Drug-free Wellness for Infants and Children
The study of holistic pediatrics can never be complete without telling
parents about the causes of health problems in children and most importantly, what they can do to preempt the health issues.
Dr. Robert Mendelsohn MD urges parents to trust their own instincts
when it comes to their child’s health and says that for minor illness, parents can
often handle it better than a doctor could.
The current system of conventional health care can be enormously frustrating
and lacking in real answers for children diagnosed with asthma, autism, multiple
allergies, attention deficit disorder, recurring infections, or other chronic
health problems. Visits to the doctor may result in drug prescriptions with which
you may not feel comfortable. The medication may keep the symptoms in check, but
what you really want is for your child to completely heal and reclaim health and
vitality. Finding a holistic doctor can be important, but good health really
begins home with breastfeeding,
good nutrition, quality food, a non-toxic
environment and natural remedies to strengthen immunity.
Treating Children's Allergies and Environmental Illness
In her breakthrough book, Is
This Your Child's World?”, Dr. Rapp MD identifies the major symptoms
of potentially unrecognized allergies in children and adults, suggesting
possible sensitivities to foods or chemicals, and to dust, mold and pollen
triggering asthma symptoms. Allergies
are much more than high fever, and itchy skin. It is possible
to identify allergies by simply looking at someone.
At times it is surprisingly
easy to find and eliminate the cause. The typical clues of allergies
and environmental illness can include any combination of the following:
Rubbing Nose Upwards; Eye Wrinkles; Dark Eye Circles Sudden Aggression;
Scarlet Earlobes A Spacey Look; Extreme Activity Changes Wiggly Legs;
Red Cheeks A Mottled Tongue.
For more than twenty-five years, Dr. Doris Rapp, MD, has been treating
children whose lives have been hampered sometimes critically
by allergies and chemical sensitivities. Everyone knows about
the role of allergies in problems such as asthma and hay fever ,
but very few people are aware of the staggering variety and
extent of the illnesses triggered by allergic responses and
sensitivities to substances of various kinds, natural and (increasingly)
unnatural. Dr. Rapp knows, and has probably done more than any
other person to make the general public more able to understand
and cope with allergies of all kinds. She has stepped back for
now from her incredibly demanding private
practice, but is as active as ever in trying to spread understanding
of and effective responses to allergies.
Doris Rapp offers a simple yet
effective approach to handling "problem" children. She teaches shows parents how to identify the common foods,
chemicals, or common allergic substances that could be the culprits
that cause some children or adults to feel unwell or act inappropriately.
If your child is always sick, hyperactive, a slow learner, or cranky,
the first question you should ask is not
"What drug should be prescribed?"
or "What have I done wrong as a parent?" Instead, find out the cause.
Dr. Rapp gives sensible suggestions about how these reactions to foods
and environmental factors can be recognized, prevented, and treated.
With this information, many affected children should feel, act, behave,
and learn better. If you can detect unsuspected environmental illness
in your child--or yourself--you can change your lives so you're more
content, happy, and free of illness.
Malnutrition Influence Children Behavioral Disorder
In 1996, Laura J. Stevens, of the Department of Foods
and Nutrition, Purdue University, and co-investigators published an
extremely important paper in Physiology and Behavior. The researchers
found that boys with lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood
showed more problems with behavior, learning, and health than those
with higher levels of total omega-3 fatty acids.
Conventional Drugs may impair immune function
Mark Stengler ND - "Conventional medicine seeks to reduce
this inflammation by using anti-inflammatory medications, or use pharmaceutical
inhalants to temporarily dilate the passageway. There are two limitations
to this approach. Firstly, every drug has the risk of side effects.
Secondly, the drug approach does not offer a long term solution. In
my opinion, there are natural approaches that work to treat the cause
of asthma and offer long term success."
Public Health Advisory for Antidepressants
FDA Issues Public Health Advisory on Cautions for Use of Antidepressants in Adults and Children.
There
are literally tens of millions of American men, women and children that
suffer from some level of emotional disturbance. Although day-to-day
stress can be considered a precipitating factor, there are multiple
studies in the medical literature indicating that proper nutrition is
critical to maintaining emotional health. Stress, anxiety, tension and
depression are intimately connected with most illness.
The Food and Drug Administration today issued
a Public Health Advisory that provides further cautions to physicians,
their patients, and families and caregivers of patients about the need
to closely monitor both adults and children with depression. The drugs under
review include bupropion, citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine,
mirtazapine, nefazodone, paroxetine, sertraline, escitalopram and venlafaxine.
