Lachie has been quite sick this week with an ear infection and subsequent ruptured ear drum. I'd decided to not take him to the doctors for the ear infection, and tackle it without antibiotics. We continued on that path after his ear drum ruptured. A ruptured ear drum can't be fixed with antibiotics anyway.
But his ear infection continued for several days. We treated him with lots of sleep, ibuprofen, heat packs on his ear for pain, and gentle tea tree oil and lavender oil massages around the ear area (nothing in the ear).
On Tuesday night (four nights after the ear drum ruptured) he seemed worse and I started to worry that I'd done the wrong thing. I decided that if he woke up Wednesday still really sick, I'd take him to the doctor. A little mummy guilt crept in as I watched him sleep.
Jamie cried that night. He wanted his brother and his best friend back. I wanted my joking, happy little boy back too.
That night, he slept through for the first time since the Wednesday before.
Wednesday morning, he woke brighter, ate a little breaky and went to lay on the couch. I had a meeting next door, so went and left him resting. I got some odd looks from other parents about the lack of antibiotics.
He ate small but frequent amounts that day, and didn't ask for pain relief until 2.30pm, when he had a heat pack and settled for a sleep.
When he woke, his brother was home from school and they played. Jamie was happy.
He went to bed early again that night, but again, no pain relief. And yesterday, he went back to school.
Someone outright asked me if I felt guilty for not giving him antibiotics. I held my ground and told them how proud I was of him for being brave and that we believe we've done the right thing - his own body fought off the infection, and it can do it again if it needs to.
He still has a discharge from his ear and we keep it covered, but he was feeling much better yesterday. School wore him out and he had a very early night.
This morning, when he came to the kitchen, he was bright and bubbly, describing in full detail the scene he'd just read in his novel. It felt so good to see him back to himself again.
His strong little body fought off the baddies. His immune system is now more equipped than it used to be. And I feel pleased that we took the alternative route, but also relieved to have my smiling, happy little boy back again.
Most good doctors will not prescribe antibiotics nowadays anyhow - so if you'd taken him to the doctor I think they would have waited it out anyhow, unless he had a massive fever and was obviously struggling with the infection. I know that none of the doctors we see go for antibiotics unless it is a sustained (over the normal amount of time) issue or if you have to attend emergency they will pop them into you as par for the course.
ReplyDeleteI had ruptured eardrums a number of times when I was a kid and I'm pretty sure there were no antibiotics or doctors involved, just healing and bed rest.
You've got to go with what is right for your family and the fact that you admitted to doubting yourself gives me all the more respect for you because you were honest about your journey.
So good to hear he is back up and bouncing again - one thing I do remember is that my mum took me to the doc after my eardrums healed to have a look see and check for hearing issues - that was the only thing she needed to make her feel like we had closure on that round of my various illnesses lol If you are still worried or wondering a check up can put those worries to rest.
Many blessings.
It's a wonderful feeling when us mothers decide to take a more thoughtful approach to care and sickness. I always take my son to the doctors and then decide after the check up whether to take conventional medicine if any is at all prescribed or to take the complimentary route. I have sought a homeopath for matters the doctor could not fix and we received successful care. My son has only had antibiotics once in years for a severe ear ache. After that I gave him high doses of vitamin C in winter. However he had a doctors appointment for another reason and they discovered he had a large perforated ear drum which must of burst when I was in hospital giving birth to my second son and he didn't complain to anyone about a sore ear. He had started swimming lessons and the doctor said it was important that he does not immerse his head in water until we see an ear specialist because he could loose some hearing. Since then I give him Olive Leaf Extract, cut out dairy and make him blow his nose instead of sniffing constantly. I believe this will make a difference to ward off future ear aches. I thought I better share this story with you. Lovely blog.
ReplyDelete