Ear infection, swimming and antibiotics Help!

[girlsmamma2]

Hi everyone, my 7 yo dd has her second ear infection, the first being in Kindergarten, a couple days of ear pain, no fever and held off by giving Pulsatilla, a homeopathic and we avoided atbx.

However, now she seems to be battling her second one. It came out of nowhere, not related to a cold. Last Monday she was off of school with an upset tummy, no fever, not a bug because my other 3 didn't get it. She was sick for like 24 hours, then recovered and went back to school. I don't think it was related to it but I say it because it seemed at school she may not have rehydrated herself like she would at home and I learned later that her ear was bothering her the day she went back.

Ok, so fast forward to this weekend. She went for her first swim class and went underwater for the first time, fully underwater for a few seconds more than I was comfortable with. It was a big day and she also had a birthday party that she ended up throwing up at that same day and this is where it all started. I assumed at the time we had just overdone it with an early swim class, a late night the night before. She was REALLY noticeably tired ( a mommmy moment I should have notices) and fell asleep on the way to the party, the moms even noticed she looked extra tired, then got sick. So I assumed we over did it, she had a headache and that was it. That is the only time she got sick.

Then Sunday she complained of ear pain so I was giving her Motrin and it was about every 6 hours she'd get uncomfortable because it would wear off. Since then the her ability to stay on Motrin has increased to 8 hours between doses, happy in between and playing just very tired still. Today we are still doing Motrin, so 4 days later, but now she gets uncomfortable around 12 hours so only twice a day. Is up, playing, happy, just tired still. The Motrin seems to take her ear pain totally away, she is hungry and thirsty but not up for the rigors of school.

We have been waiting it out, she only spiked a fever on Sunday and it took the Motrin a bit to get it down but once it did it stayed normal, not up high like in previous illnesses. It brought it down to normal.

My question is, how long should I wait it out? I'm starting to feel uncomfortable. When the Motrin wears off she says the area on her head around her ear hurts, that makes me worry. But there is no drainage, no fever, just ear pain. I know this is a mild ear infection but I don't know what to do. I have an appt Friday AM and kind of want the doc to look to see what is going on. I REALLY don't want antibiotics. Was this brought on by the swimming do you think? The water at this place is 93 degrees. I mean while condusive to kids learning to swim, the ick factor makes me worry about all the bacteria that could be in that pool. Full of kids all of the time.

But she has to learn how to swim as she has just been accepted into a premier school in our district that requires them to take swim class and she has always been scared. She wants to go to this school so she wants to learn now. Now I feel like maybe she had a bit of an ear ache the water pressure from going under may have made this worse? Am I still in the "wait and see" period?" What should I do? Have the doc take a look and risk her getting something else? What should I do about swimming? I"m worried now that she can't do it and we have only a few months to take lessons. from what I"m reading this seems like a mild ear infection, but it seems to have gone on a long time. I've overdone the wait period before on other illnesses and I just don't know where the line is on this one. I worry about all those serious complications if left untreated.

thanks for reading so far. jesh, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Arduinna]

So her ear has been bothering her to the point that she needs motrin for 4 days now? And you have an appointment day after tomorrow? Just clarifying that I read it right. I'd keep the appointment, but unless she is feeling better I'd see if they can squeeze me in earlier. I'd keep up the swimming classes but get her some ear plugs to wear in the water. And if she isn't better by the appointment, I'd personally take the antibiotics.

[girlsmamma2]

yes, i've been giving her motrin for the uncomfortableness. not for the fever. and daily she acts better and better while on it. She's had ilnesses where I give the motrin and she's still laid up on the couch, feeling better, but still down. She is by no means down and out. She is doing the high school musical dance mat with her bro and sis right now in the basement. So running to antibiotics seems strange. But you seem to think it's too long? everything I've read says they will heal on their own in about 4-7 days, then I read they should resolve in the first 72 hours. Which is right you know?

[Arduinna]

Well I was partially going by the fact that you said you are starting to feel uncomfortable about her head still hurting. I'd honor that mamas instinct.

I haven't had a child with an ear infection in years but 4 days on motrin because of the ear would concern me. I'm not an against antibiotics as some here are. I'm not saying she absolutely needs them. I'm not there with her and it's hard to judge from across the net ya know. I'd have someone in the medical field I trust look at her and her ear and see what they say if she needs them or not.

I'd pay attention to my mama instinct though.

