Emergency Earache Oil

Our son has autism, and he can't tell us when something is hurting.  Over the years, we've become a little better at reading cues that he's not well - but it is still very much a trial and error sort of thing.  We've also learned that when we do see the signs, we need to act fast if we want to avoid a 4 a.m. visit to the emergency room.

Last night, the signs were all there.  At first, it was nothing more than wanting to be close to Mom and Dad, but it quickly progressed to vigorous nose rubbing, then grimaces and sudden bursts of tears.  We gave him some dye-free Motrin, but when he started poking his fingers in his ears I knew I needed to make a quick batch of garlic oil right away.

There are a number of really effective commercially-prepared earache oils on the market (like this one from Mountain Rose Herbs) and if you're a better prepared sort of person than I am, you will probably already have one of them in your medicine cabinet.  However, if you're like me and your medicine cabinet contains a New York Islanders mug, several purple scrunchies, a canister of seven-year-old hair mousse and no earache oil, this simple recipe may mean a much better night for you and your sad little person.  Although most of the commercially available natural earache oils have other herbal ingredients, they all contain garlic.  Have you got a bulb handy?  Great!  Now, don't panic.  This is what you do next: 

• Get a small saucepan.  
• Put about 1/4 cup olive oil in it and turn the heat to medium-low.
• Crush about four cloves of garlic into the oil.  The stinkier and fresher the garlic, the better.  Use a garlic press if you've got one.  The idea is to make this oil fast since you have a crying kid in the house, so the more garlic and the finer it is crushed, the better.
  
• Stir the garlic-oil mixture vigorously, but keep the heat low.  You're not cooking the garlic, just extracting all of the good stuff.
  
• When the oil is good and stinky, take the pan off the heat.  Pour the oil into a glass jar, using a sieve to strain out the pieces of garlic.
  
• Cool the oil to body temperature (test a drop on your wrist, just like a baby's bottle).
• Using an eyedropper or an oral syringe, put a few drops into both ear canals, even if only one seems to hurt.  Try to have the child lie on their side so that the oil goes where it should.
  
• Use a small bit of cotton in each ear to... uh.. keep the oil in.  I guess.  This is what my mom always did for us as kids, so it must be the right thing to do.
• Refrigerate the remainder and use within a week.  Remember to reheat to a comfortable body temperature before any additional treatments.  If the earache vanishes, you've got a nice start on Wednesday's pasta sauce.  Win-win!
  
• Next time, have a bottle of earache oil ready to go in your medicine cabinet before you need it.  I'm looking at you, René.
  

We always have a hard time getting the oil in the first ear, but it must have had an immediately soothing effect because our son was much more cooperative with the second one.  Within ten minutes he wasn't crying anymore, and in another five he was asleep.  Today there was absolutely no sign of ear inflammation or illness.  The Motrin helped too, of course, but a lot of people (including me, based on many personal experiences) believe that garlic-based ear oils often get to the root cause of ear ache quickly, gently, and effectively.  I think we can all do without more 4 a.m. trips for amoxycillin.

Here's some interesting links on earaches and garlic:
http://www.garlic-central.com/earache.html
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/garlic_granules.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxHQvtuTWcY

(Please remember: I'm not a trained health professional, and this should not be taken for medical advice.  I did however take that picture all by myself.  Not bad, is it?)