Recovery without Antibiotics

Sorry to have taken so long to follow up the previous post on my double dip of strep throat. After I was better, I have been trying to catch up on everything I missed while being in profound pain.

First let me address the pain - the first round I was able to handle it using Motrin. The second strep infection was much harder. I took the prescription Hydrocodone that the doc prescribed for the first round. Gratefully, I only took about three tablets to hold off the pain so I could sleep.

I read somewhere that homeopathic medicine needed lots of doses - just keep stuff going in. Well, I made an excel sheet to coordinate all my natural meds. Here's a rundown of my "Get rid of strep throat homeopathically" plan and action:

To boost immunity:

• Vitamin A (7600 IU)
• Vitamin D (1200 IU)
• Echinacea/Goldenseal (50 drops in water 3X day)
• Cod liver oil (once a day)

Pain relief and healing

• Spray with a natural throat spray based on the immune properties of cow's milk (three sprays every hour)
• Old Indian Wild Cherry Bark Syrup (3X day) - high alcohol content - good before bed
• Chewing raw garlic clove (yes, it burns) with some honey on it (made me nauseous once, make sure you don't do this on an empty stomach) -sporadic - it hurt, I had to get up my gumption to do it.

Natural Antibiotics

• mercurious solubus - Pete is really concerned that I might have erred since this is a mercury derivative. But it really worked. In the future, if I catch an infection early, I would choose Belladonna. My research said that Belladonna is only effective if applied early. (these little tablets I took five at a time 3x a day)
• phytolacca decantra (same dosage as mercurious)

I was spraying, chewing, dissolving, swallowing, gargling etc. at least once an hour during waking hours. If the pain woke me at night, I would grab some mercurious and phytolacca, and take a few sprays. Overall, the pain was pretty much done in five days with some residual scratchiness. I kept up most of the meds, gradually decreasing the amounts over the next five days. Now, if I can just get used to the time change...

Sick....again

So I was telling you a few weeks ago about my flaming throat and the exciting experience of gargling thieves oil. That night, I barely slept and the next day went to see a mainstream doctor. I was really miserable and kind of afraid that I had strep throat.
The doctor took a look and a culture - he said my throat looked "nasty" and prescribed an antibiotic. I took the dose faithfully and in a couple of days was feeling a lot better. I was grateful - entertaining my friends that I went to a mainstream doc.
Until Sunday. A little over two weeks later (5 days after my last dose of amoxicillin) I get this scratchy throat that seems a little familiar. Now I am into my second day of pretty painful throat feelings. My glands are swollen and it hurts to swallow. My question is - what was "fixed" with the antibiotics?
So I did some research:
"In the USA alone, "over 3 million pounds of antibiotics are used every year on humans . . . enough to give every man, woman and child 10 teaspoons of pure antibiotics per year," write Null, Dean, Feldman, and Rasio. (5) "Almost half of patients with upper respiratory tract infections in the U.S. still receive antibiotics from their doctor" even though "the CDC warns that 90% of upper respiratory infections, including children's ear infections, are viral, and antibiotics don't treat viral infection. More than 40% of about 50 million prescriptions for antibiotics each year in physicians' offices were inappropriate." from doctor yourself.com
Further research and a call to a fellow natural mom - with lots more experience than I. So I'm kicking in several immune boosters - adding echinacea, golden seal and a throat spray called impro. My gut, my husband and my friend all agree that this (even strep) can be taken care of through natural means. I'll let you know how it goes. Prayers for healing and wisdom appreciated. Thanks!

See Part Two