I've used garlic to treat my own ear infections, each time with great success. If you don’t have access to a doctor, try the humble garlic for a cure and some relief.

If you’ve ever had an ear infection, you know how annoying it can be.

Ear infections are usually accompanied by a low-grade fever. You might experience pain in one or both ears. Depending on the severity of your ear infection, you might feel:

  • slight discomfort in the ear while swallowing
  • some pain when relieving air pressure within the ears (this happens whenever your altitude is changing, e.g. going down an elevator of a high-rise, in an airplane that’s ascending or descending, driving down a mountainous area, etc.)
  • the feeling of a “bubble” popping in your ear, particularly when you lie down. The popping is usually very painful.

Ear infections treated by a doctor will usually involve a round of powerful antibiotics and ear drops. It usually takes more than a week to resolve severe cases.

If you don’t have access to a doctor, there is an incredibly effective home remedy you can try — the humble garlic.

I have used garlic to treat my own ear infections, each time with great success.

What you’ll need

One clove of fresh garlic.

A small piece of fabric that is air-permeable like a tissue, some gauze or thin cloth (e.g. cut up an old cotton handkerchief or cheese cloth).

How to do it

1) Chop the garlic into tiny pieces. They should be small enough to fit into your ear.

2) Wrap a pinch of the finely chopped garlic in some gauze, tissue or thin cloth. Twist the end so that the garlic is encased tightly.

3) Place the wrapped garlic securely in your ear (with the twisted end sticking out of your ear). You don’t need to shove it in deep, just place it securely enough that it doesn’t fall out when you tilt your head.

This small wrapped bundle of chopped garlic should sit in your outer ear comfortably the same way that in-ear headphones would.

Remember that for this to work, you only need the fumes from the garlic — and not the actual garlic itself or garlic juice. In fact, garlic juice will burn, so do not squeeze garlic juice into your ear canal.

It’s best to do this right before you go to bed, so that the garlic fumes will work throughout the night while you sleep. It’s also a good idea to do it while you sleep for social reasons as most people may not understand why you have stuck garlic in your ears 🙂

Garlic works fairly quickly, and you should feel a lot less pain after a night with the garlic in your ears. For more severe cases, continue using fresh garlic a couple more nights to thoroughly kill the infection.

Why it works

Garlic is a powerful anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal ingredient.

The power of garlic is such that even its fumes have been clinically proven to kill bacteria such as:

– shigella flexneri (causes diarrhea),
– salmonella typhi (causes typhoid),
– shigella sonnei (causes bacillary dysentery),
– aeromonas hydrophila (causes gastroenteritis, is very resistant and hard to kill),
– branhamella catarrhalis (causes bronchitis, sinusitis, and laryngitis), and
– staphylococcus aureus (causes a wide a range of illnesses)

UPDATE [21 April 2017]: Read Jac’s invaluable comment where she describes how she used garlic to cure her severe middle ear infection that came with a lot of fluid and swollen glands. She reported being completely cured after just 5 days. Thanks for sharing, Jac!