How We Avoided Antibiotics – Escape From the Pink Stuff
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Fever, ear pain, waking in the middle of the night. What do you do?
Worry.
This past week, our youngest had a really rough time. Really rough.
He'd had a virus (it's been a really rough winter and early spring with viruses, hasn't it?) and seemed completely recovered. Then suddenly one night, out of nowhere, he started complaining that his ear hurt. He even started crying, then got a little more upset, and said, “I wish I were an animal — because then I wouldn't have to feel this.”
When we explained to him that even animals feel the pain he said, “Then I wish I were a brick.”
No kidding. It was funny and I turned my head and laughed, but I was aching inside wishing that I could have taken the pain away from him.
I tried one natural remedy, knowing that I couldn't do much else for him besides dose him with artificial color-laden pain reliever (I didn't give it to him) — and rocked him to sleep. He fell asleep fast and slept all the way through the night, so the pain must have subsided quickly. Thank God. (Otherwise, I would have given him the pain reliever while wishing I'd bought the dye-free kind :-(.)
The sight the next morning was pretty hideous–dried blood coated the inside of his ear and came down his earlobe a bit. His eardrum had ruptured.
I checked the internet, looking for answers….nothing much to do but wait for it to heal and get his physician to look at it.
Called the doctor. Left a message and waited for the return call.
But mom wants peace of mind that her baby is OK and isn't going to end up deaf.
My “baby” had a low grade fever that came and went. He was pretty wiped out. So I fought it, with the strength of a Mama Bear who was waiting for the doctor and knew that mostly earaches pass on their own without medications.
Why the fuss? We all know about the problem with over-prescribing antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. My mom, bless her heart, gave me enough antibiotics for the entire state of Michigan. And then some. That's a lot of why I now deal with the health issues that plague me. My kids have likely inherited my weaknesses, so I seek to strengthen their bodies as much as possible.
I contacted the natural medical practitioner that we are working with on our family's health. She recommended using a lot of two Chinese herb blends Yin Chiao and Coptis Purge Fire that apparently help the body deal with illness.
But they taste icky. Really icky. I tried to cover the taste with carob, stevia, and other sweeteners, but my little one cringed when he tasted it and could barely get it down. Ugh.
We fought the bug for 2 days. And it appeared that we had won.
Until the dreaded fever returned and spiked to 102.
Onto the doctor's office. And got — the script. The doctor said it was up to me what to do–and he was fine if I decided to see where things went in the next day or two.
So there we went–onto the grocery store pharmacy with a sick kid in tow and a 30 minute wait for something that I didn't even want. But it was Friday and you know what that means — There I would sit, vulnerable over the weekend to maybe have your kid's fever hit 103 and have no antibiotics. No thanks. Better to be safe than sorry.
Home. My son fell asleep sitting up on the sofa while looking at a book.
One long nap.
Some prayers and some worrying.
Tried the Chinese herb sludge again. No way was he taking that.
Mind racing—how can I help him without the meds? I tried one more thing: HOMEMADE SALINE WASH with a drop of colloidal silver and a drop of grapefruit seed extract.
Offensive stuff came out of his nostrils. Lots of it.
Next morning, same nose rinse. The same stuff came out. Very unpleasant–but to this mom's eyes, there was something beautiful about this yucky mess. (Amazing what bodily fluids we can handle when they are our child's, isn't it:-)?)
Fever — gone.
Mom — relieved.
Child — better.
Pink bottle — unopened.
One small victory for natural mothering.
Other health-related posts you might be interested in:
– Natural Autism Support – and the Best Therapy Ever
– Special Needs Children – a Sign from God
– How a Mercury Filling Almost Took My Son's Life
– Could You Have Heavy Metal Overload and Not Know It?
How Have You Successfully Avoided Antibiotics?
My NutriBiotic GSE lists only grapefruit seed extract under Supplement Facts, but under Ingredients it also lists 33% CITRICIDAL. I haven’t looked up what that contains (as it’s propriatary the info may be difficult to find). From Pat’s page I followed a link to a website that was heavy into the subject. Point of fact, I still use GSE… but as infrequently and sparingly as possible, and only when I can’t or don’t want to use whole food alternatives (I dislike the taste of using ACV to disinfect my biteguard every day and get inflamed gums if I don’t disinfect… interesting, however, that if I use more than one drop I get oral thrush! GSE is the “go to”for yeast, so go figure).
