An ear infection can be a very annoying and painful thing to experience; for both children and adults. You might not always have the time or the inclination to go see a doctor about your ear problem. If thats the case, then youre probably on the lookout for an ear infection home remedy. However, before trying any home remedies its a good idea to visit a doctor at least once.
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to deal with ear infections in the comfort of your home. For the most part, ear infection home remedies work best against ear infections that arent very far progressed. If youre dealing with a more severe case, you may need to consult a doctor to get proper relief.
Before you decide on an ear infection home cure that you want to try, its important to learn as much as you can about the type of infection youre dealing with. For example, swimmers ear is usually caused by a fungal infection.
As disgusting as it may sound, this is actually pretty good news because fungal infections are easy to treat as long as theyre caught early. One way to deal with a fungal infection is to make a solution that is 50% water and 50% white vinegar. Drop it into the infected ear and wiggle your head around to be sure the solution cleans everything out. Basically, this method works because vinegar creates makes the pH levels of the water extremely deadly to fungus. This solution usually causes pain to subside in just a few minutes, and the fungus can be completely eliminated overnight.
A similar method involves using lemon juice instead of vinegar. The lemon juices acidic properties can work wonders against any bacteria buildup in the ear. If youre dealing with a bacterial ear infection, this is a great remedy.
Another interesting ear infection home cure involves using a big, clean sock and some rice. For this remedy, place a cup of rice in a sock and heat it up for a minute in the microwave. This helps to provide pain relief to affected ear, and if done repeatedly can also drain any buildup in the infected ear.
You can also try a home remedy that combines a few different herbs and spices that you probably have in your kitchen. Take a few cloves of garlic and some chopped onion, and cook them in a pan with a bit of water and olive oil. Once everything has cooked down, drain the oil into some sort of container.
Next, simply put a few drops of the oil into the inflamed ear. You can get very quick relief from pain related to an ear infection with this simple recipe. Even people who cant cook should be able to handle this one.
If you find that an ear infection home remedy doesnt work, or that an ear infection or ear pain keeps recurring, you should see a doctor. Sometimes, you may find that youve been using the wrong kind of remedy for the type of ear infection that you have.