DS may have perfororate eardrum! (might be kind of gross for some)

[becka]

Last night when I came home from the doctor (who confirmed my own severe ear infection - blah ) I noticed that DS had blood coming out of his right ear!!! We called the doctor's office last night and they said it was likely that he perforated his eardrum and that he would probably feel better now and that it was not medically necessary to bring him in to the office until this morning. So I am staying home and calling the office at 8 when they open.

Has anyone had any experience with this? What can we expect?

I feel really bad that we didn't know he had an ear infection. We took him to the doctor last Friday and they said he had some fluid but no infection. Even before Friday and through this week he has had a ton of earwax coming out of his ears but no one seemed too concerned about it. I even asked the doctor about it myself not 30 minutes before I came home yesterday. The only time he seemed in pain was about 30 minutes or so before the blood started when he was crying pretty badly and being held by DH right before I got home. I just feel so bad for letting it get this far. I had been trying to watch him so closely. I really feel like I let him down here.

 

[Pam]

Awwww.... Becka..... I hope Nathan feels better soon.

Don't be hard on yourself - you are a great MOm - and the Drs. didn't even know.

I hope you feel better soon, too!

 

[browneyes]

Poor little guy. My ds had frequent ear infections when he was a baby (he had tubes put in 6 1/2 years ago too). I hope Nathan gets to feeling better. With my ds, when an infection set in, or the couple of times when he had a ruptured eardrum, the pain just suddenly came upon him without warning.

 

[JESW]

Poor Nathan! Yes, my DS had this when he was 6 or 7...scared the you-know-what out of DH & I when he came in our room with blood coming out of his ear!!! We called the dr. and they said that was not unusual, but we didn't know that! The blood dried and then it caked in his ear. After a day or so I pulled it out with tweezers. (Just the stuff that was outside the ear - I did not go in his ear with tweezers) Dr. said to be careful because that stuff is infectious (sp?). I could have washed his ear with warm water and drained it out, but I think that would have been messier.

Please don't beat yourself up over it. With little ones it's so hard to tell what's actually wrong. My DD just turned 5 and we have been sick since before Christmas. She had a cough that wouldn't go away but I didn't think much of it. Well, I finally took her to the dr. and she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia! I felt like such an idiot because I didn't know, but other than the little cough there were really no signs.

I hope all will be fine with Nathan!

Jill

 

[poohlover]

my now 15 yr old DD has done this several times. Most times we never knew she had an infection until it came to a TERRIBLE ear ache, about an hour later she would "leak" some fluid & possibly some blood from her ear.

I am an RN, so I figured what had happened the first time. But still called the pedi to check. The first time she was about 6 yrs old. She then did this about once a year for 4 more times. Sudden BAD earache with no warning.

After the ear drum perforates the pressure lets down thus the "ache" is gone. Each time with a course of antibiotics she did fine.

She hasn't done in in about 5 years, but she does worry when she gets an earache now! Your son should do fine, but be advised that it may happen again.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Now don't you beat up on yourself there, Becka, you always do great 'mommying'. Kids always seem to have ear problems of one sort or another, goes with the territory I think. Just do your followup as you are, and give it a bit of time, you both will be as good as new soon.

And nice to see you back.

Dan

 

[DoeWDW]

Becka, this happened to my son several times. In one instance, DS and DH and I KNEW the eardrum was headed for a perforation and we took DS to the doctor right away, thinking that they would just insert a small needle and drain off the fluid so the eardrum wouldn't burst on it's own.

The doctor said they don't do that anymore, sent us home with pain meds and instructions to let DS play video games to take his mind off the pain until the eardrum burst on it's own!!

Everything turned out fine in the end. I just wanted you to know that even if you HAD seen it coming, there's a good chance the doctor wouldn't have done anything about it anyway. Hope your DS is feeling all better soon!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Because the perforation will let the fluid drain, the pain does decrease. The perforation in itself acts like a mini "tube" in allowing the middle ear to remain fluid free.

Most perforations will heal just fine on their own over time, but the Dr. will want to keep an eye on it.

My son has had a non-healing perforation for 5 or 6 years now. They did an operation when he was 5 where they took some skin from behind his ear and patched the eardrum. That operation failed....the the eardrum just became dry and brittle and still wouldn't vibrate correctly. They are waiting until he is a bit older to try again.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Becka, this happened to my 21 month old when he was 8 months old. I didn't know he had an ear infection and we were flying from Phoenix to Raleigh. He had been fussy the night before but I was going to take him to our ped. when we got home. His eardrum ruptured on the plane. He never cried! White, milky fluid came out of his ear.

I gave him more Tylenol and took him to the doctor the next morning. She said that it probably made him feel much better once it ruptured. I felt guilty about flying and she said that was okay and not to worry. She checked his ear at his 9 months check up and she said it was healing nicely.

Since then he has had tubes put in his ears and an adenoidectomy.

I hope Nathan has a speedy recovery. I sending you some Pixie Dust too!

Lori

 

[Jenn]

My 2 year old daughter has had this happen twice. Both times she was getting over a cold and had been to the doctor and I was told her ears were fine. Then, she had a rough night sleeping and the next day had pus and blood oozing from her ear. We were told both times that once it perforates, it actually decreases the pain, so their sleeping, eating, and general mood should improve. Both times they put her on Amoxicillian to help it fully clear up.

Don't worry! This is one of those "looks worse than it is" type of things.

 

[KristiKelly]

I think this happened to 6 y/o DS last night or today. Monday he woke up crying with his ear hurting, he's usually pretty tough so I knew it must be bad. I took him to the Dr., Yes, he has a pretty bad ear infection. Last night it hurt really bad, fever of 102 and seemed very lathargic (he's never seemed like this w/ an ear infectin); this morning he was all better - after only one dose of amoxycillin. Earlier today he said the inside of his ear felt crusty (no blood though), I was wondering if that's what happened to him. He had tubes when he was 22 mo., but have since fallen out, I wonder if they will put them in older kids just to keep them from going through this kind of pain?

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Becka he is so cute! I don't know anything about kid's ear problems, but I've had swimmers ear before and it didn't last very long.

Hope Nathan gets well soon!

 

[Pooh93]

This happened to dd when she was about 2. No fever, no fussing, just all of a sudden alot of gross stuff coming out of her ear! Took her to the dr and was told the same thing that it probably felt better.

She just turned 6 and the same thing happened right after Christmas. Dr said she had a hole in her eardrum. She was on augmenten for 10 days and we put some drops in her ears to help it heal.