Ear Infections

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I heard its very common for people with autism and AS and PDD-NOS to have ear infections when they were babies. I had them myself so that also covinced me I am on the spectrum all right and it was just a coincidence I ended up the way I am.


Take the poll and respond in this thread. Did you have them all the time or sometimes or very little. Mine were all the time and I also had fevers.

I'm not sure about when I was a baby, you'd have to ask my mum.
But I did have one when I was about 8ish.
The doctor gave me banana flavoured medicine.

I don't see what that would have to do with being on the spectrum?

I don't know about when I was a baby, but I had a number of ear infections when I was a kid. I had always associated it with my father's smoking though; I've heard that kids who grow up around smokers tend to get more ear infections.
Honestly I've never heard of a link between AS and ear infections.

Same. I had them all the time and had spiking fevers that required my parents to run me to the hospital. I remember my mother walking me across a field to the neighbors because we were snowed in and my fever was so bad she had to take me to the hospital. They would put me in ice and alcohol baths.

I think they're common anyway. My NT brother had them until they pulled out his tonsils (2 ish) and I never had them. My husband had them, but associated them with abuse (got boxed really badly when he was a toddler) and just recently had a terrible one. The doctor said it was the worst he had ever seen. My son has never had one.
So, in my immediate family, 1 NT, 1 ASD yes and 2 ASD no.

Fortunately, I didn't have ear infections as a child, but I had two very nasty cases of "swimmer's ear" in 1997 and 2006.

I had chronic ear infections from age 4 months until 2 years.

The reason that ear infections may be very common in ASDs is a possible physical symptom of ear development. There is some evidence that the outer ear can have a particular shape and turning in ASDs, and this may also imply a different inner ear development. If the tubes are not perfectly stationed to allow drainage, liquid can build up and create infections.

Some of the physical outer ear symptoms are lower set ears and/or a 15 degree or more turning of the ears backward (i.e., away from a vertical positioning).

For those auties who have both allergies which create sinus drainage and who also have inner ear development that doesn't allow drainage, inner ear infections will be more common.

I had ear infections constantly until I got into middle school- at least one every few months. I still remember how incredibly painful they were. I also had strep throat a lot.

Apparently I had ear infections when I was a baby and a little kid which I didn't know until a few months ago. My mum says that might be the reason why I mispronounced some words incorrectly because I didn't hear them properly. I used to not be able to pronounce "th" and I would say "three" as "free". On my third birthday, I stood on a table at preschool and yelled, "I'm free!", much to the amusement of the teachers. I had to go to a speech class at school when I was eight. I do not know how often I had them. I will have to ask my mum.

I had many ear infections as a kid, but i don't remember having them as a baby and neither does my mom. By Age 10 i finally ended up in the hospital for a week and they had to put tubes in my ears to drain them. That was the most painful thing i've ever experienced.

I had many ear infections growing up...even in highschool/college, I remember crying from the horrible pain...My son also had numerous ear infections...

My take on autism/ear infections, etc? Although autism is primarily genetics, I do believe those same genes cause many people with autism to have deficient immune systems. With the deficient immune systems, many people seem to truly be allergic to cassein/milk, etc...however, they are hardly diagnosed with this, especially if it's just a sensitivity...and this allergy, although it might be mild, does cause mucus and fluid in your ears...thus leading to ear infections...

I apparently had frequent ear infections.

I had many ear infections and earaches as a child. My son who is diagnosed AS has only had one and by the time it hurt him enough to tell me about it, he had a 104 fever and the doctor said a triple ear infection. Whatever that means.

It is also supposed to be common for Dyspraxics to have frequent ear infections - similarly something to do with the angle of the eustachian tube. As Dyspraxia and Asperger's are so frequently co-morbid (and also overlap) this doesn't surprise me.

I had regular inner and middle ear infections as a kid, and now I have a permenant blocked feeling in my right eustachian tube, it gets infected every few months, I get sore throats on the right hand side, and the sinuses in the right side of my face are almost constantly blocked or inflamed!

Robin