CHILDHOOD EAR INFECTIONS
(OTITIS MEDIA)
Everything you Ever Wanted to Know,
But were Afraid to Ask!
DIFFERENT TYPES OF EAR INFECTIONS
- Acute Otitis Media The type of ear infection that is painful. Symptoms include pain, redness of the eardrum, and fever. Children may pull on the affected ear, and infants or toddlers may be irritable and fussy. Antibiotics are almost always prescribed to children with this kind of earache, but, according to current medical research, are rarely necessary (although they are still the medical community’s treatment of choice).
- Otitis Media with Effusion This is a build up of fluid in the middle ear without signs and symptoms of acute infection above. OME is more common than Acute Otitis Media, and is usually caused by viral upper respiratory infections, allergies, exposure to irritants (such as cigarette smoke), or FOOD SENSITIVITIES such as cow’s milk and GLUTEN. The build up of fluid in the middle ear does not usually cause pain in OME, and almost always goes away on its own. OME will not benefit from antibiotic treatment.
- Otitis Externa (Swimmer’s Ear) This is an infection of the outer ear canal. It can cause the ear to itch or become red and swollen. The simple test is to barely touch the little “bump” directly in front of the ear’s entrance. If it hurts to even barely touch it, you have swimmer’s ear. Even though the AMA recommends antibiotics for this, they are simply not required (much of the time this is a fungal infection). Make up a mixture of 1/3 rubbing alcohol, 1/3 hydrogen peroxide, and 1/3 vinegar (put it in a little bottle with a “dropper”). Use it hourly with swimmer’s ear, and prophylactically each time you get out of the pool. It works wonders!
WHY DO SO MANY CHILDREN GET
RECURRENT EAR INFECTIONS?
Let’s take a quick look at the anatomy of the ear and see
- EAR CANAL (this is where wax hangs out —- the site of Swimmer’s Ear)
- EAR DRUM (separates the ear canal from the middle ear. On the other side of the drum we have the….)
- MIDDLE EAR (this is were the three “Auditory Bones” (incus, malleus, & stapes) are found. Fluid in the middle ear prevents these bones from vibrating and thereby producing sound)
- EUSTACHIAN TUBE (sometimes called the “Auditory Tube”, this tube drains fluid from the middle ear to the back of the nasal pharynx)
THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE
There are four muscles associated with the function of the Eustachian Tube:
- Levator Veli Palatini (remember this one, because it is of critical importance in the development of chronic ear infections)
- Salpingopharyngeus
- Tensor Tympani
- Tensor Veli Palatini
As you can see from the pictures above and below, the Eustachian Tube is the drain of the middle ear. This should be duly noted because when ANTIBIOTICS FAIL, the next step is “Ear Tubes” (Tympanostomy). Surgically implanting tiny plastic “Ear Tubes” through the eardrum is an extremely misguided attempt at draining the middle ear. Number one, there is already a drain tube in place (the Eustachian Tube — see the diagrams), and number two, when tubes are installed, you have just opened up a direct pathway from the outside environment to the middle ear. But don’t take my word for it, let’s look for a moment, at what an expert in the field says about the effectiveness of surgically implanted ear tubes.
Advocate for the deaf, Jamie Berke, states that, “However, there are questions about the effectiveness of the ear tubes. In addition, the ear tubes have surgical risks, including the risk of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is resistant to many antibiotics.” The truth is that ear tubes are associated with hearing loss (they leave scar tissue on the ear drum in 100% of cases), and frequently have to be repeated.
The bottom line is the this; tubes are used when ANTIBIOTICS fail. Because decades of overuse and abuse of antibiotics have caused them become ineffective, they fail the majority of the time. Oh, don’t get me wrong. They kill infection as long as you are consuming them, but once you go off, the infection returns. And because 80% OF YOUR ENTIRE IMMUNE SYSTEM IS IN YOUR GUT —- and antibiotics kill these “good” bacteria that make up your immune system; each round of antibiotics weakens your immune system a bit more, leaving you increasingly susceptible to infection. It is a terrible vicious cycle. Antibiotics kill infection (sometimes) but destroy your immune system in the process. When you get the next infection, you are given —– yep; more antibiotics. Repeat ad finitum!
TO BUILD A CANAL — FIRST, DRAIN THE SWAMP
The best way to deal with ear infections reminds me a lot of the story of digging the Panama Canal back in the early 1900’s. Shipping companies wanted a way to avoid traveling all the way around the southern tip of South America, so they hired engineers to look into building a canal. The 20 miles across the Isthmus of Panama (with a lake in the middle) looked like the logical spot. The digging began, and as you can imagine, the swampy terrain was home to trillions of mosquitoes —- mosquitoes that carried Malaria.
