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ABOUT CONSTITUTIONAL MEDICINE
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All the world's traditions of herbal medicine evolved ways of quickly dealing with the crisis of an ear infection because, whatever the age of the person, and whenever it happens, they are a truly horrible problem for anyone to experience. What follows describes just a few of those ways to achieve some immediate relief and then goes into more detail on how to prevent them happening in the first place. Most of what's written in this article is entirely suitable for a person to work through themselves but, especially if things are quite bad, or you just know that you need further help, then there may be a great deal of benefit to you to go to whatever lengths necessary to find a good herbalist or truly holistic practitioner to guide you on to a safe and strong treatment program. There's a short write-up to suggest how you might go about finding such a person here
Firstly, start preparing the 'earbiotic' as described in detail just below. Then, whilst it is getting ready to use, there are several other actions you can try right now to give some relief: 1) Cut an onion in half, then putting the flat side on the bottom, place the bottom half in a bowl of very hot water for about one minute. Take the now-hot half onion in a cloth and hold directly over the ear. The combination of heat and the mucus relieving volatile oils will give some instant relief. After the onion treatment, if the child still wants it, there can be continued relief from pain and pressure by applying the penetrating warmth of a heated wheat bag or a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel to the affected ear. Let the child rest their head on the heat source for as long as they want to. The following treatment has been seen to be highly effective for a great many children with ear infections. Adults can use it just as well too. The parents who try this approach nearly always say that it worked faster and better for their child than any amount of antibiotics they've taken in the past.
Ear infections, along with other childhood immune related health problems such as asthma and eczema, have greatly increased in the last generation and most cases that come into the clinic are children who suffer from them repeatedly. These children usually have visibly depressed immune systems, meaning a drop of blood taken from their finger and viewed at high magnification through a microscope shows a poor quantity and quality of the health of their white blood cells. Other typical signs of immune trouble include such things as delayed wound healing, high levels of mucus congestion in the nose and sinuses and being more prone to head colds and chest infections than other children. The 'garlic earbiotic' is a great starting point for such cases but it should only be thought of as the first step. You must also take further action to improve overall immunity and where to start is to consider what might be causing low immune health the problem in the first place...
Any history of asthma or eczema, either in the child or their direct relatives, is a strong indicator to explore the possibility of food allergy or intolerance. Other signs that might be suggesting an underlying allergy/intolerance include a history of sore stomachs, disturbed bowel function, or 'allergic shiners' i.e. dark rings under the eyes. Food allergy and intolerance is an important subject that needs to be approached with care, more here
Signs that might suggest deficiencies could be a key issue include a failure to grow and thrive, having a poor appetite, or problems with the health and growth of the skin and nails. Good food must be available for a child to grow well and be healthy. If needed, read an overview on the important subject of nutrition here If a child has good food available to them but is just not eating well then consider using a course of one of the great digestive tonics Dandelion root or Gentian. Since ancient times, one of the key uses for this herbs has been for children who are failing to thrive and need to improve their appetites, more on Dandelion root here and Gentian here
It is not always easy, or even possible, to remove such stresses but what we can do is nourish and support the immune system with some key herbs. The use of a herbal immune tonic for 2 or 3 months has often been seen to be a life-changing intervention for a child who was previously suffering from recurrent ear-infections, more about steps to take to support immunity here
A perforated ear-drum is a serious problem with a high risk of serious infection. What can work exceptionally well to aid healing and prevent infection is a variation on the garlic theme above whereby you select a clove that feels like it will be about the right size to fit, peel it down to that thin, slightly slimy layer that surrounds the garlic corn, then insert the whole thing into the ear so that it covers the perforation. You then put a little cotton wool that has been moistened in alcohol, any strong spirit will do, to make a plug to keep it there. You can think of this as being like an antiseptic blockade that will prevent any infection getting into the area while the body heals its wound. It is safe to leave the garlic clove inside the ear for up to 2 days, or 48 hours, before removing it, which can easily be done with a pair of tweezers. Depending on the size of the perforation, just one application may be enough, but if it has not fully healed over then replace it with a fresh clove and repeat the process. There will be some 'goo' coming out of the ear from both the healing process and some reaction to the garlic being there but, so long as there is not real concern that things are getting worse rather than better, which you would certainly know because the pain and pressure would increase rather than decrease, then just leave the garlic there so as not to interrupt the healing process and to help the hole heal over. If the direct garlic treatment is too strong and is causing some irritation and soreness you may still want to try the garlic infused oil as described above but in either case you should keep some cotton wool in the ear to help provide a kind of 'bandage'. Swimmer's ear is a common problem amongst surfers and people who spend a lot of time in the ocean. Especially in the early stages, it has been seen to respond well to a tincture of Echinacea. Simply put between 4-8 drops of the tincture into the ear each time after being in the ocean. The ethanol in the tincture helps to dry out the damp congestion and the action of the Echinacea itself helps to cleanse and prevent the build-up of unwanted tissues.
Finally, you might benefit from learning about your constitution to know what kind of foods, herbs, exercises etc. will work especially well for your health in general. Constitutional health is an old and fascinating way of understanding our differences. There's a brief introduction here and a more detailed section on working out which constitution you are here.
Please understand that I cannot personally advise you without seeing you in my clinic. |
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© 2011 R.J.Whelan Ltd