Well as a happy 7th birthday to my daughter, she began to develop her very first ear infection post last week's cold. Wednesday night she ended up being up almost all night with a "headache". I assumed it was nasal congestion and mucous from the recent cold. The next morning we started to bump up her normal supplements and even added some additional to kick what I thought was the tail end of her cold. I gave her some A & I chewables, D3 of course, garlic, and chewable C. Her complaints of her "headache" persisted through Thursday. After being up all night I decided to take her to school late and let her sleep in. That didn't last and not long after she showed up on the kindergarten playground where I was working. Home she went. She was in tears that night. Hmmmm. Something wasn't right, nor was she sleeping through the night which was incredibly rare for her.
So come Friday morning and I am once again asking her about her headache. I finally ask her to show me where it hurts. She points to the side of her head above her ear. And she says it is hard to hear out of that ear (the one she normally sleeps on). The lightbulb went on, EAR INFECTION. My children rarely have ear infections. It is not something I'm all that familiar with in anything other than theory. My son only has had one ear infection, when he was 4. I know they can be quite common in children with Autism but that was not one of our issues. My daughter has never had one. So, garlic drops in the ear, later in the day I did some other ear drops with both garlic and mullein. We did all of our normal supplements plus a few more. I also picked up some Ibuactin (all natural pain reliever) and a homeopathic ear/sinus remedy. So when I got home from work I had a plan! She was once again in tears. The Ibuactin went right to work. Then some ear oil with a warm heating pad. I also gave her a few drops of Oil of Oregano. Within an hour she went from laying on the couch to being up and active. After dinner we did the ear oil again. I also did a topical rub of eucalyptus essential oil down the path of the ear tubes behind and under her ear and down her neck. I followed that up with tea tree. I also did the other ear for balance. Then we started the "cold sock" process by soaking her feet in warm water first. By bedtime her headache was finally gone! It had been a constant (unwanted) companion since Wed night. Hallelujah! She also got her probiotic before bed. So, we shall see how the cold sock treatment goes. While I have known about this, I've never really been at a point to use this. This is about the longest illness she's had. But likely it will be her only time really sick for the next year.
We've found that our kids don't get really sick for very long or often. I'd like to think it is a reflection of their diet and the attention we pay to nurturing their immune system on a daily basis. But it is also good to remember that an immune system is a lot like a muscle, it cannot get stronger without giving it a workout. We have to fight bugs because that is what we are meant to do. But we are meant to fight them and move on, stronger than before. We may have a sniffle or a few days of a cold and then not much more. This has been our worst illness and really her cold last week was mainly fever and lethargy and the only reason she was out of school as long as she was is because I abide by the school rule of being fever free for 24 hours before returning. And since I've been working with kindergarteners, I appreciate the wisdom behind that so much more, the amount of illness that tears through a school is quite astounding! ;) Otherwise she would have been back sooner.
So we shall see how effective all of this is on her ear infection, I will update my blog with the results! I hope you all are staying healthy during cold and flu season this year!
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Saturday morning update: She got her first FULL night of sleep since Tuesday night. She woke with a slight headache, only slight ear pain but no issue with hearing out of that ear. She is now writing her bday thank you notes and making Valentine's Day crafts. We will do the wet sock treatment for 2 more nights as per the recommendations. And, this morning we kept up with the D3, Oil of Oregano, A & I, C, Ibuactin and will do the ear drops/heat and essential oils on the outside of the ear for good measure. But, it sure looks like she is well on her way to recovery!
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