Large Tonsils And Adenoids

[mama2two]

I know this probably should go under the gab and chat section, but I figured more parents possibly with a similiar experience would be more likely to see it here. We took my daughter to see an ENT because her tonsils are very large and her adenoids according to him and she has terrrible snoring and sleep apnea at night. Of course he suggested surgery, which we did schedule but I am leary of this and I am wondering if there is anything else we can do to help her with these large tonsils and adnoids. He also said that she had fluid in her ear and a sinus infection and wanted to put her on an antibiotic, I was opposed to this since she has no symptoms, she did recently have swimmer's ear that was diagnosed over the phone and she was given antibiotic ear drops for this. I have scheduled an appt with her pedi, she is pretty conservative with treatments, I want her opinion on this. He seemed aggressive with surgery and antibotics. He also said she did not have to take the antiboitic, but that if she still had fluid in her ear at the time of surgery that he could lance her ear drum, I did not like the sound of that. She has never before had an ear infection. Any advice would be appreciated.

[elonwy]

My mom chose not to have my tonsils out when I was kid, though I had repeated issues, and mine are definitely oversized. I'm now dealing with the possibility of having to have them out as an adult, which is much more traumatic than if the surgery is done to a kid. This isn't really something that gets better as you get older. Just a thought.

That being said, the lancing of the ear is just scary. I'm missing part of my hearing cause of an overzealous ENT during my childhood. You may want to get a second opinion from someone who doesn't seem so surgery happy (I've found the younger the ENT, the less they want to do surgery). You also really want to make sure she doesn't have any infections going into it, even if it means waiting, if you do chose to do it.

I'm not a parent yet, just been on the recieving end of these issues my whole life.

[Darn210]

Both of my kids have had their tonsils and adenoids taken out. My daughter's was at the age of 3. She snored and had sleep apnea. She would stop breathing. I was more than happy to have her tonsils taken out. The sleep apnea completely stopped afterwards. My son's tonsils were taken out because of his growth issues. His tonsils were HUGE but he did not snore, did not have sleep apnea, did not have repeated ear infections or strep throat. GI said it was time to look for chronic inflamation as a reason as to why his growth was so poor and his tonsils (because of their size) were at the top of the list. ENT said that normally they don't take out tonsils unless they have snoring/sleep apnea or infection issues but on rare occasions, they do take them out for growth issues. My son had them taken out about two months ago. Afterwards, the ENT said that they were nasty little buggers that did indeed need to come out as there was a chronic/old infection (even though he had no fever or symptoms and had a round of antibiotics).

I would guess that the fluid in the ear is probably part of the sinus infection. If she hasn't had a lot of antibiotics, I would probably do a round of antibiotics to clear up the sinus infection - hope that clears up the fluid, too - and I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about lancing the ear . . . I just don't like the sound of that one.

[Guest lorlyn]

Had my tonsils out at age 40. It was really. really tough. The bad thing is that they can grow back

[purple]

My personal advice. Tonsils and adenoids are part of our immune system as well as other parts the doctors are so happy about removing. Our parts our God given for a purpose. Our immune system is highly important to keep out invaders. Our parts all work together and if one is missing then the others have to work harder. We are more susceptible to things the less parts we have. I would go to the best alternative natural doctor you can find in your area and get a second opinion. Many MD's are taught to treat the symptoms or remove them and take prescriptions which cause a downward spiral to our health. Natural docs (good ones) try to do what they can to find the cause and heal the body. Our doc is an osteopath.

[BelievinMiracles]

I had my adenoids out when I was in first grade. They were so big that I couldn't talk and was afraid to speak. They actually put me in a special ed class because they thought I had some learning disability. Haha now you can't get me to stop talking and I'm on the Dean's List. I'm glad they took mine out.

[Carollynb]

I know this probably should go under the gab and chat section, but I figured more parents possibly with a similiar experience would be more likely to see it here. We took my daughter to see an ENT because her tonsils are very large and her adenoids according to him and she has terrrible snoring and sleep apnea at night. Of course he suggested surgery, which we did schedule but I am leary of this and I am wondering if there is anything else we can do to help her with these large tonsils and adnoids. He also said that she had fluid in her ear and a sinus infection and wanted to put her on an antibiotic, I was opposed to this since she has no symptoms, she did recently have swimmer's ear that was diagnosed over the phone and she was given antibiotic ear drops for this. I have scheduled an appt with her pedi, she is pretty conservative with treatments, I want her opinion on this. He seemed aggressive with surgery and antibotics. He also said she did not have to take the antiboitic, but that if she still had fluid in her ear at the time of surgery that he could lance her ear drum, I did not like the sound of that. She has never before had an ear infection. Any advice would be appreciated.

