Hello.
I have usually a handful of ear infections a year due to a condition (preferrated eardrums at birth that never closed/healed even after 3 surgeries)
I have in the past taken antibiotics when symptoms started occurring. I don't really know why the infections happen so frequently other than maybe some water gets trapped after a shower or since the eardrum is not closed it is more susceptible.
Ear doctors have recommended more surgery to fix it otherwise infections are likely to keep occurring. Right now I don't have the down-time or the money to do so.
Anyhow, since becoming more conscious of what goes into my body I decided to avoid antibiotics as much as possible.
But tonight, I have PAIN in my ear from I presume another infection which began a few days ago.
I'm scared because I've heard stories of people's eardrums rupturing after leaving an infection untreated.

Should I take the antibiotic? Or is there an alternative?? I was hoping it would go away/heal itself but the pain has only gotten worse today. =(
Any advice appreciated, Thanks!

I would take the antibiotics this time, along with some probiotics, and then look into preventive measures for next time. You don't want your eardrum to burst.

Maybe you could search curezone.com for information on ear infections.

since you are aware of the possibility of water getting in your ear during a shower than use some plugs in your ears while showering. Take the antibiotics and get better don't suffer. eating raw helps with our health but it is not a cure all. Some of our illnesses take time to cure. I have to take tylonol for my tooth ache sometimes. I will send you prayers of healing for you ear though and hope you the best.

Hello Vegcase, I can totally relate to your dilemma. Ever since I was a kid I always got earaches. My mom didn't believe in antibiotics except as a last resort, so her treatment was to heat a big pile of salt in a pan on the stovetop (no water) till it was hot to the touch, then pour it into a pillowcase, and have me lay my head/ear onto the hot pillow. This ALWAYS worked wonders, and the heat would feel so good on my aching ear. (I may have been given antibiotics once, I'm not quite sure.) I continued this hot salt pack treatment into adulthood whenever I got an earache. The only time it didn't work was a few years ago when I was dumb enough to go to a party and snort something while having a mild earache... ear, nose & throat, all related duh. I ended up with a worsening earache that turned out to be a perforated eardrum. So then I HAD to take antibiotics, it sucked.

They say that illness occurs first and re-occurs in the weakest areas of the body. When I started taking zeolite (natural cellular defense) last year, at some point I felt a throbbing in my ear, and I remembered reading that as zeolite removes toxins, people report experiencing sensations in areas of their bodies that were prone to chronic ailments. So I wondered if I had experienced healing in that ear that had the ruptured eardrum. Certainly on a raw diet I've never had an earache, but that's to be expected.

The thing I don't know is whether a hot salt pillow will work as well if you've already gone through perforated eardrums and many courses of antibiotics, but you could always give it a shot. Relief for me usually was overnight, prob not longer than 2 days. It was when the heat started feeling bad on my ear instead of good, that I knew to go to the doctor that time when I got the perforated eardrum.

So maybe you could use that as your guide- if the heat starts feeling bad instead of good, then stop and go to the doctor. A raw diet can help your body heal itself permanently, though, so may never have to worry about it again. But I think it's good to know about these things, anyway, as not everyone will have the motivation to change their diet.

Good luck!

I wanted to add some specifics- like, amount of salt to use. Probably about 2 or 3 cups - think of the amount of ice in an icepack- that much. The more you use, the longer the heat will last you (usually it's good for a couple hours). You'll first wrap alot of pillow fabric around the salt so as not to scald your skin, then as the salt cools you'll unwrap layers of fabric as needed.

This is the only method I know so whether other types of heat packs would be equally as effective, I wouldn't know. I'm guessing it may be more the action of the heat that provides relief and not specifically the salt, but again, I have no idea.

Yes. The above posts are very good. Get out of the crisis....and then let raw remove dead compounds from your body.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

The best thing for an infection is to water fast. That is, one would go directly to bed, drink only water when they are thirsty, and stay in bed until the symptoms go away. This is the fastest way to heal an infection. If one thinks they might be fasting over 3 days, then a supervised water fast is called for, because on longer fasts things can arise that require some professional experience.

You can read about fasting in "Fasting Can Save Your Life"- by Herbert Shelton.

Thanks sunshine!! I will give the heat pack method a go and see if it improves by tomorrow....

You know I forgot about another remedy - the warm/cold socks remedy that a naturopath recommended to me. I found it online at [www.liferesearchuniversal.com] . I was taught that the warm feet draw the bacteria away from the ears. I hope you feel better soon!

Cold Socks Treatment:
Randall Bradley, N.D. , a naturopath from Omaha Nebraska, frequently uses the cold socks treatment, a long-standing naturopathic therapy for stimulating the immune system.
Dr. Bradley finds this treatment to be effective in relieving the symptoms of many upper respiratory conditions such as head and chest colds, earaches, the flu, sore throats and even allergies. With this procedure, he says, relief is often seen within thirty minutes. If it is not, one can repeat the treatment while the patient remains covered and in bed. After four hours or usually by morning, the wet socks should be totally dry, the feet warm and the symptoms gone or much improved. Dr.Bradley says it is effective with both children and adults.
Step 1: Soak the foot part of a pair of 100% cotton socks in very cold water and wring them out thoroughly.
Step 2: Put the child's feet into a basin or bathtub of hot water, as hot as tolerable without burning. Have the bath deep enough to cover the ankles. Have the child sit on a chair or the edge of the tub, and keep the rest of the body warm. Soak the feet for about 5 to 8 minutes until they are hot and pink.
Step 3: Remove the feet from the hot water and pat then dry with a towel.
Step 4: Immediately put on the cold wet cotton socks, and then a pair of dry wool socks over those. At this point the patient should be covered and kept warm.
Step 5: Have the child go directly to bed, keeping the feet covered throughout the night. According to Dr. Bradley, this therapy will fail if the feet are uncovered, or if the patient walks around or sits in a chair uncovered.
Dr. Bradley believes that this home remedy works hemodynamically (by moving the blood to a specific area of the body -- in this case the feet). He suggests that when the blood is drawn away from the head to warm the feet, pressure in the head is relieved. As a result, the symptoms of the illness may disappear, and children usually fall asleep immediately. People who try this remedy will not only feel better the next day, but the treatment may actually boost their immune system, moving them through the illness faster.