http://www.care2.com/greenliving/are-antibiotics-necessary-for-ear-infections.html
Are Antibiotics Necessary for Ear Infections?
Q: My child has had too many ear infections! I am anxious about using so many antibiotics. What do you suggest?
A: It’s very clear that over the last decade doctors have become too comfortable with writing prescriptions for antibiotics. Antibiotics are powerful, life-saving medications, but you don’t need them for every little sniffle.
Most ear infections are the result of viruses and will clear on their own–no antibiotics needed! Sometimes viral infections progress into bacterial infections and then antibiotics may be necessary but this is the exception rather than the rule.
It is worrisome that your child has the ear aches so frequently, and it might be worth your while to see a pediatric ear, nose, and throat specialist to see if there is any anatomical reason for this.
For routine management of discomfort during an earache, try a warm compress or following the recommended dosage guidelines for children’s strength acetaminophen.
Learn more:
Prevent Staph Infections
Immunity Boosting First Aid Kit
Do You Need Anti-Bacterial Soap?
Dr. Brent Ridge is the health expert for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. You can call and ask him a question live every Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 112 (1.866.675.6675). You can also follow along as he learns to grow his own food and raise goats on his farm in upstate New York by visiting www.beekman1802.com.
Got a health question for Dr. Brent? E-mail him at drbrent@care2.com.
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17 comments
add your comment »i tried the oil for my ear infection; didn't try the garlic 'cause i'm allergic to garlic.
BUT -- what did work was tea tree oil.
usually my ear infection lasts most of the winter and i spend most of that winter with a cotton ball in my ear [with oil on it].
3 weeks ago -- i used the tea tree oil; w/in 2 days the infection was gone and it hasn't returned!
great article!
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Breast milk is an amazing, magical elixir. While nursing my baby she got a severe ear infection. I put breast milk directly into her ear and she stopped fussing and the infection cleared up quickly. I used it for pink eye too. Wow! Powerful stuff.
I got the idea from the following book: "Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment" by Sandra Steingraber. (Steingraber used it for her daughter with success and she talked about the healing properties contained within breast milk)
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As an ENT specialist, I would not recommend any ear drops, before the ear is examined from someone specialist for a possible perforation.If the eardrum is perforated, then the oliveoil or garlicoil drops can cause a very severe otitis media!! If it is just an otitis externa, then drops based on vinegar or olive oil or garlic oil are ok if you want to go without the traditional medication! So before before any kind of drops, make sure that you don't have eardrum perforation!!
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thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner
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My right ear has been a little uncomfortable for a couple of days now... Curiously, I have been eating a bit more cheese than usual in the past few weeks. That's all gone by now, so I'll cut down the milk and try the garlic and olive oil, to see how that helps. I'm not in the mood for antibiotics!
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I threw away the antibiotics my pediatrician prescribed for my daughter for an ear infection that neither she or I knew she had! I used warmed mullein and garlic oil which I dropped into her ears. I did this for a few days in addition to oral tincture of echinacea for immune support and she never had another ear infection again. She's 14 now. I highly suggest natural alternatives first and then as a last resort, use the antibiotics. Doctors can tend to over-prescribe and that has lead to problems with bacterias becoming immune to the medicines. We've created 'super bacterias' that are much more difficult to treat. Let the body work first.
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My daughter had many ear infections too. We did many antibiotics before the choice became more antibiotics or surgery for tubes. The tubes usually only work 25% of the time, which was not a good enough record for us. We decided to look for another doctor who prefered a more natural approach before another alternative such as surgery. He suggested taking her off of dairy (including milk) which we did when we noticed that she was getting cold symptoms. If she did after that point have an ear infection, he suggested a few drops of garlic oil to help relieve the pain and allow her immmune system to begin fighting the infection vs the meds. I would make this oil myself with olive oil which had a clove of garlic in it. It worked like a charm and after treating a few more infections this way, she never had any more!
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As a child I had ear infections all the time; every time I got sick it was accompanied by a sore throat and an ear infection.
My doctor would always prescribe me antibiotics, but one day he told my mom to slightly warm up some "sweet oil" (which I later found out was just olive oil) and put a few drops in my ear.
I've used that every time since and it's helped a lot.
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The consumption of dairy products is a major contributor to ear infections. Garlic oil is a natural remedy for ear infections.
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I am not a Dr, but my son had constant ear infections for a whole year, shot after shot and we couldn't get rid of it. He was also failing hearing tests. I took him swimming every single day in a chlorinated pool and after a month, they went away. Maybe it had something to do with the chlorine, and the constant washing out of his ears. He was jumping off of the diving board!
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