[cobluegirl]

I did get permission from the author to post the whole thing!!!

Yes, certainly, you have my permission. Thanks for doing it.
Richard Moskowitz

Adapted from a lecture presented at the 150th Anniversary of the foundation of the American Institute of Homeopathy, St. Moritz Hotel, New York, April 9, 1994, and published in the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy 87:137, Autumn 1994.

http://members.aol.com/doctorrmosk/a...ood_ear_1.html
Childhood Ear Infections
by Richard Moskowitz, M.D. (homeopath)

"With significant ear involvement, it is helpful to assure the parents that
antibiotic treatment is no more effective than placebo, [notes 8, 9, 10]
and that it produces more frequent relapses than giving symptomatic
treatment or simply allowing the children to recover on their own. [note
11] At that point it makes sense to offer homeopathic remedies, both as
needed for the acute episodes, and preventively, to minimize their number
and severity."

"Based on Koch's postulates and their immense predictive power, the war on
bacteria is nevertheless unwinnable even in thought"

"The epidemic of chronic ear disease must be attributed to two colossal
public health blunders: the war on the nasopharyngeal bacteria, fought with
antibiotics, tubes, and the cultivation of fear; and the vaccination of
entire populations against a growing list of diseases with no end in sight,
and no strategy or inclination to consider the long-term consequences.""

"It is just this congruence between the vaccine-related responses and the
original illness that suggests how vaccines act nonspecifically on the
immune system as a whole, and so implicates vaccination in the basic riddle
of chronicity itself. As new biotechnology companies produce new
genetically-engineered vaccines as fast as possible, the unrestricted war
against identifiable acute diseases has already added to the pre-existing
chronic disease burden a considerable array of DNA and RNA fragments
looking for chromosomes to recombine with and certain to engender new
diseases of which as yet we know nothing. In short, I am afraid that
doctors, like politicians, are here to stay."

Adapted from a lecture presented at the 150th Anniversary of the foundation
of the American Institute of Homeopathy, St. Moritz Hotel, New York, April
9, 1994, and published in the Journal of the American Institute of
Homeopathy 87:137, Autumn 1994.



Otitis media has become the commonest pediatric diagnosis made by
physicians who care for children in the United States, [note 1] with an
annual budget topping $2 billion in 1982, [note 2] and no relief in sight.
After decades of punishing warfare against the nasopharyngeal bacteria,
several medical journal articles have recently begun to question the safety
and effective-ness of antibiotics and tympanostomy and the wisdom of
continuing the purely military strategy based on them. [notes 3, 4, 5]

The present impasse creates the opportunity and the obligation for anyone
with a better idea to share it with the medical community and the general
public. Nobody need take my word for it that homeopathic remedies are
inexpensive, nontoxic, and effective even in advanced cases, or that
parents, children, and their caregivers deeply appreciate the non-invasive
philosophy governing their use. I will feel generously rewarded if more
laypeople and professionals will only try them and see for them-selves.

The following cases of childhood ear infections are intended to show how
the homeopathic viewpoint can assist both clinically, in the diagnosis and
treatment of these all-too-common ailments, and in the design of
ex-perimental research into the causal factors that promote and influence
them.

The cases that I have chosen are noteworthy not for any particular skill in
choosing the correct medicine, but in precisely the opposite sense, that
excellent results are regularly attainable with common remedies and
case-taking methods already well known to the serious student. Indeed, the
exemplary success of homeopathic remedies in treating such children is
itself an important clue to the mystery of pediatric otitis media in our time.

Case 1. C. Z., a girl of 3, had had recurrent ear infections since the age
of 5 or 6 months, typically associated with colds and the production of
thick, green mucus, and requiring antibiotics more or less continuously for
several months at a time. With no fever and at most a slight earache, she
often became irritable and cranky as the cold ended, when the pediatrician
often made the diagnosis by otoscope. Apart from mild eczema, the child was
seldom ill other-wise, and rarely had the fevers or acute illnesses to be
expected at her age. A strapping 8 lb. at birth, she fell short of 16 lb.
at 1 year and had remained small for her age. Teething was late, painful,
and difficult. She had had all the usual vaccines with no acute reaction.

I chose Calcarea Sulph.. 200, and two months later her mother reported the
best winter ever, with no ear infections and two light colds that were
quickly aborted with Calc. Sulph. 12C. I next saw her a year later, several
weeks after an acute episode of wheezing in the middle of a cold, for which
Pulsatilla 30X prescribed over the phone had worked splendidly. But though
she had been free of ear infections in all that time, she had had a fever
or two and was still plagued by quantities of thick greenish-yellow phlegm
in her nose and throat. After one dose of Sulphur 200, she never came back.
When I called recently, over five years later, in preparation for this
talk, her mother told me that she had had no more ear infections, and there
was no need to bring her back, since her general health had remained good,
and the usual first-aid remedies had been very effective for the usual
colds, fevers, and URI's that had developed along the way.

