Glue ear and AS

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Hi,
My 8 yr old AS son saw the ear nurse today and has fluid behind both ear drums. Both ears were dead flat on the tymp reading. Does anyone else have problems with glue ear issues, and can you tell me how this affects you from an AS perspective, or describe how it is likely to be affecting my son? He is having behaviour issues at school at the moment, so I am just trying to get inside his head and work out to what extent the fluid in the ears will be affecting him. Any advice in clearing it would be helpful too. Thanks.

*cringe* Well, sometimes they poke holes in the tympanic membranes to drain the fluid, the thought of which just makes me shiver! I dunno. Sometimes they prescribe steroids to make the ear canals open. And/or they prescribe antibiotics, like they do for everything!

My little brother (also an Aspie, and not really little at 18 ) had glue ear when he was very small. It's hard to tell if it affected his behaviour, as he was a difficult child anyway. It contributed towards him not speaking until he was 3. He didn't have any problems with his ears once it was fixed.

I had glue ear as a child, and I never heard quite right (a lot of things were muffled, or were better heard out of one ear). I think it just added to the idea that I was not a good listener in school, but the most significant thing I remember is that my voice was loud - though whether from glue ear and not hearing myself as loud, or from AS and not being aware that that was "loud," I don't know.

It can mess with your sensory input. And when your sensory input gets messed with, you can't handle nearly as much... wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with behavior problems.

It will probably cause a temporary hearing loss, which could be a problem in school.

I never had a glue ear, but when I was eleven I had a ruptured ear drum and I was pretty deaf in that one ear until it healed. We don't know how long I had it for, because it was discovered when I was at the doctor for something else (which is *always* how my ear infections were discovered as a kid).

I had glue ear, but it went away when I gave up drinking milk and eating wheat.

Thanks for the feedback everyone - a lot of interesting points. I have definitely noticed more sensory issues and been perplexed re the cause. He says his ears have been like this for about a month. I wonder if it's more like three months, since that is when all the behavioural issues started. It would be nice if we could fix the ears, and see if the behaviour improves.

I had three myringotomies for the glue ear issue (maybe that's something to look into for your son if he's really having issues?), and for a long time it was believed that I had some permanent hearing loss (from the glue ear, not the surgeries). Now, though, it looks more like it's been CAPD all along than actual hearing loss.
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