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The presence of viruses is
another important reason not to fall back on antibiotics to treat your
child's ear infections, as is the fact that they can harm their permanent
teeth. Overprescribing
antibiotics -- especially in the presence of a virus, on which they
will have no effect at all -- doesn't do your child, or his or her ears,
any good.
I'm certainly not opposed to their
use in every circumstance, just to the reliance on them in situations where
they are obviously of little or no use. In my experience that is well over
95 percent of the time.
Some simple dietary methods to remedy
ear infections: Switch your child from pasteurized milk to raw
milk as well as eliminate processed sugars and wheat products from his
or her diet. And, for some quick relief late at night, try the effective
methods described in an article written by Dr. Colleen
Huber last year.
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like the readers below.
The most popular post was one
encouraging the use of chiropractic treatment for ear infections. I would
strongly affirm this modality as it is quite common for structural issues
to be a significant factor for recurrent infections. A nutrionist wrote the
following:
"One
remedy that was very effective for my children was chiropractic
adjustments. Simple and painless adjustments would open up the eustachian
tubes and allow the fluid that was clogging up in the middle ear to drain
freely and reduce the risk of infection. It a great treatment! I highly
recommend you give it a try next time before you put your child on another
round of antibiotics."
Dr. Fred Rossi, a chiropractor
from Stirling, New Jersey, wrote:
"I've
helped hundreds of children with ear infections by assuring their cervical
vertebra were properly aligned; this allows for the muscles to relax and
the lymphatic system to drain the fluid in the ears. It also
removes interference from the nervous system to allow optimal function of
the immune system.
My most
difficult cases have been when there have been multiple doses of
antibiotics taken by the child. The Journal of American Medical
Association published an article on how amoxicillin caused more
ear infections four to six weeks after the antibiotic was taken.
It is akin to calling the fire department to put out a campfire then
they spray the surrounding woods instead of the fire. With gentle
chiropractic adjustments the child can heal on their own, as
nature intended."
One reader offered an interesting
natural remedy. I personally have found breast milk dropped into the ear to
be very useful. The only challenge is to find a fresh source of breast
milk.
"Our
10-year-old had several earaches as a young baby and child -- often
after a cold. We never used pharmaceutical antibiotics, instead
we used a tiny drop of herbal eardrop oil to soothe the ear. We just put a
wee drop in each ear then soaked up excess with cotton or tissue.
The
pesticide-herbicide free garlic, Comfrey, St. Johns Wort and
olive oil preparation that we used was from St. Francis Organic Herb
Farm in Ontario, Canada. Their ear oil seemed the least odorous and most
effective for us. In every case of earache within 15 minutes the ear
ache pain cleared up completely and within the hour the ear
problems were gone."
"I
have used a mixture of 10 drops Lavender oil and 30 drops
olive oil. Warm to body temp. Put 5 drops in ear canal while child is lying
down so it can drip down. It tickles them and might feel strange but it
works! If you use at night, the pain is gone in the morning!"
Another reader warns about the
problems of antibiotics with a sad personal story that unfortunately is all
too common:
"Not
only that but some of the antibiotics have extremely dangerous side
effects. My sister-in-law just died from an allergic reaction to
levaquin two weeks ago. It caused her to slip into a coma from the toxicity
of the drug to the liver which spread to her brain; another tasty side
effect of the drug is multi system organ failure which also happened to
her.
All of
these reactions can come from just one dose of the drug. Its actually on
the good old fda's watch list (ha ha) so you know it has to be pretty
bad."
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