Earache

I'm sure most of us have had them and we all know they are NOT fun! If you are a mother you know that kids only get them late at night! ;) If you were like I was you probably think that the only thing you can do for an earache is to go to the doctor and get an antibiotic. In fact when my oldest child was a baby we were in the doctor's office many times and I was told she had a ear infection. After repeated visits and stronger antibiotics each time. I remember hearing the word tubes! I was not impressed to say the least I felt like there had to be other answers. At the time I remember praying for help and knowing tubes in her ears were a LAST resort! Around that time my mother was studying about health and had learned a lot of interesting things about cow's milk and the role it can play in children's health. Also my pediatrician recommended giving her a decongestant every time we traveled. It actually seemed to help but deep down I knew It was just treating symptoms and I didn't like a lot of the ingredients in the decongestant. I still had lots to learn about ingredients but I knew I did not like artificial colors of ANY kind. My mom had figured that one out when my younger brother was just a kid! Anyway to not bore you with too many details and to make a long story short. A few years later I read this book!

I highly recommend this book ESPECIALLY to young parents! It has so much great info and it was written by a experienced pediatrician who was not afraid to challenge the status quo. I learned so much from this book and changed my thinking on so many things that I had just accepted as "the only way!" I still wonder why we put so much trust in a system that will go broke if they help us to truly be well. But I won't go off on that it's just earaches I want to focus on this time! Before I go on and tell you what I would do for an earache I want to quote from Dr. Mendelsonhn's book he has a whole chapter in it called "Earaches: Painful, Yes; Dangerous, Rarely!" Here are just a couple of highlights from that chapter.

"Allergies are also a frequent component in the production of ear infection. They may predispose your child to bacterial infection. The most common culprit is cow's milk, in its natural form or as found in infant formula. It causes a swelling of the mucous membranes, which interferes with the drainage of secretions through the eustachian tube. Eventually infection results because of the accumulated secretions."

"A series of controlled studies have revealed that the use of antibiotics for treatment of ear infections makes no difference in terms of the important outcomes--hearing loss, spread of infection, or mastoiditis. Their use may slightly shorten the duration of pain and infection, but the trade-off is that the antibiotics also reduce the body's natural immune response. Consequently, in order to slightly reduce the duration of the infection, you increase the possibility that the child will have new infections every four to six weeks."

Interesting stuff isn't it. But I like to have my cake and eat it too. I don't want to use the antibiotics and reduce the body's natural immune response, but I also want to shorten the duration of pain and infection. So I turned to herbs. With the study of herbs that I have done this is what I have used for earaches with great success. Before I found that you can buy an oil combination with all three herbs I used to put a drop of each in the ears. I now have a favorite E-3 ear oil that is made in my area. I love it! If you are really ambitious you can make your own oils. But I won't go into how to do that right now.

Ear Oil

it is simply Garlic oil

Garlic will kill infection if there is any

Mullein oil

Mullein helps loosen and break up the congestion

and Lobelia tincture

(usually comes in a vinegar or alcohol base)

Lobelia will help with the pain

You can usually find ear oils at a health food store. I would just look at be sure it has those three ingredients usually in a base of pure olive oil. Or you can find each individual product and mix them on your own or put a drop of each in each ear. With earaches I always put the oil in both ears even if only one is hurting.

Just a side note: I do not remember the last ear infection we had around here. It's been AT LEAST 6 years! I blame that on our giving up cow's milk. There have been a couple of times where one of my kids will wake up and say their ear hurts usually I will just rub some of the ear oil behind each ear and down the neck and if they want I will put a drop in each ear. But for the most part in our family earaches are a thing of the past and I couldn't be happier about it!