[nycmom18]

does motrin help lower a fever? i dont know, but my thoughts are if it does, then you really cant tell if she has a fever or not right now. and for me, if there was a fever, then i would think there would be infection. but if there is not a fever, and she was acting normal, eating drinking happy etc, i would think it might be resolving on its own. kwim?

have you tried chiropractic massaging? down the back of the ear to drain the fluid and pullthe earlobe out and down to help with this and keep doing this every once and a while. or even visit the chiro if you go to one. they may even be able to tell you whats going on in the ear as ours did-she had the thing to look in the ear with.

other remedies for releieving pain:

-warm oil in the ear
-cut an onion in half, put in oven for 15 minutes til soft and warm, then put on affected ear with the unaffected ear on a pillow.

these might be very soothing to her ear and help as well.

HTH!

[girlsmamma2]

yes, it lowers fever too but she hasn't had one. I only know because her temp hasn't risen once it's warn off. it wears off in 6-8 hours and at 12 she will start complaining of pain but no fever. I think the pain is wax and wane type thing. I haven't given any to her since yesterday at noon. she made it through the night without waking up from it. So it's seems like a sloooowww resolving on it's own.

She woke up today saying it hurt, I held off on the motrin to see if it was just her waking up, then a few mintues later she was up, getting ready for school. she told me her ear didn't hurt anymore because she wants to go back to school . So I told her we need to be honest about what is going on etc, so she said it did still hurt, but not around it anymore just inside and not as bad but yes it did still hurt.

So, no fever, no cold symptoms and waning ear pain. Is it still worth the trip to the doc in the morning to make sure i"m on the right path? and yes, she up, happy, drinking, eating, playing wants to go to school. Just a mild ear pain left.

[girlsmamma2]

well, now her ear is feeling better so I do think it's on the run. But her tonsils (usually on the very large side) are enlarged and touching each other. In the past when this has happened she has had a steroid shot. I can't stand that decision because steroid lower your immune system and with so much floating around school....boy another fun decision.

[AustinMom]

My son had frequent (6 in his first year of life) ear infections and during that time, 2 ruptured ear drums. He built up an allergy to penicillin so far, so we went looking for "all natural" route. We started him on echinacea drops and since, he hasn't had even one ear infections for almost 10 months now (he's 18 mo now)

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T081900.asp her's a link to how I did it. I rarely use it now, only when he starts to feel a little under the weather I'll pick it back up, but that has only happened once so far.

Echinacea is an immune boosting supplement. So if you do the steriods, you need something else to build up the immune system. Probiotics are great too, and anything with garlic. Some say to just put a warm clove of garlic in the infected ear, take a nap and take it out after and it "cures" the infections. I gave him 1/4 the adult dosage, for a 5-7 yr old, I'd say 1/2, but ask your ped. Mine was all for it.

[luv-my-boys]

I guess the question is is there fluid and if so is it infected? have you tried giving her a decongestant? DS occassionally has fluid buildup but no infection due to allergies. I decongestant allows the tube to open and drain with the hope that some of the fluid will drain and provide relief and hopefully prevent a infection from occuring if say the fluid lingered. Also her tonsils could be pushing up on the tubes causing the fluid to stick around instead of draining. Id be less worried if it were just fluid as opposed to say infected fluid. Imo I would keep the appt and see which it is. If you are not want to go the abx route there are numbing drops that you can get an rx for that would numb the ear and make it more comfortable for her.

I think the swimming probably did aggravate things due to pressure changes plus if she does have fluid it can make you dizzy or even nauseated from the fluid being out of balance in your ear.

[girlsmamma2]

so will the doc know it's infected if it's red or inflammed? They can tell the difference of fluid vs infected fluid? I have been assuming it's not infected, other wise she'd have a fever. I'm not really schooled on this subject since this is only her second one and she's 7. The first one was a couple day deal, it made her tired and cranky, and it went away.

Man, I could kick myself for the swimming thing. and the garlic is a good idea and echinacea. I will be picking some up for sure. We've been double does on vit D all winter and she's been surprisingly healthy for a while now. This tonsil thing just freaks me out, i hate when they touch. I worry she'll stop breathing or something and we'll end up in the er and I'll be kicking myself again. I guess the deal about being a parent, and i should know this because she is my oldest of 4 for crying out loud, is learning how to just handle this stuff and not be worried all the time. but I can't help it!

I just know at the very least at the appt they will want to give her the shot. they always freak on a regular check up at the size of her tonsils and refer us to an ENT, so when I go in there when she is sick they freak out because they are touching. But for her all it does is make her snore more. She doesn't have sleep apnea, eats fine, isn't sick more often nothing. but i Know they will push the shot. She had the shot twice last year, once while having suspected Strep and my dh took her in I was LIVID when he called and said she got a steroid shot but then because of all she had been through i ended up agreeing. Now she's just fine just big tonsils.