Otitis

Otitis is a frequent and serious condition, responsible for millions of prescriptions a year, two-thirds of which are for children under three years of age. It often starts as a cold, a sore throat, or any infectious condition.

The symptoms consist of severe pain, a fever that may reach 39.5° C, a feeling of deafness, and purulent or mucous discharge from the ear. Sometimes there is a singing in the ears, especially in adults, and vomiting in children.

Most cases are resolved without complications, the most serious being meningitis, which is fortunately rare. The hearing is rarely affected for long provided that treatment is started promptly and continued for long enough.

Caution: an ear infection should never be taken lightly. It is very important that the need for tapping or for antibiotic treatment is not missed.

Standard anti-infective treatment

To be started as quickly as possible at the first abnormal symptom:

• Start with Aconitum-Homaccord@ (Heel),which contains Aconitum D2, D10,D30,D200, Eucalyptus D4,D10, D30 and Ipecacuanha D2,D10,D30, D200:
  - Available in drop bottles containing 30 and 100ml
  - 10 drops to be taken three times daily. Initially ten drops every 15 minutes
• Add copper as a trace element with silver and gold in colloidal form
• Six tablets of Pyrogenium 5c, once a day, in a single dose, for a few days
• Twenty drops of Lehning@ L52 in a little water, three or four times a day if the patient already has a temperature
• Vitamin C: one gram a day for adults, 0.5 gram for children, for a fortnight
• To this standard treatment composed of three homeopathic remedies, one to three trace elements, and a vitamin, the homeopath may add remedies that are specific to each illness and fundamental for each personality

Dietary advice

To be strictly followed:

• Stop all heavy greasy foods, particularly dairy products, fried food, and dishes with sauces
• Drink plenty
• Choose foods rich in vitamin C and copper
• Supplement your diet with wheatgerm and brewer's yeast, which are rich in group B vitamins and trace elements
• Eat plenty of garlic and onion
• Make free use of condiments such as thyme, cinnamon and oregano, known for their anti-infective action

A natural food

Wheatgerm

Origin and composition: obtained by soaking the grain in water and allowing it to germinate for two days. This is the living part of the plant, incorporating all the constituents necessary for its growth, with twice the amount of calcium, three times the magnesium and phosphorus, and much more vitamin B and E than wheat. It also contains vitamins A and C. This concentration of minerals and vitamins makes it effective against infections.

Use: Wheatgerm is sold in pharmacies and health food shops in the form of flakes to be sprinkled on salads, yoghurt, or soft white cheese. Take two teaspoonfuls a day. You can also use the oil. sold in bottles or as capsules.

Homeopathy

Capsicum

- Four tablets at 5c, to be sucked like sweets, between meals, three or four times a day

Capsicum annuum

- Vegetable origin: capsicum peppers
- Homeopathic remedy for the start of otitis, particularly if the condition evokes a sensation of baking heat
-Two characteristic signs: improved by warmth, worsened by cold or by touching

You can add Chamomilla for children.
- Four tablets at 7c to be sucked like sweets three times a day

Chamomilla

- Vegetable origin: German camomile
- Homeopathic remedy for the symptoms of teething
- Specific signs: unbearable pain, accompanied by irritability and extreme agitation, lessened by rocking or carrying the child

• You can use Traumeel@ (Heel), which contains Belladonna D4, mercurius solubilis D8, Hepar sulfur D8, Chamomilla D3 and Bellis perennis D2 among others:
  - Sold in containers of 50 or 250 tablets
  -In general one tablet to be dissolved under the tongue three times daily..

Oligotherapy

Essentially copper or a copper/gold/silver combination.

Dietary sources of copper

Copper is present in small quantities nearly everywhere, except in milk, which contains very little.

It is found especially in liver++ (calf, sheep), seafood (lobsters, oysters, scallops, fish roe) and seaweed, almonds and nuts, certain vegetables (avocados, mushrooms). cereals (whole wheat, whole rice, soya). dried fruits, green vegetables, plums, cocoa, tea...

• Copper remedies: found in various forms and brands, e.g.: colloidal minerals such as Organic Minerals (Colloidals) which contains 70+ trace minerals:
  - Available in 946ml bottles
  -Take 1-3 caps just before breakfast and/or evening meal
  - Children 1 teaspoon daily for each 20lbs of body weight

Or Maximol (Ionized colloidals):
- Available in 500ml bottles
- Take 1/2 capful once or twice daily on an empty stomach

• You can use a copper/gold/silver mixture: (Colloidal minerals)
• You can also use silver liquid SILV-LQ (Vitamin Research Products) 400ppm:
  - available in bottles of 4 fluid ozs
  - Mix half a teaspoon with one ounce of water, rinse in mouth for 15 seconds before swallowing

Silver

Silver, which has no known effect on the body, has a general bactericidal and local antiseptic action (as silver nitrate) which determines its use as an anti­infective agent.

Herbal treatment

Anti-infective Echinacea, very stimulating ginseng.

- Ask your herbalist to prepare 30ml bottles of the mother tincture of each of these two plants: take 25 drops of the first in a little water, three times a day, 25 drops of the second, twice a day

Echinacea

The coneflower is very effective against snakebite, stubborn wounds, fevers... It comes to us from Native American tribes who were using it long before the arrival of antibiotics.

• You can use Echinaforce (Bioforce). a tincture of Echinacea purpurea:
  - Available in 50ml and 100ml bottles of oral drops
  - Fifteen drops to be taken in a little water, three times a day by adults, seven drops three times a day by children (6-12 years old)

Plant essential oils

Ceylon cinnamon, Eucalyptus radiata, cloves, Melaleuca alternifolia, niaouli. Spanish oregano, mountain savory, and common thyme for their anti-infective activity.

- Two drops of one of these to be taken in a spoonful of honey, twice a day

Cloves

Cloves are the buds of the clove, a very tall, exotic tree. They are used for anaesthesia in dentistry, and for flavour in some dishes (sauerkraut, for example).

• You can have the following mixture made up for local use: 0.25g essential oil of lavender, 0.25g essential oil of cloves, 109 glycerine, suspended in enough oil of sweet almonds to make up a 30ml bottle. Place five drops in the ear two or three times a day.