It should be noted that the only drug that has received approval for
use in children with major depressive disorder is fluoxetine (Prozac).
According to the first comprehensive scientific review to include
all available studies, including negative data that have long been withheld
from public scrutiny by the pharmaceutical industry, four popular antidepressants
being used to treat thousands of depressed American children are unsafe,
ineffective or both. Those antidepressants are: Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Celexa.
This is damning evidence of the drug companies' patent disregard
for the safety of humans and focus on profits. GlaxoSmithKline was found
to be concealing evidence that shows that these drugs do not benefit
children in any way and only increase their risk of killing themselves.
This was confirmed in an article in the Canadian Medical
Journal. Drug companies do the research and learn that the drugs
don't work, yet are willing to sell and market them to children even
when it is clear that they are causing many children to commit suicide.
Why Children and Teens Should Stay Away From Cell Phones
While years ago scientists were dismissive of any risks associated with cell phone
use, the accumulated amounts of studies showing health risks for long-term
users now paint an entirely different picture. In addition to the Toronto
Department of Health advisory, the U.K., Belgium, Germany, France and
Russia have already introduced precautionary policies regarding cell
phone usage due to potential health risks. For example, one Swedish
review of 11 studies found that using your cell phone for 10 years or
longer will double your risk of getting a tumor on a nerve connecting
your ear to your brain (acoustic neuroma). And because children have
thinner skulls than adults, and their nervous systems are still developing,
children are particularly vulnerable to this type of tumor and should
not use cell phones at all.
Related: Electromagnetic pollution is linked to adverse health effects
Dealing with the fever Naturally
A fever is a helpful and necessary part of the process of healing
in a childhood illness, in any illness for that matter. During a fever
the healing reactions of the body are speeded up; the heart beats faster, carrying the blood more
quickly to all the organs; respiration is quicker, increasing oxygen
intake: and perspiration increases, helping the body to cool down naturally.
A high temperature generally indicates that the body's defense mechanism
is fighting an infection and temperature variations indicate how it
is coping. Attempts to suppress or control a fever artificially with
Tylenol, or even with homeopathic remedies, are likely to confuse the
body’s natural efforts to heal itself.
Very high fevers - those above 106°F (41°C) - can harm the heart
and brain. Some authorities, however, say that fever is unlikely to
cause brain damage in a previously healthy child. During most infections,
the brain keeps body temperature at or below 104°F (40°C). So in most
- not all - cases, you don't need to be afraid that your child's temperature
is going to continue to rise above that point.
Fever in Children may be beneficial
It may help parents to remember that fever is only one part of the
picture of an illness. In fact, for children under eight years of age,
and especially for infants, the severity of a fever is an unreliable
indicator of the severity of the child's illness. For example, infants
and toddlers can be very sick with a low or even subnormal temperature.
Conversely, children three to eight years old can be running about quite
cheerfully with a fairly impressive fever.
Fever increases the amount of interferon (a natural antiviral and
anticancer substance) in the blood. A mild fever also increases the
white blood cells that kill cells infected with viruses, fungi, and
cancer, and improves the ability of certain white blood cells to destroy
bacteria and infected cells. Fever also impairs the replication of many
bacteria and viruses.
A moderate fever is a friend, but not one you want to spend a
lot of time with. So it makes sense to avoid suppressing moderate fevers
with drugs, while continuing to monitor your child for dramatic increases
in temperature and worsening of any other of his symptoms.
Conventional doctors have been taught to treat every symptom that comes
to their attention. For instance, medication is often prescribed to
reduce childhood fever. Yet fever is the body's mechanism for destroying
viruses and bacteria. "If we do no more than take the edge off the fever
to make the child comfortable," says Dr. Smith, "we may be prolonging the illness."
According to Dr. Moskowitz, producing a fever is one of the signs of a healthy
child. The remedies Dr.Moskowitz recommends do not take away fever,
but rather help the immnue system to finish it's job of healing. These
remedies may include Aconite, Belladonna, Ferrum Phosphate, Gelsemium,
Pulsatilla and Bryonia.
Dr. Sodhi also considers a fever below 102 F to be beneficial in
a child, and he does not like to give children medication such as aspirin
or tylenol for it. He does recommend a light, nutritious diet, and cold
sponging or homeopathic remedies such as Belladona, Aconite and Sulfur.
According to Dr. Ni, traditional Chinese medicine treats a fever
by inducing sweating and treating the accompanying infection. A hot
bath can be used to induce a fever.
David Hoffman believes that a fever may be beneficial in a young
child, and that a low-grade fever does not need to be reduced. The child
should be given a lot of support and comfort along with plenty of fluids.