I want to add a few comments about this rather typical case. First, as I
reread it now, I doubt that either Calc. Sulph. or Sulphur was the best
remedy for this patient, since she was on the chilly side, and even after
treatment she continued to produce thick green phlegm and be subject to
rather frequent colds. I can't really defend or explain either prescription
at this point. Yet her mother was more than satisfied. The ear infections
disappeared and never came back, the long-term or constitutional issues
stayed in the background, and the remedies she herself came up with
continued to help without further assistance.

Notwithstanding the small remedies and "cured" cases that we like to parade
at our conferences, I must admit that the bulk of my reputation is built on
stories as generic and unspectacular as this one. I feel deeply grateful to
a method that adds feathers to my cap even when I bumble or fall short.

Second, my experience confirms numerous reports in the European literature
that most kids eventually outgrow their ear infections anyway, if simply
allowed to do so without further allopathic interference. [note 6]

Case 2. K. G.-S., a boy of 16 months, had already had five ear infections
and five rounds of antibiotics when I first saw him. Only the first episode
at six months was associated with fever (102.8° F.) and acute earache,
which subsided promptly once the eardrum had perforated and discharged the
pus that had accumulated behind it. Although weighing 7 lb. and appearing
normal and healthy at birth, he was slow to nurse, fell behind in his gross
motor development, had considerable discomfort with teething, and weighed
only 20 lb. by the time I first saw him. His only other complaint was a
chronic diarrhea that began on antibiotic treatment and had never gone
away. Despite intense, prolonged crying after the first and second DPT's,
the third was uneventful, as was the MMR.

One month after Sulphur 10M, his mother reported that the diarrhea had
worsened, becoming acute the first week after the remedy, but that, ever
since a fever of 103° F. on the third day, his highest so far, he had had
no symptoms of a cold or ear infection at all. Because of the diarrhea, I
gave him Calc. Carb. 10M, and by the next visit, two months later, he was
well, and had made good pro-gress developmentally, with no ear infections,
one brief cold for which Calc. Sulph. 12C worked well, and no more diarrhea.

I did not see him again for more than a year, four months after an episode
of acute otitis with no earache but a fever of 103°F. that had lasted a
full week on antibiotics. Apart from a few colds and a reappearance of
diarrhea at these times, he had had no more ear infections and was
continuing to grow and develop normally. Repeating Sulphur 10M, I had no
further news of him until I asked my receptionist to call recently, more
than five years later, and learned that he had been healthy, had had no ear
infections, and needed no antibiotics throughout that time. After buying a
remedy kit and studying on her own, the mother had found Belladonna to be
highly effective for his various colds and acute illnesses, and no longer
needed my help.

Once again, not for any elegant prescribing on my part, much less from any
notion that the child was "cured," I treasure cases like this one,because
our work together helped the mother to take charge of her son's health, and
to perform competently in that role. When my own learned prescriptions
fail, as they not seldom do, I have good reason to feel proud when the
parents themselves find the remedies that work best for their child.
Perhaps the most precious gift that homeopaths can offer is our
relationships with our patients, which can continue to grow and flourish
even when the search for the ideal remedy proves elusive.

Case 3. J. L., a girl of 6, had had frequent ear infections since the age
of five months, especially when exposed to other kids in crowded day care
or classroom settings. With little fever and no earache, the acute episodes
were typically mild, with red cheeks, loss of appetite, and grumpy or
irritable behavior. Also vulnerable to staying up late and to sudden
changes of weather, she seldom ran fevers of any degree, the highest being
around 102°F. with a "Strep throat," but she had already taken antibiotics
over two dozen times. Although vaccinated at the usual times without any
obvious reaction, she developed an ear infection soon after her last DPT
shot that had lasted for four months despite continuous antibiotics, and
had subsided only after chiropractic treatment.

Soon after Sulphur10M, she developed a generalized rash that lasted several
days, followed by a buoyant mood and more lively energy than she had shown
in a long time. At her first follow-up, she had a cold, with the usual red
cheeks, runny eye, temporary hearing loss, and the dreaded positive Strep
culture. It required a considerable leap of faith for her mother to let
this tiny cold run its course without antibiotics, using only Pulsatilla
30X as needed, and later buying a kit of remedies and a book to show her
how to use them. Two months later, her pediatrician was happy to report and
even take credit for the fact that her ears were uninfected for the first
time that anyone could remember.

The following winter she returned with mild symptoms, a low fever, and a
weakly positive Strep culture. As the illness subsided, I repeated Sulphur
10M, and by her next visit two months later the picture had changed to
recurrent sore throats, foul breath, enlarged tonsils, dark circles under
the eyes, and a loose, productive cough. This time I gave her Mercurius 1M,
followed by the 10M a month later, with excellent results until her next
cold many months later, when she developed the same swollen tonsils and
loose cough as before. After the third dose of Sulphur 10M, I lost track of
her for a few years, but the mother eventually called to report that she
had been well the whole time, with no major colds and no ear infections,
and a perfect attendance record at school for the year just finished. A few
months ago, I called to check up and learned that she was doing splendidly
in high school, with no more ear infections in the nine years since she had
begun using remedies.