My 21 year old has a very bad ear infection. Her ear is swollen nearly shut.

We've been to one kinesiologist who helped relax some of the locked up muscles in the jaw, and she found no sign of virus, so this looks bacterial.

We went to the local Minit Clinic (since we are uninsured until Aug. 1st) and they gave us some ear drops that are antibiotic, which appear to do a little something, and a prescription for Zithromax, which is doing nothing at all.

This does not surprise me. My daughter and I both have some allergies to the "inactive" binders and fillers in drugs, and the harder a pill is, the more likely it is to be just ineffective.

But the biggest problem is really the swelling -- she is allergic (violently so) to cortisone and we don't dare use the ear drops with hydrocortisone in them to reduce the swelling.

I'm coming up short on ideas to help reduce the swelling. Dandelion herb is what I have on hand and that does seem to help, as does staying on aspirin as an anti-inflammatory.

But any suggestions would be most welcome.

We're off to a chiropractor who does Neurolink shortly who we already had an appointment with. With any luck the chiro can help with the jaw tightness and her skullbones being pulled out of whack, which has been a persistent problem since she had her wisdom teeth pulled (but that's another story and a long one I'm afraid.)

I have a lot of things around the house that normal Americans would not, and there are a raft of good health food stores near me where I could easily pick up anything you suggest.

I do already have a bottle of ear oil, but unfortunately one thing in it is garlic oil, and until we see the chiro who does allergy treatments, garlic isn't an option.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. Sorry this post seems to have come out more than a little rambling.

Ouchie!!

No dairy products, increase C & zinc foods.
Warm compresses every couple of hours will help a little.
You could try these, one at a time . White vinegar sometimes helps with ear swelling. Warm olive oil or basil juice sometimes helps too.

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Mercola suggest 3% Hydrogen Peroxide drops
It crackles and pops for at least 10minutes and you have to lay flat until it dies down (or it flows out obviously) but it seems to work.

I think its always worth keeping immune function up to scratch.
Vitamin D Cuts Hospital-Acquired Infections
You'll need 1000iu daily Vitamin D3 for each 25lbs weight.

I agree with using the 3% hydrogen peroxide drops, however, would suggest food grade rather than the standard hydrogen peroxide, since there are all kinds of additives in the standard stuff.

I would also suggest having some 20 ppm ionic silver on hand for situations like this. The silver is a natural antibiotic, and will kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi, so it really doesn't matter what kind of infection you are dealing with... silver kills it all.

Silver can be used in eyes, nose, ears, as well as internally. (stomach and lungs) It can also be used topically, and won't cause unwanted side effects.

There is no reason not to have ionic silver in the medicine cabinet.

Thank you -- I will add this to my medicine cabinet for the future. I've never tried ionic silver before, but I like to keep on hand anything useful for boosting the immune system or as a better antibiotic.

Our daughter is feeling much better now, and is off to see the new Batman movie with the boyfriend this evening.

I'll keep her on the immune system supports we have anyway, just to chase the last of the whatever out of her system.

The strange thing is it seems during all of this she also started detoxing some anesthesia from her jaw. She could taste it and I could smell it. I'm sure that made the ear infection even worse (and quite possibly brought it on). I'm not surprised really. She's done that before and it's due to a horrible wisdom teeth removal and being allergic to...everything they used at the time. I just wonder how much longer it's going to take to shake out all the toxic stuff. *sigh*

Also consider xylitol chewing gum for prevention of future infections. https://www.drgreene.com/qa/ear-infections-and-xylitol

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- Jim

�Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.� Sir Winston Churchill

She did have some residual junk the hydrogen peroxide shook loose. I would've tried an ear candle too but the ear was nearly swollen shut.

She's doing much better.

Yeah, she gets almost no sun, and D3 is a necessity. We may have fallen short. I added Nutri-West Virex to what the clinic gave her.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with doctors, but I did want someone to at least have a peek, so it was useful for that.

Oh, we sure do shy away from dairy the moment *anything* comes up. Well, we've all had dairy allergy too, so we're kind of used to that.



I could not get her to do this for anything. She said ice worked better.

Quote:

You could try these, one at a time . White vinegar sometimes helps with ear swelling. Warm olive oil or basil juice sometimes helps too.

Thanks, I tried the basil juice and that did help! Good thing I have my herb pot out front.

Unfortunately xylitol is made from corn, and while we both seem to be able to eat corn with no problems after our allergy treatments, some of the chemicals derived from corn pop back up occasionally even after treatments, so I would rather just avoid them.

That the ear infection when it does pop up happens on the same side where her jaw bothers her post-wisdom teeth extraction is something that makes me suspicious. I think if we can get the weakness in the jaw area repaired, which I'm hopeful Neurolink chiropractic technique can do, it might solve quite a few things.

Not all xylitol comes from corn. It originally came from birch trees. There are still manufacturers that respect that. https://www.globalsweet.com/c/XP.html

Although it is hard to tell if this is true of their gum. You could certainly email them.

I could, but honestly, I'm relieved I don't have to contact companies for everything I eat to see where all their food is sourced from anymore.

Also, sometimes you have to write a certain way to imply you'll die if they lie to you -- because there are companies that WILL lie to you.

Thanks for the link though -- the fact this company is advertising xylitol from birch up front is encouraging.

Come to think of it, I should pass that link along to the corn allergy forum, as there might be diabetics that need some options...Thanks!

Yes. I'm really only trying to help. I first heard of xylitol gum from a major study of school children in Finland. That study has been sited by many marketing sites, but they don't seem to want to say that the xylitol in that study came from birch trees. At that time, that was the only know source as well as there are many birch trees in Finland. That's why I have no problem contacting manufacturers or vendors to ascertain contents. They should be clear of their labels, and indicate any known allergen that they have learned from their customers. They should be proud to do so.