Earaches: For Them and For You
(Stock photo: Freepik)
I’m not talking about the mild pain in the ear that’s a bit of a bother - I’m talking about the middle-of-the-night, wakes them up, intense pain, nothing seems to be working, you feel helpless seeing your child in so much pain. Yes, those earaches. My 11 year old son had one of those last night, and was it ever a doozy!
As a Homeopath, I love homeopathy and see it work on almost a daily basis. Sometimes slow and gentle improvements, and other times fast and distinctive. And every time I am amazed all over again and fall even more deeply in love with homeopathy.
For us, it started at about 1 am, my son woke me up - not a soft “mom” but a deep, moaning, painful “moooooooom!” It took me a few seconds to get oriented as to what was going on, I was in the middle of a good sleep. I asked “what’s going on?” and heard the dreaded “my ear hurts.” That snapped me out of my dazed and sleepy state real fast.
He gets mild earaches from time to time, as many kids do. But right away he was telling me this one was hurting way more than before. We started with a heating pad, which helped take the edge off the pain, but didn’t do much more than that. I grabbed my laptop and started asking questions about his symptoms, so I could get a good match on a remedy. Even as a Homeopath, I find earaches challenging to work with.
He said left side; sharp, stabbing pain like a screwdriver being turned into his ear; the whole ear and side of his face hurt; heat helped a bit; and that was all I had to go on. He was lying on the couch, writhing and tossing and turning, moaning and groaning. I asked “did it come on quickly” thinking about Belladonna and Aconite (both have key indications for rapid onset; Aconite also known for illness after exposure to cold/dry wind, which had been the case for him; Belladonna often shows up with heat/redness of the affected area, which he didn’t have). No he said, it came on slowly. So immediately I ruled out both remedies because that quick onset is really key for them.
While I was reading through various other remedies, what jumped out at me was that he increasingly seemed to be unable to manage the pain. The tossing and turning became more frequent, his moaning and groaning became louder. He said “I just can’t take it anymore, I need something!”
Then it hit me: Chamomilla! This remedy picture is all about unbearable pains; pains so bad they can’t manage and are overcome with it; also a key remedy for children and for ear pain. I grabbed a 1M because I wanted to match the potency to the intensity and gave him a dose. Waited 5 mins and dosed again. (Why this potency and dosing frequency? Read about potency hereand about dosing here.)
About 6 mins after the second dose it was like someone flipped a switch - he suddenly became very still, stopped making any noise and appeared to me to have abruptly fallen asleep. Honestly, my heart took a leap (who doesn’t like to see their child no longer in intense pain?) and my jaw dropped open. I waited an extra 15 mins to be sure he didn’t wake and need an additional dose (one sign the remedy is a good match and is working, is the person falls asleep).
He slept through the rest of the night and woke this morning saying his earache was almost entirely gone! I’ve given him a follow up dose today because there is still some ear pain (symptoms are still present).
Edited to add a follow up: his ear pain was almost completely gone by the middle of the next day, then suddenly came back. But this time some of his symptoms changed. To add to this he was at the end of a cold and still was producing green mucus. His moods were also all over the place, sometime happy/affectionate and other times irritable and snappy. Pulsatilla, another great ear pain remedy for children came to mind. I dosed him multiple times over the next couple days and not only did the ear pain go away, the cough/mucus did too. Here’s a great example of how sometimes in these intense acutes we might need different remedies as symptoms change - one reason to work with a Homeopath & get help during intense situations.
(Stock image: Freepik)
And now for the second part of this blog - Remedies for You!
Now that the initial shock and fright of the experience are over, you try to go back to bed and what happens? You’re tired and yet you can’t sleep; you suddenly feel wired; maybe a little ‘shaky’ inside. Yup, that was me. I reached for Aconite 30C for myself (lower potency because I wasn’t feeling these things too intensely) and ended up taking 2 doses about 10 mins apart. After the second dose I fell asleep and woke feeling decent.
Today I’m paying attention to how I’m feeling and will decide if a dose (or two) of Cocculus is worth taking. This is a great remedy for exhaustion and fatigue after “night watching”. Aka interrupted sleep from caring for a loved one.
Read up more on these remedies in various free online materia medica here.
What’s the takeaway here? Home prescribing can be super helpful and a key to this approach is to know some of the primary indicators for certain remedies.
I have a free ebook on Homeopathy for Colds & Flu with key symptoms for 20 common remedies - a great quick reference during times of illness. Grab your free copy here.