Maia's ear still hurt her a lot. I gave her big carrots to chew on every day or an apple (uncut) to keep her jaw moving around and exercised. Showed her a jaw exercise - called it shark bites (shark opening it's mouth up really wide, etc. Told her teachers at camp about shark bites so that when she said she was having pain she could do her little exercise.

Still pain. So I called her primary physician again - she looks at her ear and it's still not infected - so she wants Maia to get an asap appointment with a specialist - as an emergency visit... and we STILL had to wait a week for this and today was the day.

We go there and there is no table there where Maia can just sit and relax and BE CALM. This doctor gets in there and has me tightly hold on to maia - shows me how - arms crossed - head held tightly.... is Maia supposed to be relaxed like this??

Then she says the magic words:

"Oh Maia - all I'm going to do is vacuum out your ear - it's really nothing, it just sounds really, really loud."

BINGO!

Maia is (since this ear thing) really scared of vacuum cleaners - we think it might hurt her ear. She goes absolutely bananas (as if someone was killing her) when I turn on a vacuum. So Maia's in a full freak out. Totally scared / traumatized and we just leave.

So now not only did she NOT get her ear checked but now she's scared for the next guy whose apointment I still have at the end of August.

What about this ear pain? What do I do?
I am SO frustrated by these DAMN DOCTORS - I JUST WANT TO SCREAM!!!

aaarrrrggggghhhhhhh

this is what I do for her at home.....

(1) I use the warming ear drops
(2) I use warm compresses on her jaw
(3) I massage her jaw lightly to help release it
(4) when I blow dry her hair, I also warm her ear with it (recommended by her doc)

do you guys have any ideas to add?
thanks,
francine

Francine,

How awful. That poor girl. The pain must be awful. I don't have great advice, but just felt so bad, I had to reply. My neighbor's daughter had constant ear infections as a child, and finally had an operation on her inner ear. Has anyone mentioned that? P.S. During really bad ear infections, I've given my kids Motrin and it always works great as a pain reliever in the middle of the night. This probably isn't that helpful, but I thought I'd try. good luck. Jody O.

Could it too be some teeth that have not erupted properly? This can cause pain sometimes as well. Poor thing. And you can vent anytme, especially after a day like that!


Better luck with the next one, perhaps you could write a note about things that upset Maia before she goes in for the dr to read?

So Sorry Maia's in such pain. I can't think of anything else. Looks like the bases are covered.HOpe and PRAY she will get some relief soon. LeeAnne

I was going to say about the teeth too Christy!
having suffered this myself as a youngster, i can tell you that you really don't know exactly where the pain is, you just know the whole of your ear/jaw area feels like no pain you have ever felt before.
But a couple of other things I would like to suggest to ask about;
could it be sinusitis ? - if so, acupuncture is very good for pain relief with sinusitis
could it be mumps? - AWFUL pain and it is possible to only get in just one side of the head.
could it be nueralgia (sp?) nerve pain sometimes associated with sinusitis or a heavy cold/flu if so an ibuprofen based pain killer works best on nerve pain as I am sure you know! but this can take weeks to clear up.
I just wanted to suggest a few other things to try and help Maia and you too!
kindest wishes
Karen

Hi Francine,

Poor little Maia and poor you. You must be at your witts end.

Michael just got over having very bad ear pain. What works for him is this.

Find a very clean if not brand new sock. Put two cups of raw rice (uncooked) into it and tie it in a knot at the open end leaving some space (not too much)between the rice and the knot. Put it into the microwave at 10 second intervalse until the sock becomes warm enough to place over her ear without it hurting her. It is very soothing and Michael loves it.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Patty

Have they tried flushing the ear yet with water...my 6 year old when she was 18-20 months old, always had ear pain...dr. after dr. couldn't find anything....(GO FIGURE)...they began to try and clean it, everytime we went they would clean it out then all of a sudden, a teeny and I mean teeny peice of something came out.....they think a peice of potato chip came out...can't figure out to this day where that peice of chip came from, but it took 10-12 visits for them to get it out and oooo, the pain it caused !! An yes, absolutely you can vent anytime !

Poor Maia and poor family.... ear aches! are the worst....

We have had similar problems with my granddaughter Katie... she has had 9 ear infections since Jan and now they want her to go to a Specialist... so we waited a MONTH for the appointment and he calls this week and changes it to TWO weeks from now.... she has another ear ACHE!!!! BUT NO INFECTION!!!!!
They say she has fluid in her little ears and needs to have tubes put in!!!!!

Her mother had ear aches when teething!!! and I had to use ear plugs when I washed her hair and when she got older she had to wear them in the shower....

Maia is not teething anymore but maybe she gets fluid in her ear when she goes swimming or takes a bath??????????? I don't know if this helps but thought I would mention it.... Possible swimmers ear??????? Also if my children ate chocolate or drank too much milk... the would have fluid in their ears and runny nose... maybe allergy?????

Any way I will say a little prayer that her tiny ears are better soon...

Kath

I am so sorry about Maia's ears and for your day.
My youngest, Steven, has had ear infections since day one. I found out, after he started school, that they are nothing to mess around with. Even though he was antibodic each time, the muscle in his ear did not develop properly and had to be trained to hear. The doctor I took him too said that because of all the pain he was in, that the brain basically did not send message to his ears. So he had to be taught to listen and hear in school. Which caused him a lot of problems. (I had always thought he had "selective" hearing!) So be very careful. A baby's ears are sooo tender and precious.

francine so sorry to hear about the ear problems with maia. My youngest had lots of ear problems. Lots of fluid in the ears and most recently swimmers ears. I was in the ER on 4th of July. Poor thing just screamed for hours with the pain. Its no fun!!!My prayers go out to you and your family. I hope they find out soon what it is. (Also let me mention as a young child I had a problem with my ears once. Went to a regular dr that said it was a infection and gave me antibiotics--they didnt work. I went to an ENT and he flushed out my ear with warm water---seems as though there was wax build up around my ear drum causing me pain). Something to think about.