Onions vs. Earache
Lifehack
The best a most effective agent against earache are onion drops. The onion with its generally antibacterial and antiseptically effect is able to kill the responsible bacteria very efficient. The main reason for this effect is allicin. Beside the already mentioned effectivity against diverse bacterial classes and its antiseptic properties, it is anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and even helps against diverse parasites very effectively.
For this, you can cut an onion in pieces a squeeze the juice with a garlic press. You should do this, with less powerful, but more with constant strength. This will lead to much more juice without pressing the onion pieces through the holes of the press. Now you can take up the pure onion juice with a small pipette to drop them directly into the ear. The affected person should lie and stay lying for a short while after the treatment, that the juice don't run out immediately. To prevent the juice from running out and to hold the ear and respectively the tympanum warm, you should plug a small dabber into the ear canal. But just very carefully, so that there can be an air interchange. This treatment should be repeated two to three times a day.
The result is outstanding! An amelioration normally occurs already after a few treatments. Even an inflammation of the middle ear is no huge problem for this agent, but needs a bit more time, of course. The only bad thing is, that the user smells a bit of onion. Besides the onion juice irritates the skin quite strong, why you should cream the skin around and in the entry of your ear canal with something dulcet for the skin between and after the treatment.
Who wants to support this agent or wants to cure the inflammation faster, can make an ear clearing (as divers do) several times a day. To do this, you hold your nose with two fingers and press carefully air into your eustachian tubes. The bacteria which are responsible for the inflammation in the ear are namely anaerobic. So they don't like oxygen. But through the ear clearing, the air reaches the effusion in the ear, which occurs by the inflammation. The bacteria don't like this, and they can be defeated faster. Unfortunately the ear clearing with a mature inflammation hurts quite strongly, even the first time. Further times should work much better and with less pain, after the pressure has gone after the first time. But if the pain is too strong, you should not force the clearing as this can create further damage. In this case you should just wait a day or two until the onion did its thing. Often its even enough to make several ear clearings, if you notice that earache is looming, to avoid a real inflammation and the treatment with onion juice.
Main-Sources:
- based on own observation (idea of my mom)
- Emily A. Wilson, Barbara Demmig-Adams, (2007) Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties of garlic and onions, Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 37 Issue: 3
- Serge Ankri, David Mirelman, (1999) Antimicrobial properties of allicin from garlic, Microbes and Infection, Volume 1, Issue 2