Ear update

Just thought I would write about the latest update with Ella's ears if anyone's interested!

I took Ella to the chiropractor (a christian guy who was recommended to me by a friend) on Wednesday. I felt comfortable with him the moment I met him! And Ella actually was really comfortable with him which is very unusual for her-especially lately. We talked for quite awhile about her history with ear infections, how antibiotics weren't working, and her visit with the ENT. Her ENT appt was last week and I was not impressed with the dr. at all. I left feeling flustered and confused. He, of course, recommended that she get tubes put in. That recommendation was based off the fact that she had fluid in her ears and the pressure test came back very high. Thankfully, her hearing test came back totally normal. I initially told the dr. I'd go ahead and schedule the tubes appt. But after watching the video and talking to the nurse, I started feeling very uneasy. I said I'd like to think about it before making the final decision. I did ask the ENT dr. about chiropractic treatment for ear infections. He was immediately very defensive and made me feel like an idiot for even asking about it!

So...anyways, back to the chiropractor appt. The reason I went in the first place was just so that I would know I'd researched every option before letting them poke holes in my baby's ears! Dr. Zimmer (the chiropractor), felt Ella's neck to make sure nothing was "locked" that was preventing the fluid from draining. Her neck was fine. Now-I didn't quite understand everything he told me but it went something like this. Her first ear infection was a result of switching her from breastfeeding to regular milk. I'd already concluded this myself about 6 weeks ago. I'd seen a direct correlation between dairy and her ears getting infected. She was on dairy for most of the time that she had her ear infections because I just didn't realize that was the problem. Switching her to soy got rid of the ear infection but the fluid in her ears were still there. According to Dr. Zimmer, the number of antibiotics she was on (5 or 6, I forget) contributed to the fluid in her ears because (this is where it gets fuzzy for me) her immune and digestive systems were harmed from all the anitbiotics. He explained several times how the immune system being down caused the fluid but I just wasn't getting it. But I trust him on that. The fluid in the ears causes the pressure. Once the fluid leaves, the pressure leaves also. His recommendation is to hit her hard with probiotics and immune boosters. I have a regimen to follow for the next 2 weeks. He said after 2 weeks to take her to my pediatrician for them to check the fluid in her ears. He thinks it will be either gone or greatly reduced. He said to then just periodically schedule ear checks to make sure that fluid is gone. She also needs to be taken off all dairy. There is a chance that she will still need tubes. But he said that this has proven to be very successful and he's done this with lots of kids, including his own.

So, if you're still reading...sorry that was long and boring! But, hopefully it might be a help to someone else whose child is struggling with ear infections! I'm definitely not saying tubes are wrong to get, but for us, this was just what I felt was best for Ella.

I'll keep everyone posted on whether or not this works! Oh, and the kicker was that Dr. Zimmer didn't even end up charging us for our appt. which was so nice!