ENT and no not the Ent’s from Lord of The Rings
The ENT system consists of the Ear, Nose and Throat. For the most part the system works great. But there are times that infection sets in and it needs to be treated.
Prior to the advent of Penicillin common Group A Strep was a killer of both children and adults. Group A strep. Parents the world over know its symptoms. Red throat, sometimes with blisters or white spots. Fever Cough and of course a very unhappy child. Treatment is antibiotics. But what about a time in the not so distant future when they may not be available? As I said above prior to the advent of Penicillin Strep could have been deadly. So what does the prepper do when little Johnnie comes down with it. My favorites is Colloidal silver, garlic and berberine mouth wash. Strep throat also has a nasty habit of turning to Scarlet fever. This is now getting serious. The symptoms of it besides the famous sand paper rash are:
- headaches
- a red, sore throat with white and yellow patches
- swollen tonsils
- nausea and vomiting
- swollen glands in the back of the neck
- a pale area of skin around lips
- a white tongue with red dots on the surface (strawberry tongue)
Untreated it can and has been fatal. For us folks from the 60’s and earlier remember the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder? Her sister Mary caught scarlet fever and went blind. Besides that other complications are:
- rheumatic fever
- kidney disease
- ear infections
- skin infections
- throat abscesses
- pneumonia
- arthritis
And death.
Sinus infections. My youngest gets them once in a while and the pain he has is unbearable. Sinus infections have many causes, Viral bacterial, fungal and the treatment is according to the type of infection. Viral infections are usually short lived slight to moderate pain and clear to light yellow drainage and lack of to a low grade fever (Less than 101).
Bacterial infections are very painful with the following symptoms
Symptoms are severe, including fever of 102°F or higher, and nasal discharge and facial pain enduring for at least three to four consecutive days at the beginning of illness- Symptoms or signs worsen, as characterized by new fever or headache developing or nasal discharge increasing, typically after a viral upper respiratory infection that lasted five or six days and initially seemed to improve.
- Discharge is thick green to brown and at times mixed with blood from damaged tissues
- Symptoms last for at least 10 days without any evidence of clinical improvement
Antibiotics again are the choice, and for bacterial and viral colloidal silver oral 1 ounce 2x a day and as a nasal spray have worked well.
Ear infections are the third part of this triad of pain.
Most infections start with a prior infection. Mucus pus or some combination block the Eustachian tube trapping fluid in it. Any bacteria in it will grow very well in this fertile environment and cause inflammation and pain. Left untreated they can be very dangerous causing loss of hearing, loss of balance. Both temporary and in severe cases permanent. Physical damage included perforations of the ear drum damage to the tiny bones in the inner ear and damage to the vestibulocochlear nerve and possible infection of the brain.
Okay. Now that I scared the crap out of you all the American Academy of Pediatrics has this recommendation:
Most ear infections – whether truly an infection or not – clear up without any treatment, so they recommend the wait-and-see approach for:
- Children 6 to 23 months with mild inner ear pain in one ear for less than 48 hours and a temperature less than 102.2 F (39 C)
- Children 24 months and older with mild inner ear pain in one or both ears for less than 48 hours and a temperature less than 102.2 F (39 C)
Now my favorite is warmed garlic oil or an oil infusion of mullein.
WARNING! LOOK IN THE EAR FIRST. IF THERE IS ANY PUS OR IF YOU CAN SEE A PERFORATION OF THE EAR DRUM
DO. NOT. PUT. ANYTHING. IN. IT
And again colloidal silver is MY agent of choice here. Warmed slightly and 2-3 drops 3x a day and 1 ounce by mouth 2x a day
We all tend to forget parts of our body, until they start given us trouble. In this weeks show we’ll go over more methods of coping with these nasty little bugs and also prevention.
I want to apologize to our readers for being late with the news letter. Still coping with left over blizzard and daily snow, but also trying to follow the mess up in Oregon. The Medic Shack is not going to take sides in this. But I am going to ask that we all pray for a peaceful end to it.
Join us Sunday 6pm Pacific 9 pm Eastern on the Survival Circle
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