Mothering Forum banner

Poor Immune System, ear infection that won't go away

10K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  wytchywoman 
#1 ·
Hi mamas,
I am absolutely desperate, so any advice you can give, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you, would be so greatly appreciated.
Back story: I work as a teacher on a special ed K-2 room and am exposed to a plethora of germs daily. I also have fibromyalgia and meniere's disease which are autoimmune disorders and hypothyroidism. I will also admit straight up that i don't drink enough water, eat enough fruits or vegetables and I rarely have the energy to exercise these days.
Current situation: Starting about 3 months ago I started coming down with everything under the sun. Diahrrhea and stomach cramps, then a mild cold, then more diarrhea and stomach cramps, then another cold, then thrush, and now a three week long and still going strong ear infection.
I have seen a doctor several times over the ear infection, and basically we are at the point where if it doesn't resolve by the end of this latest round of antibiotics then I go for sugery and get tubes put it. So far I have taken two different rounds of antibiotics, two different antibiotic/steroid ear drops, and a round of oral steroids for the infection. I am on nystatin for the thrush which has exploded out of control because of all the antibiotics. I also used gentian violet which cured the thrush until I reached the end of the course of treatment and stopped it, hence the thrush returned full force. I am also eating yogurt and taking probiotics and vit c crystals. I am also trying really hard to clean up my diet and weed out caffeine, processed foods and sugar.
I truly do not know what to do anymore and am at the end of my rope. psychologically I am not doing well at all and the steroids certainly have not helped any in that regard. I know three months doesn't seem like a long time but when you are sick and in pain it feels like an eternity. Does anyone have anything else they could recommend?
TIA for your help,

Michelle
PS... wanted to add too that I've been tested for HIV which was negative so that is not the cause of all of this thankfully.
 
See less See more
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Leafwood, I would dearly love to go see a chiro or even better an acupuncturist, but I am flat out broke right now and simply can not afford them. My thyroid is low and the dr just doubled my meds as the dosage I was on did nothing so perhaps that will help some.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thank you Wu Wei and A&A for your input. Someone else just suggested Vit D as well and I already have to go in for more bloodwork so I will get my levels checked. I have wondered if dairy products might contribute to this, but the only dairy I eat is one container of yogurt a day. I never drink milk, ever. I guess if I'm allergic even yogurt might set it off but I am not a huge dairy consumer. As for the antibiotics, as much as I hate them I do think they were warranted. My ear drum ruptured two weeks ago and was bulging and getting ready to rupture again last tuesday when I went in to the doctors for the third time. So far I am ok but I just finished a course of steroids last night and I am really afraid that as that gets out of my system the inflamation and bulging will come back. Anyway, just wanted to thank you for your input. I will definitely look into these suggestions.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Thanks Periwinkle. By unfermented dairy products I am assuming you meant hings like milk and cheese right? Does this include things like oat or rice milk ( if I can find it unsweetened). I have Jarrowdophilus brand probiotics that I have been taking for years, is it possible that I need a different brand because my body has developed a tolerance for that particular probiotic?
Thanks again for your advice.

PS... came back to add that I live in the desert, so we never truly get "bad" weather here. Actually it's going to reach close to 100 next week. I would love to think that summer coming would resolve this, but it's been summer like for the past few months now and the climate here is extremely dry. If this is season related I think it has far more to do with Spring and pollen than anything else.
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
Thank you for the continued suggestions. I've had CBC's run and my white blood cell and platelets are low. Could lupus initially show up as something like that? or is there a specific test that is run for lupus that has to be requested? Also, in relation to PID, how does one test for that? Can I go to my PCP and request a test or is this something that needs to be dealt with by a geneticist? It does sound highly suspicious, for both my older son and myself. I had a really hard time almost a year ago with what may have been MRSA but no one ever figured out what it was, definitely lots of problematic cellulitis though, huge spots of it. I am definitely going to look into this. Unfortunately I don't have $20,000, are there any alternative treatments?
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Wow, what a coincidence. I live in Tucson as well. Can you PM me or post back with the Dr's you see here in town? Thanks. Also, although we ( my son and I ) have a hard time fighting things off, we have yet to be hospitalized. From what I have read so far hospitalization is pretty common with PID. Is that correct or is that just a worse case scenario?
Thanks again for all your help. I really appreciate it!
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Hi Catpat,
Sorry you're so ill. I know how hard it is to deal with. The things I found that assisted me with the ear infections were the following:
1) Get seasonal allergies under control- I had horrible allergies which I think really caused my immune system to take a serious nose dive. It happened again this year too although not as bad as last year. Not sure if you suffer from seasonal allergies or not, but they certainly played a huge role in all the illnesses I developed.
2) Eliminate caffeine and processed foods- this has been really difficult for me but I am finally caffeine and gluten free and am working on sugars next. I would wean out one thing at a time as doing a total elimination diet seemed just way too much for me to handle.
3) Supplement well- I take multi-vit and D3 daily (received clarification from my son's rheumatologist that D2 isn't absorbed well by the body, it needs to be D3). Doing any kind of living foods supplement would probably help as well.
4) Acupuncture- I can't do this often ( and couldn't do it when I was really ill) because of cost, but I have used acupuncture to help strengthen my immune system and definitely got good results from it.
5)See a specialist- At this point , if I were you, I'd consult with an ENT dr. He was able to tell me that I wouldn't need tubes and to just give it more time. He also said that what I caught was simply bad luck and he had seen more adult cases of this type of infection that year than he had in the rest of his career as a physician, so something was definitely going around locally that was hitting adults hard. Consider seeing a specialist, they may have info that a primary care dr wouldn't about what you have and what would help you.
Hope you feel better soon!!!!!!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top