DS5 says he can't hear from his left ear, and we just left the pediatrician's office...

[AimeeM]

DS5 is the "ear wax king" - he has always had problems with large amounts of ear wax in his ears and his pediatrician always removes it during his appointments, no matter what the appointments are for.

He said he couldn't hear from his left ear, so we assumed he had another wax blockage. We took him in to the pediatrician (a couple hours ago) and initially she thought that was all it was too; when she looked in his ear, he had his standard blockage.

She removed the wax and was surprised to find an infection in the ear he said he couldn't hear out of (surprised because he showed no other symptoms).

She prescribed an antibiotic, so he'll be taking that.

However, we assumed that removing the wax blockage (which the pediatrician did, of course, from both ears) would allow him to hear from it again. 

On the drive home I was talking to the kids about stopping for our standard post-doctor's-appointment Happy Meals, and DS told me that he still couldn't hear from that ear.

Is this standard for an ear infection? Should I call his pedi back? They're out of the office until 2:30-ish for lunch. 

This particular DS, while prone to excessive ear wax issues, is NOT prone to ear infections. DS2 is very prone to ear infections (scarily so, since he also presents with no symptoms - they are always found when he's being seen for some other, unrelated reason) but DS2 is also speech delayed and has never relayed any information that would indicate he couldn't hear because of an infection. 

[catz]

Absolutely. An infection or even just fluid in the ear can cause a hearing problem.

[Jan in SC]

My dh has the same problem right now. Obviously he is an adult, but his hearing still isn't normal and he began antibiotics last week.

[Jenrae]

Hmmm....whenever I or my kids had ear infections, we could still hear, but it was muffled sounding, like being under water.

 

 

[catz]

Hmmm....whenever I or my kids had ear infections, we could still hear, but it was muffled sounding, like being under water.

Well we are talking about a 5 year old, so this could be what he is describing. I have had crazy wax, infections, and just allergy related fluid in my ears and it has definitely affected my hearing In different ways that didn't feel like normal hearing depending on what was going on. I guess I wouldn't panic about a 5 year old saying this with an active infection that was just seen by a doctor without giving the abx a few days to kick in.

[bettyandbob]

Not sure about the hearing during an ear infection, never experienced that.

 

With regard to the ear wax has the doctor suggested how you can help keep it clear. I flush my ears once a month. I used to have to have them cleared at the doctor's office. Then a nurse showed me how and I've been doing it my self for 20 years or so. People who build up a lot of wax tend to get swimmers ear (outer ear infections). Inner ear infections tend to be related to sinuses rather than wax.

 

ETA: you don't need to swim to get swimmer's ear. You can get water in your ear that doesn't clear out from taking a shower.

[amyk]

My son just went in because he couldn't hear out of one ear--it was an ear infection. I didn't realize infections could cause hearing loss either. A couple days later he was hearing great.

[carriede]

Normal for an ear infection.

[AimeeM]

Well we are talking about a 5 year old, so this could be what he is describing. I have had crazy wax, infections, and just allergy related fluid in my ears and it has definitely affected my hearing In different ways that didn't feel like normal hearing depending on what was going on. I guess I wouldn't panic about a 5 year old saying this with an active infection that was just seen by a doctor without giving the abx a few days to kick in.

Bingo. He isn't able to give great description about things like this. For example, at his Cardio's office, he'll be asked "how" his chest/back/legs hurt, and he just looks confused and says "they just hurt" - which his doctors say is normal for this age. Unfortunately that means it can be hard to gauge and when to be concerned. 

If this is pretty normal for an ear infection, I'll just let it ride for the week while he's on antibiotics.

If his hearing is muffled, even, that does tell me why I've been banging my head up against a wall with his phonics (blending) this past week ;)

[Jenrae]

Well we are talking about a 5 year old, so this could be what he is describing. I have had crazy wax, infections, and just allergy related fluid in my ears and it has definitely affected my hearing In different ways that didn't feel like normal hearing depending on what was going on. I guess I wouldn't panic about a 5 year old saying this with an active infection that was just seen by a doctor without giving the abx a few days to kick in.

 

 

True. Hadn't given much thought ot his age and perception of "how" he was hearing.

[AimeeM]

Not sure about the hearing during an ear infection, never experienced that.

 

With regard to the ear wax has the doctor suggested how you can help keep it clear. I flush my ears once a month. I used to have to have them cleared at the doctor's office. Then a nurse showed me how and I've been doing it my self for 20 years or so. People who build up a lot of wax tend to get swimmers ear (outer ear infections). Inner ear infections tend to be related to sinuses rather than wax.

 

ETA: you don't need to swim to get swimmer's ear. You can get water in your ear that doesn't clear out from taking a shower.

Yes - she told me to buy a softner at the pharmacy. They do not recommend flushing for him, yet. 

[Pawz4me]

I think it's fairly normal.  My 19 yo DS is just getting over the exact same thing.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Fluid in the ear prevents the ear drum from vibrating. Persistent fluid is why my Dd got ear tubes. It made a huge difference on her hearing test. In this case I would let the antibiotics do their thing. No reason yet to think this will be an ongoing problem.

[Rosie_0801]

Ear infections can be a chiropractor thing.

[Mom23Boys]

Like everyone else said, normal for ear infections.

 

This reminded me of my experience with my then 4 year old and an ear infection.

 

Joseph ran a really high fever for around 4 days. He acted like normal, running around playing and doing everything he normally did. He either has no fever or fever over 104°, so I wasn't concerned since he was acting like he felt fine.

 

About a week later, he started running fever again, so I decided to bring him in to the doctor, even though he was acting completely fine. We were leaving for vacation in 2 weeks, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.

 

Well, his ear drum was about to rupture. It was incredibly infected. The doctor said he didn't see how he could even hear and wasn't crying with pain. It probably started during the first round of fever.

 

As we left the doctor's office, he was literally skipping his way through the parking lot and said, "I've been wondering why I couldn't hear out of that ear." Gee, thanks for telling me. ;)

 

He hasn't had an ear infection since then, 4 years later. Before that, he had 4 infections before age 1, but then he got tubes and was fine.

 

He also has an extremely high tolerance of pain. He broke his femur when he was 3 and bc of his age, they didn't do pins, so for the first 10 days or so, every time he was moved, his bones moved. He had a spica cast. He handled that pain waaaay better than anyone else I know would've.

[VeganCupcake]

The fluid that prevents the eardrum from moving properly and thus muffles the hearing can persist for weeks, even when the bacteria is gone--so don't be surprised if his hearing is still muffled for a while. I had an ear infection about a year and a half ago and it was weeks and weeks before I could hear normally on that side again. My doctor has always said it can be weeks for the kids' fluid to resolve, too.

[kiwik]

if there is no improvement after 48 hours on the antibiotics call back.