Here is something I just found on Citricidal. Link to Citricidal info. Too bad. I used to use ProSeed’s but I don’t think it is available any longer. I will see if there is another reputable brand. It doesn’t state that triclosan is in it. It just says that it is in some GSEs.
Interesting….looked up the GSE manufacturing process and I think I will use only in really severe cases to keep from having to use antibiotics. It looks like it DOES have synthetics in it…similar to hand sanitizer.
Still love the saline rinse idea with colloidal silver and the occasional drop of GSE.
Hope this link helps. It looks like its not necessarily triclosan that is in it but Benzethonium chloride? a very similar synthetic antimicrobial. The author refers to it being LIKE triclosan…not an expert on these synthetics….but know that its used in the food industry as a hard surface disinfectant. I would use with caution.
(Link deleted by Whole New Mom due to it not working anymore.)
This is all really hard to decipher, isn’t it?
I try to stay abreast, but there’s so much to know in a a positive sense and so much to be wary of in a negative sense. Plus, where there’s no big money to be made so much of the good info is anecdotal (not to mention pilloried by pseudo-science that might or might not be coming from the big money manufacturers). I plow through and pray I’m reading the right stuff… and that I’ll remember what the right stuff is and why I thought so, so I don’t have to figure it out twice. :/ I got to the info about preservatives in GSE via the Heal Thyself! Q&A Facebook page.
Hmmm..don’t they need to list triclosan on the label? They do w/ soap? I know Pat at Heal Thyself. If you can dig up the info, that would be great. No rush. Thanks and Happy New Year!
I was wondering if you put the saline rinse in his ear and it drained out his nose! Silly me. I love garlic for infections BUT I tried raw garlic poultices on the bottoms of my feet for upper respiratory infection secondary to viral infections (flu followed by cold after exposure to flea killing pesticide). They killed the bacterial infection, but it’s going to be a long time before the skin on my feet returns to normal. See my post under Remedies/Garlic/Summary at http://www.EarthClinic.com Also, NEVER use undiluted GSE on membranous (e.g., oral) tissue… learned that one the hard way (severe burns). The warning is on the bottle, but at 3am I missed it. Also, there’s a bit of controversy about whether the effective ingredients in GSE are actually the triclosan and other preservatives in it. Did you know… A slice of raw garlic wrapped in clean guaze and placed over an abscessed tooth will burn like crazy for a bit then stop the pain totally. And if instituted early enough there’s a small chance that repeated use will stop the infection. (I used powdered clove to prevent bad breath, but the clove becomes an irritant after a while.
Very interesting ideas, Kathryn! I don’t believe that there is triclosan in my GSE. In fact, I am sure that there isn’t, in fact. Garlic is great, but I have had some reactions to it. It’s a shame. Hope to see you around again!
I take coconut oil every day, 1 teaspoon, and have not had a cold or flue since I started in January; and usually I catch everything!
You need to read the book “Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye” by Dr. Ellie – can’t remember her last name! (She’s a dentist!) One of her theories is the bad bacteria in your mouth that causes tooth decay also can cause ear infections. Makes sense – the ear, nose, mouth & throat are all linked up. Sorbitol is the worst as it feeds the bad bacteria – it is in most every toothpaste & gum – lovely! A book worth reading – but after talking to my functional med. Dr., he advised no use of floride, as we are getting that from unknown sources all the time – like your canned veggies & reconstituted juices – anything they add water to may be floridated water – we don’t know. And he thinks the listerine is too harsh for our mouths, but great for sterilizing the toothbrush. So I am now using baking soda (Yes, YUK, but I’m getting used to it) to brush, pour Listerine out in a Tablespoon & swirl my toothbrush in it for 30 seconds, then pour it down over the handle (call me Mrs. Cheapskate, but I can’t afford half a bottle of listerine to soak my brush in everytime I brush!), rinse my mouth with Biotene & keep my Tbsp & toothbrush in a nice covered container I bought at Dollar Tree (comes with 6 brushes!) slightly cracked so it will dry between brushings. And I had a tender spot in my tooth which did in fact heal up and is now fine! I love Dr. Ellie! Worth reading!
