Last week I received one of the rare calls that disturbs my night rest. A patient called me at 2 AM regarding his soon who had awaken with severe ear pain.

It took a few minutes to rise to full consciousness I remembered my favorite remedy for this. No, it is not some herbal magic concoction, but an old time drug combination that seems to work quite well.

The secret? Tylenol (acetaminophen), Motrin (ibuprofen) and Benadryl (diphenhyrdamine). The real magic is the Benadryl which has a sedating effect and allows the child to go back to sleep.

This combination does not clear up the infection but it does do several good things:

• Allows the parent, child and me to go back to sleep
• Provides time for evaluation of the problem in the morning when everyone is rested

Usually antibiotics are prescribed but breast milk dropped into the ear canal four or five times a day also works quite nicely.

It is also important to look at the cause. The reason why I hardly treat any ear infections is that most of my patients are on the diet program. In my experience food is a factor in well over 90% of ear infections.

This case was no different; the child was drinking milk, despite my many previous warnings not do to so. But everyone in life gets a choice, but many of us will have to pay the price in pain for some of our choices.

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