Condition Care Guide

In young children middle-ear infections (otitis media) are so common as to be accepted as a normal part of growing up. They are also the bread and butter of allopathic pediatricians, who treat them with frequent courses of antibiotics and decongestants and sometimes with surgery. I have described the use of an osteopathic technique called craniosacral manipulation to end recurrent ear infections in children. I recommend this treatment highly. In addition I suggest eliminating all milk and milk products from the diet for at least three months to see if any benefits result. That means avoiding all dairy products as well as breads and other foods containing milk in any form. Soy, rice, and nut milks can be used. External ear infections (otitis externa) are more common in older persons. They are easily treated by putting garlic or garlic oil or mullein oil into the ear canal. Warm the oils slightly, put some into the affected ear with a medicine dropper, and plug loosely with cotton. Sometimes this treatment, combined with oral doses of echinacea, will also end a middle-ear infection, if you get on it at the very start. Children who are old enough to gargle should be encouraged to do so frequently when they first notice the pain of an ear infection. Warm saline solution works fine. It promotes healing by bringing more blood to the Eustachian tube, which connects the ear with the throat.