We had a little episode the other night...
Josiah woke up screaming (not uncommon) at 1:30am and mommy came to his aid...his complaint was that his ear and his chest hurt...so I run through the mental list of what might qualify for an ear infection, and proceeded to press just outside of his ear lobe with my finger to see if it was sensitive. Sure enough...it hurt...but I still wasn't sure if it was the full blown deal. (He's never had one before) So we get up and go into the kitchen where I do the only thing I can think of to do in the middle of the night...(honestly, Tylenol did not occur to me until just now!) I get out my garlic press (garlic is a natural antibiotic)and some olive oil,(I heard about this from friends) crush a clove into an old baby food jar, mix with a bit of oil, and use a Q-tip to drip the mix into his ear. This was NOT an easy process...since my son is even deathly fearful of haircuts...but I managed to get a bit in there and plugged it with a cotton ball (which didn't' stay in for too long). We made it back to bed an hour later after quite the struggle/nurture/reassuring session...I think Josiah wanted to get back to bed just so he won't have me sticking stinky stuff down his ear! But he slept the rest of the night and when he emerged from his room in the morning he announced that his ear was "all better!". So, of course, that had me doubting whether or not it really was an ear infection...and since this hasn't happened before I guess I won't know. Brent, however, was rather weirded out by my odd form of torture....though after sharing this story at work, it turns out that three other guys had heard of this method for treating ear infections, and one guy said that's what his mom did when he was growing up! So, now I've got experience...and know what to do if/when it happens again...and I'm not completely off my natural rocker!
Brent has had an ulcer for the last two weeks...not fun! In an effort to avoid taking antibiotics, he spent some time online researching natural remedies frequently used for the treatment of ulcers. The first one he found was DGL; (deglycyrrhizinated licorice root extract) used to help build up the natural mucus lining in the stomach. This helped a bit, but he could still be found clutching his gut while lying debilitated on the couch. So he continued the hunt....and found cabbage juice! When juiced and drunken as much as 32oz a day (Brent mixes it with juice - half/half), it was found to be as effective as the leading drugs prescribed for ulcers...giving patients approx. 9 days until healed! This one he had to try, being simple and relatively cost effective. Two days on the stuff and he hardly feels the ulcer at all! We've been up to our ears in cabbages...the de-juiced pulp has a terrible odor that when left standing for any amount of time permeates the kitchen...yuk!..But who would have guessed that something so simple could have such a profound effect! So pass on the news...though be prepared for the smelly side effects!