Herbal teas such as peppermint, elder flower and even yarrow will help
the body cope with the fever, but will not suppress it the way aspirin does.
The ChildThe Child's Common Cold
Because your child's immune system is in the process of developing,
it is not unusual for a child to seem to catch a cold week after week.
As your child grows, her immune defenses evolve from an uncoordinated
series of safeguards to an intricate set of responses designed to defend
the body against foreign substances. In the meantime, boosting your
child's immune system with diet and herbs can lessen the frequency of illness.
Related:
How to Boost Kids Immune System in 2020
An Encyclopedia of Natural Healing for Children and Infants user-friendly volume by one of the most highly
trained medical herbalists in America has all the information parents
need to safeguard and improve the health of their babies and children with proper diet, supplementation and herbs. Particular emphasis
is placed on strengthening the young immune system, with chapters on
managing allergies and avoiding the damaging overuse of antibiotics.
The heart of the book features an A-to-Z compilation of more than 50
common childhood complaints from colic and cradle cap to warts and whooping
cough, with remedies for easing discomfort and healing from the inside out.
Children with Cancer
In memory of our
son, Alexander Horwin On August 10, 1998 at age two, our son Alexander
Horwin was diagnosed with the most common pediatric brain tumor, medulloblastoma.
After Alexander endured two brain surgeries, my husband and I located
the best non-toxic therapy that had proven successful in treating brain
cancer.
However, on September 21, 1998, the FDA denied Alexander
access to this potentially life-saving treatment. The oncologists
told us that without their "state-of-the-art" chemotherapy, the cancer
would soon return. We knew nothing of the history, efficacy and actual
danger of chemotherapy but instinctively knew it was a poor choice for
therapy. Alexander completed his third month of chemotherapy in December
1998 and died on January 31, 1999. He was just two and a half years old.
Judges can constitutionally order controversial
drugs to be given to a child over the opposition of his parents. Parents
are medicating their children for fear of having them hauled away by
Child Protective Services.
Related: Mom saved her 4 year old daughter from
Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with natural diet and
natural supplement that boosts the immune system
Questioning Chemotherapy
The "state-of-the-art" chemo protocol that the oncologists had administered
to our son had proven its ineffectiveness in pediatric brain tumors
many years before. In fact, in 1994, the exact same chemo drugs Alexander
received in 1998 had been administered to children the same age with
the same brain tumor (medulloblastoma) as Alexander. This experiment
proved so unsuccessful that tumors spread within five months and the
oncologists terminated the protocol. It was incredible to us to discover
that chemotherapy that had already proven so ineffective that it required
termination was being presented to parents as "state of the art" years
later.
We were never informed about the failure of this therapy.
We also discovered that we weren't the only parents being purposefully
misinformed. Today, parents are still being misled and children with
brain cancer are still getting these same toxic drugs that have proven
their ineffectiveness in the past. But even if you are informed that
orthodox therapy does not work you still may not have a choice. When
we hesitated to bring Alexander in for chemo the oncologists were already
gearing up to take him from us by court order. Learn more:
read about the Horwin's
story and their journey into research.
Breaking the Antibiotic Habit
Lack of healthy bacteria in the intestines caused by antibiotics creates
an environment in which pieces of partially digested proteins are able
to penetrate the barrier of the intestinal lining.
When these abnormal proteins enter the blood the body properly reacts to them as foreign
substances. The foreign proteins cause an antigen antibody reaction
producing symptoms and setting the stage for a possible auto-immune
illness to develop. Allergies can also appear along with impaired
absorption of nutrients which may lead to poor health."
In a clinical study, a pediatrician
reports an 84% reduction in antibiotic use when children used
an Immune Booster natural immune enhancing substances. "Excessive
antibiotics in children almost certainly stops normal maturation
of a healthy immune system. - James Howenstine, MD.
"Antibiotics and ear tubes treat symptoms of a problem. They do not
strengthen the organism so that it can fight the infection itself, nor
do they make the organism less resistant to future infection."
Drug resistant bacteria
After 40 years of pushing antibiotics for any ailment, physicians
are now confronting bacteria that have built defenses against those
same drugs. Some infectious bacteria that were once treatable are stronger
and often deadly. The reappearance of highly infectious bacteria is
caused in part by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, but the resilience
of bacteria also stems from the ingenious biochemistry of the microorganisms
themselves. To survive, microorganisms and fungi mutate into resistant
strains.
Most Ear Infections Clear Up Without Antibiotics
A newly released report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggests that children
may not always need antibiotics to treat a middle ear infection (otitis media).
