Ear Infections

Why see a Naturopathic Doctor when your child has an ear infection?

Naturopathic doctors specialize in boosting your child’s own immune system to fight an ear infection. When your child fights the infection themselves it prevents recurrences and chronic infections.

Naturopathic Doctors use several different natural methods such as homeopathy, nutrition, and herbal medicine and if the infection is too strong, Naturopathic Doctors can prescribe antibiotics.

Both Dr. Mark Janikula and Dr. Marissa Cavalier leave time available each day for acute illnesses and are happy to see your child for the first time when acutely ill.

What is an ear infection (otitis media)?

Ear infections or Otitis Media are an infection of the middle ear caused by a virus or bacteria. Ear infections are very common and by the age of three, 80% of all children will have had at least one ear infection.

What causes an ear infection?

Most commonly an allergy or inflammation of the upper respiratory tract leads to congestion and swelling of the nasal mucosa and eustachian tubes. Eustachian tubes are small tubes that drain the ear into the back of the throat. When the eustachian tube is blocked secrections build up in the ear and viral or bacterial infections can to take hold.

Children aged 6-24 months are more at risk because the shape of the eustachian tube and immaturity of the immune system. The most common infectious agents are Streptococcus pneumoniae in 40-50%, Haemophilus influenzae in 30-40%, Moraxella catarrhalis in 10-15%, and viruses 10%.

Many naturopathic doctors have observed that food allergies are often the largest offender to cause inflammation of the eustachian tube. When parents remove the offending food the ears clear up and infections do not recur.

How do I know my child has an ear infection?

Ear infections usually begin rapidly. Typically the only signs are fever, irritability, lethargy, loss of appetite, cough, nasal discharge, diarrhea, or vomiting. Ocassionally children will pull their ears from the pain. To accurately diagnose an ear infection have your Naturopathic Doctor look in the ear to visualize if there is an infection. Many studies show that 70% of the time parents know their children have ear infections, and 80% of the time they are correct. Therefore if you suspect an ear infection you are often correct.

How are Ear infections Treated?

Most children (70-90%) will heal themselves in 7-14 days with no treatment. Naturopathic medicine uses various forms of medicine to stimulate this healing process and shorten the time to heal. Conventional medicine relies on pain control and use of antibiotics. Below we listed your treatment options both conventional and natural.

Convential Management

Convential management relies on pain control measures and antibiotics. Pain control is achieved by:

Acetaminophen (Children's Tylenol) - 1 mg per kg every six hours. or

Ibuprofen (Motrin) - 10 mg per kg every six hours.
These two almost always help with pain and reduce fever.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are often the first line treatment for ear infections but current recommendations are to use antibiotics for only severe cases. Typical antibiotics used are amoxicillin, augmentin, and azithromycin.

Naturopathic Management

Naturopathic management relies on treatments that help the body heal itself. when self healing occurs recurrent or chronic infections are prevented. Listed below are several therapies a naturopathic doctor would use.


Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that stimulates self healing. Homeopathic medicines are chosen to match your childs exact symptoms. When the correct remedy is given most parents notice improvement in less than 1 hour.

Vital homeopathic center aims to empower parents through education on how to use homeopathy to treat their own children. Starting on February 21st Vital Homeopathic center is offering a 10 week course on using homeopathy in the home Read more.

Dr. Janikula has put together a self prescribing guide to selecting a remedy for you child. Read more...

Homeopathy Case Example

Jill is a 2 year old presenting to Vital Homeopathic Center with a fever and very clingy, whiny mood. Two days ago Jill had a slight runny nose and yesterday developed a fever. Normally Jill is very energetic and independent but since yesterday she has been timid and has not left her moms side. She has been weeping gently all day today and wanting to be held. We looked in Jill's ear and the there were clear signs of infection in her right ear. I gave Jill Pulsatilla 200C 3 pellots every 4 hours and instructed her mother to call me in the morning.

The next day the mother was very happy and said within 30 minutes Jill stopped being clingy and within 2 hours the her fever was gone. She slept very well and today is back to her energetic self. I scheduled to look in Jills ear 3 days after beginning pulsatilla and her ear was completely infection free.

Food Allergy

Food Sensitivities are a common cause of recurrent ear infections. Typically the offending food causes inflammation of the nose and eustachian tube allowing bacteria to grow in the ear. The most common foods that children are sensitive to are Dairy, Wheat, Egg, Corn, and Citrus. Parents often find recurrent infections subside when these food are avoided.

Unfortunately, tests for food allergies is not very accurate. Standard tests measure IgE reactivity and these test miss the more common delayed reactions to food that are thought to occur by IgG. The best way to determine if the food is causing a problem is to eliminate it for a period of 1-2 weeks. This is usually enought time to see symptoms clear up. To get an accurate test it is important to avoid all suspected foods as it is like having 5-6 nails in your shoe and if you pull one out it still hurts to walk. Food allergies are the same way, you need to eliminate all the allergies to see benefit.

At Vital Homeopathic Center Dr. Mark Janikula and Dr. Marissa Cavalier find they rarely need to use elimination diets because homeopathy treats allergies succesfully. They reserve allergy elimination diets for only the most difficult of cases.