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Eustachian Tube Dysfunction/Balloon Dilation/AERA

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ChristinaGD
ChristinaGD

I have been suffering from severe ETD for about 7 years now. It's on and off but mainly on. At it's worst I have extreme pressure in my ears and if I am not concentrating on it my ears take on a mind of their own and they are constantly trying to pop themselves. I catch myself ... not sure how to explain it really ... flexing the canal attempting to "pop my ears" to relieve the pressure many many times from the second I wake up to the second I fall asleep. I do it so often unconciously that I give myself a headache and towards the end of the day, every single day, I have a headache, I am short with my husband and kids and am exhausted and just want to sleep. I am near tears writing this because I have had 2 grommet (ear tube) surgeries done (over $5000 total) to try and fix the issue and both surgeries failed just weeks after them being done. One was a temporary grommet insertion and the other one was a "permanent" one which meant larger holes in my ear drums and larger tubes with backing on them to stop them from coming out and they had ripped through my ear drum just 15 days after the surgery. I live in Australia and the Balloon Dilation surgery was not approved here until last year I just found out. I am so happy about this as I was under the impression I would have to, somehow, save up enough money to travel to the US to get the surgery done.

My question: Has anyone had this Dilation Surgery done? I think it's also called AERA Eustachian Tube Balloon Dilation. Has it worked for you? Did you have similar symptoms to myself? And...wondering if the surgeon who put me through 2 Grommet surgeries was just trying to get money out of me possibly? I have never had a scan of my ears by request of my doctor. He just looked in them and said "grommets" after a couple minutes. Then "oh they fell out, okay let's put more in."

Thank you all.

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1 Reply

  • chantel70763
    chantel70763 ChristinaGD

    Posted

    I have a 7 year old daughter who has dealt with this issue since birth. Hers are the same. We have gone through 12 ear tubes, 2 grommets, 10 T tubes. I don’t have any words of hope, just let you know you aren’t alone. I often have to remember when she is angry that she has known nothing but pain in her ear. Unfortunately the ballon isn’t approved for under the age of 21 in the US. And the 6 Ents we have been through just keep putting tubes in which come out within 3 months and when she doesn’t have tubes her ear drums rupture. 
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