Home Remedies

Tom and I have spent a year and a half watching what became our favorite T.V. series, Monk. We started it on Netflix one night on a whim, and ended up loving it and watching all eight seasons. On one of the episodes one of the main characters had a health ailment and was drinking what he described as, "some kind of organic hippie concoction from Hell." Tom thought this was HILARIOUS. I guess he could relate or something. Consequently there are a few things in my kitchen that Tom has coined "some kind of organic hippie concoctions from Hell." Mostly I just roll my eyes and make him eat it anyway. He'll thank me someday.  However, this last remedy I made, despite the fact that I do think it works, I had to agree with Tom. 

Aiden was sick first and shared it with Sage. Aiden recovered quickly but Sage, of course, got an ear infection that landed us in Urgent Care on Sunday afternoon. We walked away from Urgent Care with an antibiotic prescription that I was determined not to use. I am thankful for modern medicine, but I'll try everything else possible before I start dishing up spoonfuls of medicine to the boys.  Anyway, we've walked the ear infection road many times before. I was armed with Garlic oil, Thieves oil, Melrose and Purification which have successfully cured all of Aiden's ear infections in the past. However, Sage's ear infections just seem to be worse than Aiden's. So, I needed to add to the army. I brought out the big guns...in other words, I took my dear friends advice and instructions and made the following remedy. We were back at the Pediatrician today to check for progress, and by jove, we are getting there. Sage's ears aren't perfect yet, but the Ped. saw no need to start medicine now as long as Sage continued to improve. He's even been fever free for two days.  In case your kids are like mine and prone to ear infections, here is the "organic hippie concoction from Hell" for your reference.

Treatment for Ear Infection

Needed:

Flax Seed

Activated Charcoal in Capsule Form
Cheesecloth
First-aid Tape
Water
Glass Ramkin, Microwave-safe

 Directions:

Take a small amount of flax seed and place in a glass, microwave-safe ramkin. 

Add a few drop of water and stir together.  (If the flax seed is still in a whole seed form, use an iced tea sized spoon to “crush” the flax seed.)

Microwave the water and flax seed at 5 second intervals stirring until the mixture appears to have a ‘Karo-syrup’ consistency when the spoon is held up and the mixture ‘drips’ back into the ramkin. 

Pull apart one capsule of activated charcoal and sprinkle half of a half-capsule on the flax seed mixture; stir together.

Cut some of the cheesecloth into 1.5-inch squares.

Place a dab of the flax seed/charcoal mixture into the middle of the cheesecloth. 

Twist the cheesecloth so that the mixture and cheesecloth are elongated to the size of the ear canal. 

 Insert the elongated cheesecloth into the ear canal as far as you can get it.

 Place a piece of first-aid tape over the ear to hold the cheesecloth in place.

 Let sit overnight, remove in the morning and throw away. (You will see that the cheesecloth will be stiff.)

You can repeat this during the day, too, if desired.

Note:  The concept behind flaxseed is its natural healing properties.  The activated charcoal is used to attract and dry up moisture.

 We're still using this to try and drain all the fluid. Yes, it's messy. Yes, the charcoal makes everything black if you spill it. Yes, the sheets get a little crusty. Yes, it takes me 1/2 an hour every night just to get my kids oiled up for the night. But, it's worth it. And, when the directions say "a dab" they really mean "a dab." The first several tries I made mine too big and they barely fit in Sage's ear.

Now that both boys are on the mend, would someone please come over and nurse Tom and I back to health? The boys were kind enough to share and evidently Moms don't get sick days.