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Ear Infections a Mother’s Nightmare; Natural Options

email: drsteve@nlcwellness.com

One of the most frightening and frustrating things parents will go through can be childhood ear infections. Often they appear suddenly, at night, without warning. The most common treatments include: antibiotics, fever medication, and tubes in the ears. ALL are HIGHLY questionable. Let’s begin with distinguishing between an INFECTION and INFLAMMATION—the difference being the presence of bacteria—inflammation simply means the ear has become inflamed (or the area around the ear), most of the time this has to do with the teething process, as teeth come in it will increase temperature, blood flow, and cause redness of the ear drum.

ANTIBIOTICS

Research shows that recovery time for children with ear infections is about the same for children whether medical intervention happened or nothing was done at all.

A study published in the September 13, 2006 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that "watchful waiting" is better than using antibiotics for the treatment of ear infections known as Acute Otitis Media (AOM).

In this study 283 children ages 6 months to 12 years seen in a hospital emergency department, with acute ear infections were divided into two groups. One group was treated only by the "wait-and-see prescription", known as the WASP group. The second group was known as the SP group which stood for "standard prescription".

The "wait-and-see prescription" group of children did get a prescription for antibiotics, but their parents were advised to wait and see for 48 hours before considering filling the prescription. These parents were asked not to fill the prescription they were given unless the child either is no better or is worse in 48 hours. The "standard prescription" group got a prescription for antibiotics and was not given any instructions to wait and see.

The results showed that 62% of the prescriptions in the WASP group were never filled. Conversely, about 90% of the children in the "standard prescription" group whose parents were not asked to wait and see wound up taking the antibiotics. Even more interesting is that the researchers found that, "There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the frequency of subsequent fever, otalgia (pain), or unscheduled visits for medical care." In essence the group that did not take antibiotics did just as good as the group that took the medication.

ANTIBIOTICS ARE NOT HARMLESS!!!

ASTHMA and ANTIBIOTICS. It has been noted for some time now that those taking antibiotics, especially in the first year of live have a higher chance of developing asthma. A study published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy found that children given antibiotics during the first year of life have an odds ratio of 4.05, which means the child is over four times more likely to develop asthma symptoms than the child who has never taken antibiotics. Wickens K, Pearce N, Crane J, Beasley R. Antibiotic use in early childhood and the development of asthma. Clin. Exp Allergy 1999;29: 766-771.

ANTPYRETICS (FEVER REDUCERS)

A Fever is Natural and Necessary—Fever is your body’s natural way to learn about and fight the bacteria/virus it is dealing with. A temperature of 2 degrees higher will increase a child’s immunoglobulins (crucial for an immune response) up to 4 times! Artificially lowering the temperature with drugs will abort this process. Please consult a professional on this issue! Drugs like Tylenol can have dangerous side effects in children as well! Tylenol is the number one cause of liver failure in children!

TUBES

Ok, let’s think about this logically for a minute—this is PURELY a symptomatic approach—poking a hole in the ear drum will do NOTHING to correct the underlying cause. In fact, it opens up a hole for bacteria to more easily enter the ear, increasing the chance of another infection. Let’s think about this for a minute. A tube in the ear is similar to a sliver in your finger—the body will innately try to rid itself of the scarring. This produces what is referred to as “liquid of rejection”—actually increasing fluid as the body tries to reject the tubes. Now they have come up with tubes with “barbs” attached so the body cannot push them out as easily—it’s like adding barbs to a sliver—NOT OK! The better the hooks, the more the scarring! The research on tubes is certainly lacking, and if anything, actually attests to their ineffectiveness!

Correct the Cause!

A promising study published in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics indicates that there is a strong correlation between chiropractic adjustments and the resolution of ear infections. 332 children with chronic ear infections participated in the study. Each child, ranging in age from 27 days to 5 years, was given a series of chiropractic adjustments. The results show that close to 80% of the children did not experience another ear infection within the six-month period following their initial visits.

HOW SO, YOU ASK? Chiropractic works to reduce nervous system interference to your body. Every aspect of how you live your life involves the Nervous System…your heart your lungs, your eustacian tubes, liver, spleen, including your IMMUNE SYSTEM. This interference can alter your child’s resistance to illness, and therefore their ability to fight off bacteria. That is often why some children get sick, and others don’t.

If the child has nerve interference causing spasm of the muscles around the tubes that allow fluid to drain from the ears, they cannot drain appropriately. Fluid builds, gets stagnant, and infection ensues. Correcting the real problem sure beats the scarring caused by tubes and the long term implications of antibiotics!