Homeopathy was the Best Ear Infection Treatment for My Son - No More Antibiotics

Homeopathy helped restore my sickly toddler back to health. This form of medicine, popular 200 years ago, is gaining new respect.

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My three-year-old's body was failing. He had just finished his 17th round of antibiotics and this had clearly taken a toll.

He was barely eating and was losing weight. His belly was distended, his olive complexion was pale white and he had dark rings around his eyes.

I remember taking him to a birthday party. The other children bounced around in a moonwalk. He didn't have the energy. Although he managed to jump a couple of times, it was too much effort.

Then his personality started changing. He was no longer as outgoing as he used to be. Something had clearly happened to the strong, healthy baby I brought home from the hospital, who had such good muscle tone that he lifted his head a bit when he was just one day old.

Deep down I knew the antibiotics, which can also be live-saving, had destroyed his health. My son's persistent wheezing and lung congestion baffled his pediatrician. We were sent to a major medical center and he was tested for cystic fibrosis. Fortunately, he didn't have it. But he was still very sick.

Out of necessity, I began to learn about homeopathy, a system of medicine developed in the 1800s. In the United States, it became so popular that thousands of homeopathic doctors once practiced at some of the major hospitals.

Changing my son's diet to only whole foods and nothing processed was a great help. I also took him off of milk, wheat and corn. But I was still left with a sickly child with a weak immune system. He'd had strep, bacterial pneumonia and more ear infections than I care to remember.

In desperation, I consulted a homeopath who gave him some pellets that did seem to help. But the effects were short lasting. I'd see his vitality rebound, but only for a few days. Then we were right back to square one.

Trying different remedies yielded the same results. We'd see improvement followed by regression. After a year of this, my son came down with a cold and another ear infection. I rushed him to the homeopath, who was also a medical doctor, but the prescribed remedy didn't help.

I brought my very sick child home. His ear infection was getting worse, his fever spiked and I knew this couldn't continue much longer without some sort of intervention, even if it was conventional medicine. But my mother's instincts told me one more round of antibiotics would be very bad.

I worried my son would develop a chronic condition that couldn't be reversed, or that his development would regress. So far he'd always been ahead of the pack, but I did notice some disturbing personality changes, such as becoming less engaging and willing to play with people. I hated to think what more antibiotics would do.

Out of the blue, my telephone ring. It was another homeopath I had "met" on line, and I had given her my number some time earlier.

At the time, I had a handful of homeopathic remedies in my house. It was 9 p.m., and all the stores around were closed. "Let's work with what you have," she told me.

Fortunately, the first remedy she suggested I had on hand. I put one pellet in a plastic water bottle, shook it a few times and put a couple of drops in his mouth. Within minutes his body felt cooler. Within in an hour he was up, feeling much better and looking for something to eat.

Because he was sick, this low-dose remedy had to be repeated multiple times during the night.

The next day he was much better. I still brought him to his pediatrician, but only for confirmation the ear infection was going away, which it was.

This is how I learned homeopathy was a safe and effective option. The only real danger would be if a remedy wasn't working and you neglected appropriate medical care in the event of an emergency. But I was careful never to do that.

Also, a remedy shouldn't be repeated too many times because doing so can aggravate the very symptoms you are trying to treat, or even cause new symptoms.

- How Does it Work? Actually no one is sure how it works. But it does work very well, as long as the correct remedy is given.

- Is it Safe? In the right hands, I'd venture to say it's a lot safer than allopathic medicine because prescription drugs can cause serious side effects.

- Where Do I Find a Homeopath? If you live near a homeopathy school, you can call for a referral. Or, you can ask for a recommendation at your local health food store.

- How Much Does Homeopath Cost? You an expect to pay between $150-$275 for an initial consultation. Follow up visits do not cost as much. People with chronic conditions will most likely-need multiple follow-up visits.

- Is This Covered by Health Insurance? In the United States, health insurers do not reimburse for homeopathic care. This will be an out-of-pocket expense.

My son didn't improve much under the care of the first homeopath. But now I understand why he didn't.

Homeopathy works on the principle of like cures like, or "a little bit of what ails you will cure you."

Remedies are made from a tiny bit of toxins, usually diluted to the point where no trace of the original substance is present.

There are hundreds of homeopathic remedies, and each corresponds to a set of symptoms.

For instance, arsenic is a well-known poison that causes a myriad of disturbances, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. That's why homeopathic arsenicum album is often given during a bout with stomach flu. (Please don't read this and self prescribe, because there are many remedies and another may be more appropriate for a stomach bug.)

Remedies should only be recommended by someone very familiar with homeopathy, because the wrong remedy won't work and may even exacerbate the illness.

Anyway, the first homeopath we saw did help a little. But he wasn't using the most advanced method of prescribing,developed by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, which consisted of pellets placed in water and then shaken to make it more effective.

My new homeopath only used "wet doses." The results were impressive.

Some good homeopaths do successfully use dry doses. This might be fine for a relatively healthy person whose body just needs a jolt.

But my three-year-old. who was very frail, needed the gentle healing of Dr. Hahnemann's latest work, the 6th edition of the Organon of the Medical Art, or what homeopaths refer to as the "6th Organon."

The Organon is a compilation of Dr. Hahnemann's work. The sixth edition was published in 1842, a year before his death.

Dr. Hahnemann was a brilliant German physician who fathered 11 children. Some of them, however, died from childhood illnesses. Disgusted with the state of medical care, which couldn't help them and which also employed the bizarre practice of bloodletting, he stopped practicing medicine.

After a while, though, he went back into research and became intrigued with a well-known medical truism that "like cures like," otherwise known as the Law of Similars.

This was the beginning of modern homeopathy, a form of medicine that enjoyed great prominence in the 1800s, until it was overtaken by allopathy and allopathic physicians.

Since my son was little, I've worked with several excellent homeopaths, and all of them use "wet doses." At one point, it was very difficult finding a practitioner who used the information in the 6th Organon. Fortunately that has changed, probably thanks to the Internet and the abundance of information that's easily accessible.

It's almost as if there's been a mass awareness of the importance of Dr. Hahnemann's best work.

I've learned a little about homeopathy myself. One thing I realize is that it's an art as well as a science.

It is based on science, as Dr. Hahnemann carried out experiments with an army of volunteer "provers." These people took multiple doses of various remedies to see what symptoms developed. If multiple people reported that a remedy caused headache, nausea, chills, a toothache on the lower jaw or even a disturbing dream, this was recorded.

The art of homeopathy is choosing the correct remedy based on less tangible factors, such as if someone has a strong, overbearing personality or if the temperament is meek and mild.

Anyway, the homeopaths I have found are very good practitioners, both in the art as well as the science of this profession.

My son is now a healthy, well-adjusted teenager with excellent grades. He is very good at soccer and he seems to have endless energy. His food allergies and sensitivities seem to have disappeared.

He hasn't taken antibiotics of any kind in over 10 years and I hope he never needs them again.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are not meant to diagnose‚ treat or cure any disease or medical condition. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not take homeopathic remedies unless directed to do so by a healthcare professional.

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