My youngest, now three, had the same exact issues since birth. Our pedi referred us to a ped ENT who removed his adenoids and inserted tubes into each ear (to alleviate the constant fluid buildup) but refused to remove the very enlarged tonsils. She, instead, wanted to keep him on antibiotics when necessary until he was closer to four. That would be another 1 1/2 years! We immediately changed doctors. We went through an observation period and tried non-medicated and medicated nose sprays (which did help a bit during the summer months). However, the snoring never really got better and he was cranky all of the time and wouldn't eat much at all. We also had to send him to speech therapy because he'd had fluid in his ears for so long (no fever or infection) that he speech was suffering. Once his tonsils were removed he was a different child altogether! His attitude did a 180 and his appetite returned. His language skills also went through the roof quite rapidly.

Surgery is surgery no matter how simple of a procedure but you must way the pros against the cons and decide what is right for you and your family. As a mother who's seen night and day in her child because of the surgery, I can say it was worth it and our visits to the doctor have dropped to about 1 every 4 months, mostly for allergies now.

Note, about 5% of all patients will bleed excessively 7-10 days after a tonsillectomy when the scabs fall off. The younger your child, the quicker they can fall into a life threatening situation due to blood loss (IF they bleed at all afterwards.). Ours did but recovered and went home in less than 24 hours.

Don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions, repeatedly if you have to. I, personally, would recommend having it done at a children's hospital, if at all possible. Depending on your child's age, don't go into too many details about the surgery; you could scare them unnecessarily. Be sure to pack items they associate with home like a stuffed animal, favorite blanket, movies, etc. Mine couldn't get enough of the popsicles! Good luck with whatever choice you make.

[Darn210]

. . . if she still had fluid in her ear at the time of surgery that he could lance her ear drum, I did not like the sound of that.

. . . and I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about lancing the ear . . . I just don't like the sound of that one.

I started thinking about this . . . I think maybe we are both reacting to the phrase "lance her ear drum". When Carollyn was talking about tubes for the ears, it made be think a little differently. I know they put tubes in the ears of kids with fluid build up to keep them from getting a lot of ear infections. Tubes will fall out by themselves and the eardrums heal.

From Open Original Shared Link

Ear tubes are inserted through an outpatient surgical procedure called a myringotomy. A myringotomy refers to an incision (a hole) in the ear drum or tympanic membrane. This is most often done under a surgical microscope with a small scalpel (tiny knife), but it can also be accomplished with a laser. If an ear tube is not inserted, the hole would heal and close within a few days. To prevent this, an ear tube is placed in the hole to keep it open and allow air to reach the middle ear space (ventilation).

So even though I wince at the term "lance", I think they are just wanting to drain the ear and (from above) the incision would heal within a couple of days. Doesn't hurt to discuss it with your doctors though!!

[Generic]

Through most of my daughter's life she has suffered from ear infections, strep throat and snoring. I have asked on numerous occasions about having her tonsils removed. The Dr. kept saying if she gets it one more time this year, then.... Well of course it never happened. She is now 17 years old and I got a different dr. to give a referral for a sleep study. She is now having her adenoids and tonsils taken out. Apparently her oxygen levels dropped below 87% several times due to blockage. I wish they would have done it years ago, they heal so much better when they are younger.

[purple]

I know this probably should go under the gab and chat section, but I figured more parents possibly with a similiar experience would be more likely to see it here. We took my daughter to see an ENT because her tonsils are very large and her adenoids according to him and she has terrrible snoring and sleep apnea at night. Of course he suggested surgery, which we did schedule but I am leary of this and I am wondering if there is anything else we can do to help her with these large tonsils and adnoids. He also said that she had fluid in her ear and a sinus infection and wanted to put her on an antibiotic, I was opposed to this since she has no symptoms, she did recently have swimmer's ear that was diagnosed over the phone and she was given antibiotic ear drops for this. I have scheduled an appt with her pedi, she is pretty conservative with treatments, I want her opinion on this. He seemed aggressive with surgery and antibotics. He also said she did not have to take the antiboitic, but that if she still had fluid in her ear at the time of surgery that he could lance her ear drum, I did not like the sound of that. She has never before had an ear infection. Any advice would be appreciated.

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