Homeopathic medicine takes an aggressive approach to the treatment of earaches caused by bacterial infection. Promptly treating an earache, which usually targets the middle ear and is known medically as acute otitis media, sharply reduces the chance that a chronic cycle of infection will develop, according to homeopathic practitioners. Homeopathic treatment is highly individualized, depending on symptoms, and remedies are tailored to patients based on the circumstances of their health and behavior.
Belladonna and More
Earaches are common in children, and some have theorized that young people are more vulnerable to bacterial infections because their eustachian tubes are both shorter and more narrow than in adults. Carolyn Dean, author of "Homeopathic Remedies for 100 Children's Common Ailments," recommends that a child with a red, throbbing ear be treated with belladonna, while hepar sulph is her remedy of choice for a splinterlike earache that extends from the throat into the ear. Use chamomile to treat an earache in a fussy, irritable child but choose bellis for an earache of sudden onset in which the ear canal is red and swollen and the child is running a fever. Dean contends that aconite and ferrum phos work best in treating the very early stages of a child's earache, while silicea is more appropriate for use in the latter stages and for recurrent infections.
Arnica and Mercurius
Vinton McCabe, longtime president of the Connecticut Homeopathic Association and author of "Practical Homeopathy," recommends using arnica to treat earaches in patients whose pain worsens when they are touched. In such cases, the earache symptoms also may worsen in response to noise. According to McCabe, such patients typically have a head that is hot to the touch, a body that is cool by contrast and may complain of feeling a sensation of heat in their inner ear. For patients in whom an earache's onset is sudden and described as a tearing or pricking pain, McCabe suggests using mercurius, which if administered in short order can cut short this type of earache. Other symptoms that indicate treatment with mercurius include heavy sweating, swelling of the tongue and glands in the neck, heavy salivation and foul breath.
Mullein and Windflower
In "Easy Homeopathy," authors Edward Shalts and Stephanie Gunning recommend mullein, also known as verbascum thapsus, as a remedy for a left-sided earache that is accompanied by a deep-seated cough and possible hoarseness. They say that patients with this type of earache typically feel better after rising from a sitting position or after taking a deep breath. Their symptoms usually worsen, however, when they are sitting or talking or after they experience a change in temperature. Windflower, or pulsatilla nigricans, according to Shalts and Gunning, is ideal for treating a child's earache that appears after a cold in which a greenish-yellowish nasal discharge was observed. Such patients usually present as weepy and in need of affection, feel better when out in the fresh air or being gently carried and feel worse in response to heat.
References
- "Homeopathic Remedies for 100 Children's Common Ailments"; Carolyn Dean; 1999.
- "Practical Homeopathy: A Comprehensive Guide to Homeopathic Remedies and Their Acute Uses"; Vinton McCabe; 2000.
- "Easy Homeopathy: The 7 Essential Remedies You Need for Common Illness and First Aid"; Edward Shalts and Stephanie Gunning; 2006.
