What Do You Do About Ear Infections?

By Tim Wood D.C.

The “Inside Out” Approach to Health

I often discuss the benefit of looking constantly at your health and lifestyle choices from an “Inside Out” perspective. Improving your health requires improving how things function on the inside, rather than “outside in” fixes. The theory sounds great and easy but I realize that in a crisis most people don’t know how to apply that Inside Out philosophy into daily life. So often there is an urgent health issue and the “theory” gets thrown out the window so that a child will feel better as quick as possible. It is important to understand that the mainstream approach in media and health care is not “Inside Out” and primarily treats symptoms so you feel better even if it makes you less well. Most people assume this to mean research supports that approach. Science actually supports the “Inside Out” approach to correcting problems and improving function and ear infections are a classic example. Helping your body heal from the Inside Out is not just a theory!

EAR INFECTIONS

The first thing to understand is that the ear infection is NOT the problem. Ear infections are secondary. There is an infection, usually viral, causing swelling of the lymph nodes which restricts air movement and fluid drainage from the inner ear. This stagnant inner ear is now prone to becoming infected which is when the ear infection starts. The initial cause of the swollen lymph nodes is the problem, usually viral. Their immune system was not working well enough to fight off an infection, they have had a cold for two days and they wake up screaming and saying their ear hurts in the middle of the night… So what do you do?

1. give them Tylenol or something to reduce their fever and numb things
2. get a prescription for antibiotics as soon as you can or give them the leftover ones in the med cabinet
3. use a natural “antibiotic” like oil of oregano, silver solution, tea tree oil, etc…
4. use a natural or homeopathic anti-fever treatment or pain reliever
5. lie with them, cuddle them, and re-assure them that their body will heal itself and sleep beside them

I am sure many of you are thinking that option (e) is just cruel but health comes from the inside out. The power that created you is the same power that heals you and it uses your brain and nervous system to mobilize your immune system (the reason that people who are adjusted regularly get well faster after illness and get sick less). The reality is, option (e) is the most effective and evidence-based way to deal with the problem BUT it involves usually one night of less sleep for parents and child, and having to look at a crying, sad child. Short term pain for long term gain. The child gets well faster and you prevent a low grade, drawn out illness. Don’t believe me? It is not my “opinion”: What does scientific research say?

Dozens of medical studies in medical journals such as the journal of the American Medical Association have found that over 80% of ear infection clear up on their own within 24-48 hours with NO treatment at all, around 60% within 24 hours!¹ This is not a chiropractic opinion, or my opinion, this is fact. The official clinical guidelines and policy for your GP support they should not prescribe antibiotics within that first 48 hours. Yet, I often hear from patients that they took their child straight to the GP the morning after the initial “bad night” and “they said the child needed antibiotics so I had to give it to them”. The GP was not following the medical guidelines. Your child stops complaining that day and you think the medication “cured them” when studies show a placebo or nothing at all works equally as well¹. Multiple large studies have shown that children taking antibiotics in their first two years of life have over much higher risks of allergies and asthma and this is dose dependent meaning that more antibiotics = higher risk^2,3. Their immune system is weakened because it didn’t have to kill the bacteria itself.

Studies also show that many of the antibiotics given in Canada⁴ and the US⁵ are prescribed for viral infections to which they have NO benefit. If someone always shoveled the snow off your driveway a day after the snow falls, how strong would your will be to run out the door and start shoveling right after the snow fell? Your immune system does not fully develop if we kill bacteria for it. Alternatively, research supports that chiropractic care helping your body function better from the inside out does help children resolve ear infections^6,7.

Solving problems by adding things to your body that are not required for health isn’t logical. For example, ear infections don’t happen because of a lack of antibiotics in your system so that isn’t the long term solution to the problem. Make sure to look into what the underlying problem or deficiency is so you solve that as well. It could be lack of good nutrition, or sleep, excess sugar, or poor nerve system function, or excess stress, etc… I see a lot of adults who had recurring ear infections and have upper neck misalignment and nerve interference that has never been addressed. We address it 20 or 30 or 40 years later because they now have neck pain. Addressing it when the ear infections were happening could have helped the ear infections resolve^6,7.
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I write evidence-based articles on topics from my experience as a parent, chiropractor, and reader of research to give a more holistic health focused perspective to balance the mainstream info you are bombarded with. Please do not stop taking prescribed medication and consult a relevant health professional when indicated.