Treating a Sudden-Onset Deafness from Otitis Media in an Elder Relative: A Personal Account

An elderly relative at home mentioned some time ago that her hearing had declined noticeably, with tinnitus and deafness. Because she lives far away, I could not tell what was causing the symptoms, so I told her to go to the ENT department of the local hospital for examination.

After a workup, the local hospital diagnosed otitis media. The local doctor prescribed a pile of medicines, both oral and topical, and after more than half a month of treatment the condition only worsened. The old lady was understandably anxious and irritable. The local doctor judged that the ear had become purulent and that routine oral and topical medicines were no longer working, and advised surgery.

I had assumed such a minor problem would be easy for the local hospital, so I had not taken the trouble to think up a solution myself. But when surgery was mentioned, I grew cautious. Many ENT operations leave sequelae; patients suffer greatly and may become entangled in disputes with the surgeon, which is why ENT is one of the departments with the most doctor-patient conflicts in hospitals.

I phoned home and asked in detail about the onset of her ear trouble, and learned it had come on suddenly, not gradually. I judged the most likely cause to be a sequela of a recent cold; earlier this year influenza A was circulating across the country, some people mildly and some more severely. I suspected she had not been careful, developed mild symptoms after catching flu A without telling me, toughed it out, and let it drag into otitis media.

That being so, I rejected the local doctor’s advice and declined surgery. I bought her two Chinese patent medicines: the first was Lianhua Qingwen Jiaonang (Lianhua Qingwen Capsules), the second Erlong Zuoci Wan. After two or three days on these, I phoned home and she told me the two medicines had brought clear improvement. Since they worked, I had her keep taking them until all symptoms cleared.

The reason I used Lianhua Qingwen Capsules is that for the whole range of symptoms caused by this round of flu A, I have treated them with Lianhua Qingwen Capsules paired with corresponding patent medicines, with over 90% effectiveness. So I judged Lianhua Qingwen would improve her otitis media; adding Erlong Zuoci Wan, a patent medicine specifically for ear disorders, was a way of treating both branch and root.

This is one of several similar episodes among my elderly relatives in recent years. Last year another elderly relative had hematuria and low-back pain; the local hospital again diagnosed something like nephritis and proposed a frightening treatment plan. I judged it need not be so complicated, bought Yaotongning Jiaonang and Paishi Keli for her, and her symptoms cleared quickly.

I used to rarely meddle in such miscellaneous ailments, but as the older generation in my family has gradually entered old age and developed a string of such problems, with poor results from local hospitals and treatment plans I find hard to accept, I have had to solve these problems for my relatives myself.

I wonder: is this because the quality of primary care has declined, or because something in the diagnostic process at grassroots clinics has gone wrong, that similar problems have arisen so frequently in recent years? It did not seem this serious a few years ago.

These are really minor problems, basically solvable without great effort. Why do they all end up requiring hospitalization or surgery, traumatic treatment? We face an explosion of medical disputes on one hand while sharply increasing the use of higher-risk treatment plans on the other—what is this for?