Home Remedies for Ear Infections

At the earliest signs of symptoms, home remedies for ear infections can offer a soothing cure. Understanding what causes and ear infection and learning how to recognize its symptoms is important in also understanding how to treat one. Natural cures for ear infections are not accompanied by the side effects that many antibiotic medications carry and they are completely safe to use.

An ear infection is defined as an infection or inflammation of the inner ear.

Many things can cause an ear infection in children or adults. A few of the most common causes are:

• Common cold
• Sinus infection
• Excessively cold temperatures
• Untreated sinus congestion
• Exposure to cigarette smoke

The symptoms of an ear infection can be varied depending upon the stage of the infection. A few of these symptoms are:

• Pain in the ear
• Fever
• Plugged ears
• Muffled hearing
• Headache
• Facial pain
• Difficulty sleeping
• Fluid leaking from the ears
• Itchy ears

Home remedies for ear infections often involve preventing the infection in the first place. By properly tending to a cold, the flu, a sinus infection or nasal congestion, many ear infections can be avoided. As a general rule, cigarette smoke should be avoided at all times as the chemical toxins that are contained in the smoke contribute to ear infections. Also, avoiding processed foods and foods that are high in sugar, or artificial sweeteners so that the immune system is not suppressed and can function naturally in warding off colds, disease and a variety of compromising infections.

If an infection has already been contracted, the following natural cures and home remedies for ear infections are useful:

• Soak garlic cloves in olive oil and submit a few drops of the oil into the ear canal a couple of times each day.

• Gently clean infected ears with hydrogen peroxide mixed with equal parts water.

• To treat the pain of an ear infection, gently massage the ear area several times each day. This can also loosen some of the fluid that is retained in the ear during an infection.

• Gently apply a warm compress to the ear for fast, soothing relief. For small children, often the body temperature from a nurturing adult holding the child is all that is needed on the ear to give the same relief.

• Echinacea tea
• Golden seal tea
• St. John's Wort tea
• Tea tree oil (a few drops can be added to the ear for treatment and relief)

Left untreated, an ear infection can cause progressively worse health concerns, such as hearing loss, eardrum perforation, matoiditis (or inflammation of the bone located next to the ear), meningitis, Meniere's disease and paralysis of the facial nerves. For these reasons and more, an ear infection should never be ignored.

However, overuse of antibiotics is a current medical concern as the harmful side effects of these treatments destroy the body's natural balance and contribute to other conditions, such as candida yeast overgrowth. Before antibiotics were widely used to treat infections, people naturally turned to home remedies for ear infections and other illnesses. Natural cures and home remedies for ear infections have been passed down through generations because they work so well and they do so without causing destructive harm..