Although the swamps were sprayed over and over and over again with harsh chemicals (DDT, for instance), the mosquitoes would always return. Finally, someone got the idea to drain the swampy lowlands. Almost immediately the mosquito / malaria problem got much better. Simply trying to kill bugs with chemicals is never a good long-term solution. You have to alter (or remove) the environment that they live in. If you or your child has suffered with recurrent ear infections, you can relate to this story.
If there is already a drain tube present in the ear (Eustachian Tube) , why on earth do doctors feel the need to create another one via surgically implanted Ear Tubes? We already know that these Ear Tubes cause hearing loss in over half the children they are implanted in. Could there possibly be a better way to drain “the swamp” of the middle ear? Although chiropractors have been taking care of children with ear infections for over a century, the medical community has always scoffed at the idea as “unscientific”. Although there is a great deal of positive research on chiropractic adjustments for ear infections (EAR INFECTIONS — PART IV), the medical establishment has all but ignored it. However, in the wake of the current world-wide “ANTIBIOTIC CRISIS” that is all beginning to change.
David Eisenberg, MD is conducting research into the role of Chiropractic in the help of chronic ear infections. This work is in progress under a grant from the Consortial Center for Chiropractic Research and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), and is helping to explain how chiropractic adjustments help so many children with chronic ear infections. Finally, the medical community is beginning to take a hard look at what chiropractors and their patients have known for decades!
In children, the Eustachian Tubes are nearly horizontal, gradually acquiring a near 45-degree angle with age. On top of this, the Eustachian Tubes also tend to be slightly “S” shaped in children, creating potential “kinks” where mucous and fluids can accumulate and plug up the drain, leaving stagnant fluid in the ear. For example, when you look at our beautiful CURRENT RIVER, you never see moss or junk growing on top. Why not? It’s constantly moving! When you see a farm pond in August, it typically looks like a sea of green. It has all sorts of things growing on top. Just as the stagnant pond is the perfect environment to grow moss and “schmuck” on top, so will the middle ear grow bacteria or virus if the fluid is not draining out.
TECHNICAL STUFF
The NIH study is looking into the relationship between vertebral alignment & motion, the nerve supply of the muscles of the middle ear, and the ability of the ear to drain properly. The nerve supply of the Tensor Veli Palatini muscle comes from the Trigeminal Nerve (Cranial Nerve V). These fibers unite with nerves from the neck to form portions of the Superior Cervical Ganglion, located between the C-1 and C-4 nerve roots. Neurological irritation of this muscle via SUBLUXATION of these vertebrate, may cause spasm in said muscle. When this happens, the Eustachian Tube will constrict and get smaller and smaller, until it is plugged. Between chiropractic adjustments to the atlas (the atlas is the top vertebrate in the neck —- C1), the Axis (C2 — the second vertebrate in the neck), as well as adjustments to the ear itself, the vast majority of ear infections can be cleared up quickly, inexpensively, and without any real trauma to the children (Antibiotics, shots, Ear Tubes, etc).
VIDEO TESTIMONIALS
BETTY HOCKMAN & CONNIE RABUN SPEAKING FOR THEIR CHILDREN
Connie Rabun (now a stay-at-home Homeschool Mom in the Hartshorn area) is a Certified Trauma Nurse (RN) as well as a Respiratory Therapist. I treated her (then) three year old daughter 8 years ago for chronic ear infections. What Connie forgot to mention in this video is that her daughter’s doctors were threatening she and her husband Wade with turning them over to the State of Texas Division of Social Services. Why? Simply because they were trying to hold off doing a Tympanostomy (Ear Tubes) on their daughter (Connie, being a nurse, was all too well aware of their MISERABLE RECORD). Watch as a “medical insider’ shares her family’s powerful testimonial about the failure of the medical model, and Chiropractic’s amazing results with Chronic Ear Infections
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- PART I —- Childhood Ear Infections (Video Testimonials)
- PART II —- What You can do to Help Prevent Ear Infections in Your Children (Video of Ear)
- PART III — Childhood Ear Infections & the Relationship to Vaccinations
- PART IV — What does the Scientific Research Actually say Concerning Ear Infections?
(Part IV also includes a video from Dr. Schierling about his children’s and wife’s ear infections, as well as a video from his in laws about their experience with Amy’s childhood ear infections.)
