As we continue to battle cold and flu season I wanted to share something I do on myself and my daughters at the very first sign of an illness. It’s cheap, safe and simple and in my experience, it has ward off many an illness! What is it? Hydrogen Peroxide in the ear. Sounds crazy but there is scientific data supporting that viruses often enter the body via the ear. Many natural doctors claim patient after patient have been able to dodge flu and colds by using this method of defense. So amidst all the flu epidemic I hope I can arm you with another natural, safe method that could save you much discomfort as we await warmer weather!
According to Dr. Mercola-
“In 1928, Dr. Richard Simmons hypothesized that the cold virus entered your body through the ear canal and not the nose. His theory was dismissed by the medical community.
However, in 1938, German researchers had great success using hydrogen peroxide in the ear canal to treat colds and the flu.10Although the data was vastly ignored by the medical community, I’ve treated many patients who experienced great results with this treatment.
You must start treatment in the first 24 hours to have a significant impact on reducing the length of the cold.“
Directions:
- Lay on your side
- Using 3% hydrogen peroxide, wet a cotton ball and drip into the ear. You will hear crackling-reminds me of rice crispies and milk. I personally enjoy the sensation and find it comfortable. My children however do not and whine the entire time!
- Allow the crackling to subside then drain the HP from the ear. This typically takes 5-10 minutes. I hold a clean cotton ball to my ear to drain.
- Repeat on the opposite ear.
Just yesterday my youngest came home with a fever. You better believe that once I got her in bed I put HP in my ear in hopes to ward off the bug her body was clearly fighting! As I stated, it’s a cheap and simple practice that could save you from falling ill. I mean as a mother-if I go down-the whole ship sinks. For real.
HERE is a great article that breaks down natural remedies when the cold or flu strike.
As a side note-Hydrogen Peroxide also helps clean out the ear canal. Sticking Q-tips in the ear isn’t the best practice but the HP method is much more effective. Read more HERE. Try it and enjoy a much cleaner, clearer ear canal!
Always use 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. You can find it anywhere!
Good luck and stay well!
xx, Jenni
Is it OK to do on a 4 month old?
Celina-I did some digging around and am finding mixed reviews on it. Most resources mentioned diluting it with water 50/50. The sensation would probably be strange to a 4 mos. old because there is a lot of fizzing and bubbling. If I were you I would probably not do it if there wasn’t enough info. found.
I have researched the subject and believe there is enough evidence to recommend the therapy. I have also practiced it myself and have observed that if the discomfort in throat or nasal passage is on my left side the H2O2 will fizz way more in my left ear. It isn’t going to kill all the virus but it is giving it a good hit while my body gets it’s own resources together. Btw the body’s white blood cells emit H202 when they reach the site of an infection.
However I agree with the commenters that suggest that you dilute more when treating a child. Even at less than 1% you will hear the sound of anaerobic nasty’s like bacteria and virus popping. More frequent low doses with soothing words until they no longer hear popping noises and the ear canal is clean is better than whiny kids lol. The ocean is quite high in H2O2 so a swim in the sea and getting your head under the water is healthy (unless you are down coast from land outlet). I only commented because it is 2020 and the COVID-19 is scaring people and after being banned for a number of years H2O2 was allowed to be produced for sale according to USA legislation that agreed it was useful for fighting a bio-terrorism or pandemic threat.
Peter-Thanks for sharing-It’s very interesting that you hear more fizzing when you have discomfort. I hadn’t connected that. Sometimes I hear fizz and other times nothing. It is good advice to dilute for children if they have issues-mine hate the popping and fizzing sound!
Hi Peter, I used HP many times in the past with no side effects. Is it possible to use it on a daily basis?
The popping noise is acid reacting with alkaline and making bubbles, like what happens with baking powder. Viruses don’t “pop”.
Can it be used to defend gainst theCorona Virus?
Carl-This method of protection is controversial only because it’s efficiency is questionable but I will definitely doing this for myself and my children if the coronavirus spreads in my state.
I’ve been using peroxied in the ear for about 4 years now and haven’t had a cold or flu in that time. I used to get about 3 – 4 per year before I found out about peroxide, so I swear by this. Now I’m doing research what with the Corona Virus, and I will do this more in the coming months. I also use the Neilmed sinus rinse and put a little peroxide in there too. Thanks for the article, I’m surprised more people don’t know about this, it’s been a game changer for me.
Ben-You’re welcome! That’s great to know! I hope we find it is a good defense fo the corona virus.
You should consider using food grade hydrogen peroxide and reading more about it if you are using HP as a nasal spray. A GREAT book and easy read I highly recommend is called the
The One-Minute Cure: The Secret to Healing Virtually All Diseases
Abby-Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll check it out!
Thank you!
How often should I use Hydrogen Peroxide in my ear? And, can it be used safely, even if I don’t feel ill?
Paul-I don’t have an answer to this question. I don’t think it’s a good idea to do it very often. I have done it when I wasn’t sick because I feel like it cleans my ears out. I would say every 2 weeks is what I would personally do but I do not know for sure.
Here is an abstract from Russian study about use of hydrogen peroxide against viruses. Didn’t have the COVID-19 virus back then, but the conclusion is that 3% solution of H2O2 effectively killed all the viruses they tested for, within 1-30 minutes, including a different corona virus.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/203115
Do you know if isopropyl alcohol 99% would also be effective? I can’t get any hydrogen peroxide with all the COVID19 buying leaving shelves empty. I always used alcohol in the ears to prevent swimmers ear and I know alcohol kills viruses. Is there something special about hydrogen peroxide?
Laurie-Unfortunately I have no idea. I have used rubbing alcohol for swimmer’s ear as well but since hydrogen peroxide and alcohol are two different things, I personally wouldn’t do it. I was always under the impression that hydrogen peroxide is much more gentle but I’m really not 100% on that.