Taking Out Adenoids Does NOT Help Ear Infections - Conclusions from
a study showed that removal of the adenoids, often associated with swollen
tonsils, as the first surgical treatment with children the ages of 10
to 24 months with recurrent middle ear infections, was not effective
in preventing further episodes.
British Medical Journal February 28, 2004; 328:487 (Free Full-Text Article)
Think twice before giving Steroids to your children. New research shows that
permanent damage is immediate and devastating. Studies show that
steroids
cause permanent, debilitating effects after a single dosage. 'Steroids
are probably the most sleazy of modern day medications,' says John Mills,
former professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco
and chief of infectious diseases at San Francisco General Hospital.
According to a Harvard study, Americans now pay more visits to alternative
practitioners in a year than they do to primary care physicians....
They're spending $250 million a year on homeopathic remedies, and close
to $4 billion on nutritional supplements.... But is this stuff safe
for kids?" Yes, claim physicians Ditchek and Greenfield, practitioners
of "integrative pediatrics" There is a lot you can do, inexpensively
at home, to improve your children's health.
Contaminants In Childhood Vaccines
"Ever since mass
vaccination of infants began, reports of serious brain, cardiovascular, metabolic and other injuries
started filling pages of medical journals. In fact, pertussis vaccine has been used to induce
encephalomyelitis, which is characterized by brain swelling and hemorrhaging" - Viera Scheibner, PhD
Bart Classen, a Maryland physician, published data showing that diabetes rates rose significantly in New Zealand
following a massive hepatitis B vaccine campaign in young
children, and that diabetes rates also went up sharply in Finland after three new childhood vaccines were introduced.
The FDA admits that the 12,000 reports it receives annually on pharmacologic
side effects from vaccines represent only
a fraction of what actually occurs. Congressman is calling for criminal
penalties for any government agency that knew about the dangers of
thimerosal in vaccines and did nothing to protect American children.
Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana) during Congressional Hearing:
"You mean to tell me that since 1929, we've been using Thimerosal, and
the only test that you know of is from 1929, and every one of those
people had mennigitis, and they all died?" For nearly an hour, Burton
repeatedly asked FDA and CDC officials what they knew and when they
knew it. (Thimerosal contains a related mercury compound called ethyl
mercury. Mercury is a toxic metal that can cause immune, sensory, neurological,
motor, and behavioral dysfunctions.)
Do your children use sugar free products?
H. J. Roberts, M.D.: "I have observed severe intellectual
deterioration associated with the use of aspartame products
(NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful/Canderal/Benevia,
etc.) It was usually manifest as great difficulty in reading and writing,
obvious problems with memory and grossly impaired orientation to time, place and person."
James Bowen, M.D. told the FDA years ago "Every
known metabolite of aspartame is of marked or questionable toxicity
and patently unsafe for human use." In Aspartame Murders Infants he
said: "At every point in the fertility process
aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful/Canderal/Benevia,
etc.) destroys. ....It ruins female sexual response and induces
male sexual dysfunction. Beyond this, aspartame disrupts fetal development
by aborting it or inducing defects. And if a live child is born aspartame
may have heinously damaged the DNA of the baby cursing future generation."
See his paper on Sperm Warfare. We are now taking case histories for
class action on aspartame starting with seizures, brain tumors, eye
deterioration and blindness, etc.
Infant Circumcision Shown to be Painful
Studies have shown that circumcision, is far from being a harmless and painless
procedure, is one of the most painful procedures that can be performed
on an infant and has potentially far-reaching detrimental physical and
psychological consequences.
Children at Risk for Dental Fluorisis
Have you seen children and young adults among your family and friends
with those whitish spots or flecks on their teeth or, in more extreme
cases, dark streaks that look like decay? This is the effect of
dental fluorosis, the first visible
sign of overexposure to fluoride. In some communities, the incidence of dental fluorosis is 30 to 60 percent or
more. Fluoride ingestion from mouth rinses and dentifrices in children
is extremely hazardous to biological development, life span and general
health. Research from China has shown a correlation between exposure
to low doses of fluoride and diminished IQ in children.
Research is beginning to show that the cavity-fighting power of fluoride
may have been overstated. Recent studies in the Journal of Dental Research
conclude that tooth decay rates in Western Europe, which is 98 percent
unfluoridated, have declined as much as they have in the United States
in recent decades. Indeed, it's only in the United States that fluoride
is championed by the government.
Most European nations -- including Germany, France, Sweden
and Holland -- prohibit fluoride on public health grounds.