Ear Infections

My intent in any of these blogs is not to get too technical, but I am going to have to.

I very much enjoy treating children. The most common ailment at the medical doctors office for children is the dreaded EAR INFECTION. The medical community feels that they only have one choice and that is to medicate with antibiotics. (This is a long discussion that I will not go into right now.) Often times this approach doesn't work, so another round of antibiotics gets prescribed. I would like to describe possible reasons for ear infections and why this medical approach is usually not the answer. The number one cause, that I see in my office, for ear infections is allergies or a virus. BOTH of which are NOT treatable by antibiotics.

When I describe allergies to my patients I explain it this way. All of us have allergies to a certain degree, but some of us can fight against it easier than others. To help further describe this I will use a demonstration. We were all given a barrel, and each of us has a different sized barrel. There are things that come against us that fills that barrel. Everyone is different so some examples are pollen, dust, milk, gluten, cats, soy, etc... The more we are exposed to these different allergens the more the barrel is filled up. Once the barrel is overflowing we have symptoms of allergies such as sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, stomach problems, etc...

Then you might ask, "Why are some people's barrels bigger than others?" and that is a great question!! Our barrel size is determined by genetics, stress, diet, exercise, and whether or not we have subluxations in our spine. Subluxations are misaligned spinal vertebra that cause stress on a nerve. The nerves in our spine talk to everything in our body including our organs, our brain, our skin, etc... When our nerves are not working optimally our bodies are not working optimally. (This to is another long discussion that I will work on some other time.) We can definitely affect our barrel size by eating right, exercising and getting adjusted to minimize subluxations.

SO... How can we treat ear infections without antibiotics? The answer is simple, but important.

1. Avoiding the allergen is a huge possibility. Sometimes that can be difficult to figure out what the allergen is but most of the time it is pretty simple. In my practice, the majority of allergens affecting the ears is coming from a DIETARY source. Believe it or not, it is very true. I want to get even more specific in saying that the majority of the dietary allergy patients that I see the number one allergen is usually caused by DAIRY products. Drinking milk causes increased mucus production even in individuals that don't have allergies, so when you have poor drainage in your lymph system of your neck the excess fluid ends up in the ears.

2. Subluxations!!! If you have a subluxation in your neck it will cause your neck muscles to tighten and spasm. (Also a main cause of headaches.) When the muscle in your neck tightens it cuts of the drainage of the lymph system in your neck. Then your ears don't drain either.

How do you treat subluxations? EASY you get adjusted by a very trained Chiropractor. I have been treating ear infections on kids for years with much success. Children, for the most part, respond very favorably to chiropractic care because they don't have the 'baggage' that us adults have. Their bodies are so much closer to optimal and heal rather quickly.

Making the decision to take your child to a chiropractor is a very responsible and healthy decision. My kids have been adjusted since the day they were born. Neither one of them has ever had an ear infection. I just wish that I could say that about your kids too!!!

If after reading this you have questions please let me know. I welcome discussions on any of the topics I will bring up.