My two-year-old is suffering from recurring ear pain. Ear drops offer temporary relief. Can homoeopathy help bring her relief?
Along with a runny nose, an ear infection is one of the most common childhood illnesses, as the little ones haven’t yet developed the same resistance to viruses and bacteria as adults. Most children experience these infections, and frequent recurrences present a significant problem for parents, who often worry that it might impair the child’s hearing.
The infection of the middle ear and eardrum is referred to as otitis media. It is an infection of the outer ear and can be described as a skin infection that can cause a great deal of ear pain and discharge. It occurs when the eustachian tubes, which connect the middle ear to the nose, get blocked with mucus, pus or bacteria. Acute bacterial otitis media can cause pain that leads to sleepless nights for both children and parents, can cause eardrum perforations, not all of which heal, and can become a severe infection if it goes untreated long enough.
Sometimes, the fluid can get trapped in the ear even after the infection is gone, putting pressure on the eardrum. It can cause great distress, and symptoms include pain, fever, deep itching, difficulty in hearing, sore throat or headache. In other instances, the outer ear can also become swollen, inflamed, and painful.
Typically, acute otitis media follows a cold, and after a few days of dealing with a stuffy nose, the ear becomes involved and can cause severe pain. The infection can also cause intense bouts of earache that come and go very suddenly, with heat and inflammation, cause fever, and a flushed red face. The pain usually settles within a day or two but can last over a week. In some cases, teething can also cause earaches.
Homoeopathic remedies for ear infections can help ease the acute symptoms and address the underlying cause so that repeated episodes don’t occur. The treatments can assist in relieving the symptoms and support the body naturally so it can heal quickly and thoroughly, and break the cycle of recurring infection.
Homoeopathy will treat each patient as a unique individual. Remedies are selected after a complete examination and case analysis, which includes the child’s medical history, physical and mental health, family history, presenting symptoms, and possible causative factors, among other things. The homoeopath will consider the totality of the symptoms and focus on not just curing the disease but on restoring health and improving the overall quality of life.
