Mystery Diagnosis: Oh, unknowable eustachian tubes!

Today I took the Li’l Miss for her follow-up appointment to see if her THIRD ear infection in as many months had cleared up. It had.

But clearly we have a problem on our hands. A problem that does not come as a complete surprise because my husband was plagued with such things as a child himself, but a problem nonetheless.

Now, partly urged by my babysitter who is the type, as I’ve mentioned before, who just kinda knows everything about everything and whose hunches are always right, or at least on the right track, I have been diligently combing the interwebs the past few weeks seeking info on possible root causes of these ear infections that would be worth exploring further. For instance, did you know that ear infections can be a symptom of neck vertebrae that got out of whack during the birth process? Or that a sensitivity to dairy is, according to this article, “the number one contributor to childhood ear problems”?

I, for one, did not know and was totally fascinated to find out! And certainly intrigued by the milk possibility, given that the ear infections only started after we introduced milk at the one year point, and that my husband seems to vaguely recall a mild milk allergy from his childhood that might or might not have caused him to become congested.

Thus, I was looking forward to the Li’l Miss’s follow-up appointment today so that I could discuss such possibilities with the pediatrician and start to “get a handle” on this whole situation at long last. You know, we’d put our heads together and think through the possibilities, then pick the most likely culprit and come up with a plan for beating it.

Oh, but WHO WAS I KIDDING??

Here’s how the appointment went down instead: After noting how many ear infections the Li’l Miss had had and giving me a long lecture about eustachian tubes and how they work (without first asking me if I already knew anything about eustachian tubes), the doctor told me it was time to go to the ear, nose, and throat specialist and get ear tubes surgery so that “we just don’t have to worry about it anymore”. Oh, and of course gave me a patronizing explanation about what ear tubes are, again not bothering to find out if I had any prior knowledge and I guess assuming that the only important factor in whether I would want my child to have surgery or not was knowing what the surgery would accomplish, because she ended the lecture in the same way a telemarketer ends his/her pitch, “So we’ll just get you started with that payment protection plan with an automatic deduction from your bank account tomorrow, mkay?”

When I finally was allowed to get a word in edgewise (yes, all of the aforementioned info was told to me in one long breath–I had not said ONE WORD regarding my child’s health yet), I said, “But do you think there could be some underlying cause, like a dairy sensitivity or something?” And she said, I KID YOU NOT, “I don’t know why that would have anything to do with it.”

Uh…Google and its ten spazillion links on the subject might beg to differ with you.

And as I was telling my husband, it’s not like I have something against getting tubes for her, if that’s what is, indeed, going to prove to be the best course of action. But it would inspire a little more confidence in me if it seemed that my pediatrician had ANY knowledge WHATSOEVER of the various ROOT causes of ear infections and could, you know, guide me through a careful and thoughtful consideration of said causes. (Because I’m sorry, while yes, a blocked eustachian tube is the cause of the actual ear infection, the blockage itself could very well be a symptom of something else, COULD IT NOT? And if, say, my daughter DID have a sensitivity to dairy, mightn’t it be better to suss that out in case it’s causing other problems in her body that we can’t see yet, rather than just literally plowing through the problem with a synthetic tube and calling it a day?)

Whew. As you can see, I’m irritated. It’s been building up for a while. I encountered this same phenomenon with the practice early on when she wasn’t gaining enough weight and I was advised to introduce solids at 4 mos. (why? I don’t know. Solids don’t have as many calories as breastmilk. Dur.) instead of what I should have done and did do which was to go back to the lactation consultant and figure out if something was going on with my milk supply (and it was–overproduction). And so on and so forth.

In summation:

a) It’s clearly high time for us to move on to a new pediatrician. All the people in this practice are actually as nice as can be. But they don’t seem interested in or able to treat me like a true partner in my child’s health decisions, nor willing to think outside the box even the tiniest bit. Anyone have a holistic practitioner they like in Philadelphia who DOES take health insurance?

b) All advice regarding the relationship between dairy and ears and whether that is a worthwhile path to explore is welcome!!

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