Self-Reliant Health - Ear Infections

I have 3 teenage boys who have NEVER been to a doctor! Seriously! Well, there's one incident that I don't count because I ended up taking care of it myself . My second son had an ear infection when he was a baby - the only son I weaned early and put on formula (I still regret that). Ear infections are common for formula fed babies since formula is half sugar and half chemicals - I don't care what the label says. There's no substitute for the mother's milk that God engineered. After 4 trips to the doctor for 4 different antibiotics and a severe tongue-lashing from him when I suggested I use a homemade remedy, the terrible gut feeling I had finally over-powered my fear of the doctor. I cringed every time I gave my son another antibiotic. He had a terrible diaper rash since the first dose of Amoxicillin.

It was actually the doctor's rampage about me having no right to make decisions for my child and who did I think I was (uh... his mother?), that gave me the courage to throw the last prescription away. I pulled out a little book I had, called The ABC Herbal by Steven H. Horne. It's all about mild herbal and natural remedies for children. It said to get a "Garlic in Oil" capsule, the kind you can buy in any grocery store, warm it in my hand, poke a hole in one end and squeeze the oil into the ear canal. I laid the baby down for a nap, infected ear up, and squeezed the warm oil in. Then I put a little piece of cotton in the opening to keep it warmer inside and to catch the oil from running out on the bed if he rolled over. I repeated it that night and the next day took him into a different doctor to have his ear checked. The doctor said he could see it had been badly infected but looked like it was about cleared up and recommended no treatment or prescription. That was the one and only time I took any of my kids to a doctor.

Please don't think I'm sour on doctors. They've saved both my brother's and my father's lives. I have great respect for them, well, most of them. We need the knowledge they've worked hard to gain. With modern science, you can get scraped up off a road and put back together, but when it comes to the common cold, I am absolutely convinced that their medications do far more harm than good. For the past 20+ years, I have studied herbs and other natural remedies extensively. I've used them. Put them to the test. Just like everyone else, we've dealt with flus, colds, Strepp, headaches, intestinal/digestive problems, Pink Eye, burns, cuts, sprains and every other common ache and pain. They can all be taken care of in a natural, healthy way for very little cost. The good Lord has surrounded us with a generous pharmacy. We just need to learn to use it. I harvest a lot of the herbs we use and make my own tinctures and healing salves.

Natural "medicines" are nourishing. Plants are food, loaded with health-building nutrients. They feed and strengthen our bodies while they help them to heal. On the other hand, allopathic medicines are mostly synthetic. They are materials that our bodies cannot assimilate. Instead of assisting the body in healing itself, they override our natural functions, weaken the organs and plug up the liver. I have a friend who's struggled with a multiplicity of health issues. At one point his doctors had him on 53 daily meds! The next doctor cut them down to half, but today, he's dying of cirrhosis of the liver from the medications, not any of his other health issues.

With all that said, I want to make it clear that I do not consider myself any kind of an expert. I do not have a medical license. I do not recommend you throw away your medications or never see another doctor. It's up to each of us individually to get to know our bodies, follow our instincts, learn to rely on inspiration from prayer and make decisions for ourselves. The more I learn, the more I realize how much there is to know. But I have learned a great deal that has been a blessing, and very useful to my family and others. I don't want to be left helpless and dependent when a day of crisis comes. I will be sharing a lot of simple and inexpensive ways to be more self-reliant with your health. If you have any specific topics you'd like to know about, please leave a comment and I'll share whatever knowledge or experience I have.