Hi…I am wondering if you can fill in the blanks for me. (I am kinda new at this stuff, but am always trying to learn more about natural health) When you say that “the culprit came out after the nasal rinse” I am assuming you mean mucus that was stuck in his sinuses and caused the infection and blown drum right? (I laugh as I type this but just wanting to make sure I am understanding this right if I ever need this info for future use!)
I am a mom of a 9-month old boy and was able to chase away our first ear infection using the garlic oil treatment- but this is also good to know. Thanks for your very informative blog- I am learning lots!
Hi. Yes, that is what I meant. I guess I could have given more of the icky details. Of course, all situations are different. Other illnesses may not take the same path. It’s confusing to deal with sickness in yourself or in a child. Our situation was just that right after all that stuff came out of his nose he was better.
There are lots of other natural treatments to try (and we have tried a lot). If you are still breastfeeding, I have read that breastmilk is great for ear infections and other ailments as well.
Take care.
What kind of idiot doctor gives antibiotics if there is a viral problem? Or for an earache? I have a pretty mainstream doctor who VERY rarely gives antibiotics, I can only think of one situation where it was done and that eventually needed a specialist. (Skin infection. Staph but not MRSA but very resistant despite having a child that never took antibiotics.) And in the past most doctors I’ve had were pretty laid back when it came to antibiotics, my eldest is 15 and I can’t think of any that made me uncomfortable about that…but then I also go out of my way to find a doctor that is laid back. So hearing a doc that just hands ’em out like that is REALLY disturbing.
To be fair, my doctor was concerned because his eardrum had ruptured and my son was still dealing with a fever that came and went. I don’t know how he would have discerned if it was viral or bacterial. You are very fortunate to have so cautious of a doctor. We almost never go to see ours since we are using mainly an alternative practitioner and don’t really ever need to go.
Can I ask what made you think this was viral? Unfortunately when I was a child my doctor handed them out like crazy and I am now suffering for it.
My grandmother always said during a viral infection the temp will fluctuate. During a bacterial infection, it will remain consistent (relatively) until it the bacteria is gone. Somewhere along the way, an old timer of a doctor told my parents this as well. They always operated under this knowledge and let a viral issue solve itself through time and mostly natural treatments. If our fevers rose and stayed, they changed their methods. The only time my parents gave me antibiotics was when I had a chest infection that spiked my asthma and my fever was consistently 103. I’ve followed this advice on how to discern a viral infection or a bacterial one and things have always worked out.
Fascinating – thank you!!
After the past 5 days of wishing I could die from my sofa from some sinus/flu/fever virus, I broke down and went back to the doctor and came home with an antitbiotic. I’d like to think I’m on the tail end of it all and not take it. Now that I’ve read your posts (thanks to our founder’s post from Art Without Boundaries on my facebook page of your website) I’m thinking I’m going to bed with a garlic clove in my ear until I find the grape seed oil. I’d rub it on my chest, but I paint with people with Alzheimer’s and kids with autism and I’d hate for them to remember the experience by the teacher who smelled so bad! lol Thank you so much for this amazing site! Everyone is posting such helpful suggestions! Blessings to you all! So glad I found you!!!
Congrats. It always feels good to conquer the natural way. And now, not only did your child’s immune system not get torn down by ear infection, it is probably stronger for overcoming.
Our family has used therapeutic grade essential oils successfully for all of our health needs…no need for any over the counter meds and no antibiotics for the last 5 years.
When we feel something coming on and use the oils to “nip it in the bud”, it prevents it from going any further. There are anti-viral & antibiotic blends of oils that we take internally or rub on the bottoms of our kids’ feet (or our own!) every day or just when we need it. Wonderful aromas…clove oil, cinnamon oil, rosemary oil…
You are so right to want to boost up their systems…their lil’ bodies respond so well and just soak up the oils. The oils actually help the body to fight off the germs, and build it up to fight the next germ to come your way. Stomach aches, fevers, insomnia, injuries, muscle aches…the list goes on to all the oils have done for us. And we’ve smelled so good in the process! 🙂
We feel very blessed to be able to use these plant oils that God has created to take charge of our health naturally. Check out my website if you’d like to know more…I love to share what I’ve learned!
(Link deleted by Whole New Mom due to it not working anymore)
A neat fact: The reason the feet are an excellent place to apply essential oils is that there are 7,200 nerve endings in each foot, that correspond to organs in the body. A very effective way to get oils to the area of need.