Alex has had a high fever on and off for the last week–last night it was 103.5. We went to the doctor’s office first thing this morning and he had an ear infection. Not a surprise, since he was screaming about his ear hurting five days ago. Although studies show that many ear infections go away on their own, a fever over 101.5 can mean a bacterial infection and a really high fever over several days suggests the body is trying to fight an illness and it isn’t succeeding. I didn’t mention the roasted onion “cure” to the pediatrician when he discovered the ear infection, instead I sort of played dumb. When we walked out of the office, my husband asked if I would remove the natural treatments for ear infection post I wrote. “No, but I will update it” I said. I was disappointed at having to resort to antibiotics, but I was also happy that I was only dealing with an ear infection and not something more serious. And although I tried to turn back the clock and fight his illness naturally, it’s kind of the best of both worlds to have access to an antibiotic when the natural treatments failed. I still think the unnatural pink color of the bubblegum flavored amoxicillan sums up everything that is wrong with our world. Why does medicine need to be dyed pink??? I don’t know why I love and believe in sponge baths, vitamin D, cod liver oil and a roasted onion so much more than antibiotics. I guess I want to think of my self as the healer and not the pink bubblegum syrup in my fridge.
The good news is when my husband asked about the fever, the doctor said we could give him Motrin. And I said “I am impressed that you didn’t say Tylenol.” And he said ” Sometimes I get it right.” It’s nice to see we are all learning from our mistakes.
Related posts:
Natural Ear Infection Treatments
Betsy - I enjoyed your post about trying natural methods. So sorry about the antibiotic thing; I absolutely hate giving it to my children too. Why is it pink!
We lived in a small German village for a few years where my children saw a German pedi. She tried her best to convince us to wait on vaccinations (how I wish we had listened to her!) – but that is a whole different post. Anyway, before giving antibiotics she would do a quick prick blood test to measure the level of bacteria in the blood. One time I had her nurse show me the machine; it is made in New Jersey. I wonder why they are not used in the US.
Anonymous - The best thing for Ear infection is the eardoc. it is non invasive and it treats the problem rather than the symptoms. check it out.
http://www.eardoc.info
Ali (Whole Life Nutrition) - You know what we do if our kids ever have an earache is to treat the ear with garlic/mullein olive oil ear drops. It has worked every time.
Also, have you had your child’s vit D level checked? I did mine through http://www.grassrootshealth.org and found out that I was at 43, much lower than I expected since I take 5000+ IU’s per day. Best to have levels above 45.
Thanks! -Ali
Charlotte Archer and Timothy Grant - I have loved your blog!! Lots of great info and recipes-thank-you, thank-you. I also tried the roasted onion for ears and it worked for pain, but he still got the infection just like your little one
Also, as a follow-up toyour question on the slideshow, I am trying to remember. Okay-so do you use Picasa?? I don’t think you have to, but it sure makes all kinds of photo editing/blogging much easier. Picasa is a free photo editing program from Google and way easier than something like photoshop.
In Picasa, I select the photos I want in the slide show and click on “upload”. This uploads my photos to Picasa Web Albums. Once the photos are done uploading a pop-up directs you to the album.
On the album page, there is a link on the righthand side that says “Embed”. Click on it, and choose “slideshow”. It gives you the link to copy and paste into your new post.
Let me know if I left out any steps. I also have a question for you. How did you get the banner on your blog? Is it as simple as inserting a picture into your header? I have not tried it yet.
I am also thinking about adding some gfcf recipes and wondering how you have other pages on your blog-does that make sense? so how do I have a page of recipes?
Pretty clueless here too, just slowly figuring it all out.
Lauren - It is still nice to now the natural remedies. Even if you have to resort to antibiotics at least you tried, and the onion helped get him through the night.
BTW I love the post on natural cleaning products. Someone once told me you can clean your entire kitchen with vinegar, water and baking soda.
Alicia - I’m Kassie’s sister. Our little 4-yr-old has had one ear infection and I can tell you what worked for us…an adjustment from my hubby (chiropractor) and warm garlic oil. Worked like magic!
Anonymous - Both of my sons had ear infections simultaneously. For each of them I used a product called Ear Clear, which has Mullein, Coptis Root, garlic and Arnica Oil. I added 3 drops of oregano oil to this mixture which has strong antibacterial/antiviral properties. It’s also supposed to help with pain. I warmed the oil and put 2 drops in each ear (even if only one ear hurt) and put in a small cotton ball. You can also put the oregano oil around the ear and inside outer ear. It’s not recommended to put directly in the ear without diluting because it can burn. I did this 2 times a day. In addition, I put 2 drops hydrogen peroxide in each ear in the morning and at night. This seemed to work very well when combined with vitamin c and zinc supplements. Raising their heads when sleeping also helps with drainage.
Neicole Teare - The best thing for ear infections is Tea teee oil also known as Maleleuca in oluve oil. It will sting for just a minute, then follow uo with a couple drops colloidal silver (which is antbacterial and antiviral….think back to royal people eating off silver and being resistant to plague. My company SABA, which manufactures ACE energy supplement, carries colloidal silver. Contact me via my facebook http://www.facebook.com/ACErepforlife