Old Remedies

The placebo effect works. No doubt about it.  There are always questions of degree, but our bodies do function better when our minds believe that a remedy will work.  …Which is why I made an onion poultice and a flax/lavender “bed buddy” for my son, instead of taking him to the doctor.  (He has his first middle-ear infection. The scope shows a bulging ear drum, and his fever and lethargy tell us that he is indeed in great pain.)

The comfort of the warm bundle, the calming scent of sweated onions, the gentle command of Mother saying, “Lie down. This will help,” –these are not biologically linked to the infection in the ear, but they do help the invalid to relax and wait for his body to overcome.  It always worked for my siblings and me when we had ear infections.

Friends suggested we take our son to the doctor for antibiotics, but antibiotics are overused, and studies have shown that antibiotics are hardly more effective than placebo drugs against otitis media. So I’ll use other remedies:  lots of attention, kind words, rest, vitamin C -loaded fruits, and hot packs for his ears.  After I ran out of onions in the night, I made a “bed buddy.”  I pulled out my sewing machine and a piece of flannel, and sewed a little pouch.  I filled it with flax seed and lavender (which I had in my pantry), sewed it shut, and microwaved it.  It’s far less messy than the onion poultice, and its scent is better.  Best of all, “it’s helping,” says my son.