Since writing this article, I can speak from personal experience about having an ear tube put in. I fought a middle ear infection for several months that lead to my ear drum rupturing, then needing to be re-ruptured by my ENT to drain the fluid accumulation. In the process, the infection traveled to my inner ear and aggravated my auditory nerve so that I lost all healing in that ear for about a month. That has since been resolved and I now have a tube in that ear to relieve the pressure. Although it sounds frightening to have your ear drum punctured for any reason, I can tell you that the relief from pain and pressure is worth the momentary discomfort. As an adult, my ENT put drops in my outer ear to numb the area, then inserted the tube in just about a minute. There was a small amount of pain but it was nothing compared to the pain I'd been living with from the recurring infections and fluid accumulation. My ear problems are exacerbated by chronic sinusitis that causes repeated swelling in my nasal tissues, and by smaller than normal eustachian tubes. I encourage anyone having these kinds of problems to talk to your doctor to see if ear tubes can help. Don't let the idea of having the tube put in prevent you from talking about this procedure which can potentially be very helpful.
Comment Reply
Since writing this article, I can speak from personal experience about having an ear tube put in. I fought a middle ear infection for several months that lead to my ear drum rupturing, then needing to be re-ruptured by my ENT to drain the fluid accumulation. In the process, the infection traveled to my inner ear and aggravated my auditory nerve so that I lost all healing in that ear for about a month. That has since been resolved and I now have a tube in that ear to relieve the pressure. Although it sounds frightening to have your ear drum punctured for any reason, I can tell you that the relief from pain and pressure is worth the momentary discomfort. As an adult, my ENT put drops in my outer ear to numb the area, then inserted the tube in just about a minute. There was a small amount of pain but it was nothing compared to the pain I'd been living with from the recurring infections and fluid accumulation. My ear problems are exacerbated by chronic sinusitis that causes repeated swelling in my nasal tissues, and by smaller than normal eustachian tubes. I encourage anyone having these kinds of problems to talk to your doctor to see if ear tubes can help. Don't let the idea of having the tube put in prevent you from talking about this procedure which can potentially be very helpful.
March 2, 2010 - 1:24pmThis Comment
Reply