Hey y'all!
My little five year old granddaughter has an earache! My daughter asked for recommendations on how to heal an earache naturally. Several people chimed in with their thoughts. I thought my readers might appreciate knowing how to heal an earache naturally, since it is a pretty common experience, especially among children.
My advice to my daughter was simple. I told her to put anywhere from a few drops to a full eyedropper of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in my granddaughter's ear, and then plug the ear up with some cotton. I suggested my daughter give my granddaughter "something for the pain," and place a warm heating pad over her ear while she was lying down. Put her on a "clean" diet and give her a lot of orange juice in order to help break up the mucous build-up. I also told my daughter to check my granddaughter's temperature. If it went up above 99 degrees Farenheit (37.2 degrees Celcius), she would be running a low grade fever, indicative of a full-blown ear infection-
acute otitis media. At that point, my daughter would need to decide if she would take my granddaughter to a doctor or not. A friend of mine in nursing school said to use an "anti-inflammatory" pain reliever such as Motrin. Earaches are no fun.
The reason I told my daughter to use hydrogen peroxide was because this is a very common household item, and I was almost positive she had some at her house. However, for the future, this is what I would tell anyone who wanted to heal an earache naturally.
First, I highly recommend that everyone get into the habit of taking echinacea tincture every day. Echinacea is the herbalist's number one go-to herb for boosting the immune system. Here is an article I wrote for Natural News a year ago on the
effectiveness of echinacea against radiation. Echinacea is that good. How much echinacea is enough? It really depends on body size. Top herbalists say to take 1-2 eyedroppers of echinacea tincture two or three times a day for an adult maintenance dose. For a child, we would want to cut that amount in half or a quarter, depending on the age and size of the child. If someone is fighting an infection, of course we would increase that. Just so you know, most herbal tinctures taste terrible. You will want to mix them with unsweetened fruit juice in order for a child to take them. I will write a post next week on the powers of echinacea and teach you how to make your own very potent echinacea tincture. I promise, you will love not getting every cold or sniffle that comes along.
Next, there are two herbal products that have a host of anecdotal evidence (to the point of being empirical evidence) suggesting their use for earaches. One is garlic oil, and the other is an herbal formula called B & B.
Garlic is very well documented scientifically to effectively heal bacterial and fungal infections as well as many other medical issues. My favorite brand of garlic oil is from
Dr. John R. Christopher, who was perhaps the greatest master herbalist of the twentieth century. The garlic kills any infection in the ear. You can get this garlic oil on Amazon.com (in full disclosure, I am an Amazon.com affiliate):
Herbs First.com also sells
Dr. Christopher's Garlic Oil, if you would rather purchase it from some place other than Amazon.
You can put a decent sized clove of garlic in the ear canal and put a piece of tape over it to hold it in place, but it has been my experience that the heat from the
allicin (the chemical that gives garlic its distinctive odor) may be too intense for someone with an earache.
Simply putting about four drops of garlic oil in the ear at night, stuffing the ear with a piece of cotton (from a vitamin bottle, or use the cotton balls women use to take off eye makeup), and covering the ear with either a heating pad, a warm hand towel, or a clean sock filled with rice or oats and heated in the microwave should start the healing process. Do this for a week, then make a solution of half apple cider vinegar and half warm water to rinse the ear out. Use an ear syringe like this (be gentle, please):
Ear syringe for rinsing out the ear after an earache- image by
Quick Medical
Another herbal formula I have been pretty impressed with is Dr. Christopher's Ear and Nerve Formula, which is nicknamed "B & B." This formula contains blue and black cohosh, blue vervain, skullcap, and lobelia in a grain alcohol menstrum (suspension). For an earache, you would put four drops of garlic oil followed by four drops of B & B at night for a week, followed by the apple cider vinegar and water rinse at the end of the week. Each night, you will place a warmed towel or heating pad over the ear for soothing comfort.
Personally, I cannot recommend B & B for any pregnant woman because of the blue and black cohosh. These herbs can cause uterine contractions.
HUGE DISCLAIMER: These products have *not* been tested or approved by the FDA. The information I have provided here and anywhere else on this site is for education purposes only. I do my best to provide accurate, scientifically documented information. However, it is not intended to replace or substitute for advice from a knowledgeable and professional health care provider. Especially when dealing with children, please seek the advice of a physician or other trusted health care provider and do your own research before taking any action. Just because something may work for me does not in any way mean it may work for you. We are all different, so please take responsibility for your own health and assume your own risk.
I want to say something else. Check your child's throat if he or she is complaining of an earache. One of my sons complained of an earache and a sore throat for a week. It hurt so bad he could not sleep. I finally took him to the doctor. He did not have an ear infection as I suspected, but instead had strep throat! I found out that with strep, the pain is referred to the ears.
P.S.: I am making steady progress on my Superfood ebook. I think y'all will really like it!
P.P.S: I continue to be amazed at all of the readers I have from all over the world! Today I send special greetings and love to my Canadian and Russian readers! I am so honored to have you!
