glue ear

[Guest guest]

hello all,

just wanting to know if anyone has had experience of recurrent glue ear in their child. my son who is now above 7yrs old has had at 6yrs old a grommet insertion but there was no great positive impact on speech development. after this first surgery. he is still mainly non verbal but i am in two minds for a second surgery. does anyone know if repeat glue ear surgery is recommended and useful? also if there is anything else that works to releave glue ear that anyone knows about. thanks tahira

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I've been looking at this for my father recently as he has a blocked eustachian

tube. Otovent looks very good by all the accounts I've read and is just a

balloon that you place alternately in one nostril and blow up in order to open

up your tubes and let the mucus drain, search 'otovent' on youtube to see it in

action. Costs about £6 online from chemists and maybe takes 1-2 weeks using once

or twice a day.

You probably know of the valsalva manoeuvre - when you hold your nose and then

try to breathe out against this closed airway to make your ears-pop on planes

etc but there are other variations that apparently work better (some not very

translatable/explainable for kids though, I have to admit):

" One problem with the Valsalva manoeuvre is that it doesn't activate muscles

that open the eustachian tubes, so it may not work if the tubes are already

locked by a pressure differential. It's also easy to blow hard enough to damage

something. Instead of using the Valsalva next time, try one of these:

* The Toynbee Manoeuvre. With your nostrils pinched, swallow. Swallowing pulls

open your eustachian tubes while the movement of your tongue, with your nose

closed, compresses air against them.

* The Lowry Technique. A combination of Valsalva and Toynbee: While closing your

nostrils, blow and swallow at the same time.

* The Edmonds Technique. While tensing the soft palate (the soft tissue at the

back of the roof of your mouth) and throat muscles and pushing the jaw forward

and down, do a Valsalva manoeuvre.

* The Frenzel Manoeuvre. Close your nostrils, and close the back of your throat

as if straining to lift a weight. Then make the sound of the letter " K. " This

forces the back of your tongue upward, compressing air against the openings of

your eustachian tubes.

* Voluntary Tubal Opening. Tense the muscles of the soft palate and the throat

while pushing your jaw forward and down as if starting to yawn. These muscles

pull the eustachian tubes open. This requires a lot of practice, but some divers

can learn to control those muscles and hold their tubes open for continuous

equalization. "

>

> hello  all,

>              just  wanting to know if  anyone  has had  experience of

recurrent glue ear in their child. my son  who is  now  above  7yrs old has had

at  6yrs  old a  grommet  insertion but there  was  no great positive impact on 

speech development. after this first  surgery. he  is still mainly non verbal

but i  am in two minds for  a second  surgery. does  anyone  know  if  repeat

glue  ear  surgery is  recommended and  useful?  also  if  there is  anything  

else  that  works  to   releave   glue  ear  that  anyone  knows  about. thanks 

tahira

>