Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (February 28, 2011) boldly pronounced that parents need to stop treating their kids for every fever that comes down the pike. This is great news, because: (1) most fevers are the body’s defense mechanism to burn out viruses; (2) most viruses in kids are self-limiting — the body clears them up on its own; (3) antibiotics are useless against viruses, and their use in these cases adds to the antibiotic abuse problem (in addition, many experts feel that too many doses of antibiotics in kids causes asthma); (4) fever treatment in the form of acetaminophen or aspirin has its own inherent side effects.
If your child gets a virus and runs a fever, you should always have CONGAPLEX by Standard Precess on hand. Give your child 1-2 capsules every 2 hours until the virus is knocked out. CONGAPLEX is one-third THYMEX (a thymus glandextract), which changes up the thymus gland, a crucial gland for fighting infections. It is also one-third CATAPLEX ACP, which is a combination of whole nutritional complexes of the real plant base vitamins A, C, and P (bioflavonoids) – the main cold, flu, and infection fighters. Finally, Congaplex is one-third CALCIUM LACTATE, which converts its calcium easily (in one step) in the body to the usable and alkalineform of calcium – calcium bicarbonate. Calcium is needed in every step of infection fighting, and it is naturally anti-fever to help keep your child comfortable while fighting viruses.
This protocol makes so much more sense than using acetaminophen alone to just force a fever down. And best yet, the more you use this protocol, the fewer colds your kids will get year-to-year, the more comfortable they can be while fighting colds, and the less time and more ease you will have helping them get over colds and flu. So kudos to the American Academy of Pediatrics for a truly sensible edict. I hope all doctors out there take this message to heart. And I hope all parents will keep the acetaminophen in the closet for real emergencies, and use the effective, natural, anti-colds and flu protocol described here.
In the April 11, 2011, issue of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, is a documented case study showing chiropractic helping a pregnant woman with a breech presentation pregnancy. A breech presentation is when the fetus is not in the proper head-down position as the delivery date is approaching.
According to the study, a breech presentation is created by “intrauterine constraint” which the authors describe as, “as any force external to the developing fetus that obstructs the normal movement of the fetus.”
The study reports that, in the United States, 86 percent of infants with breech presentation are delivered by cesarean which increases risks to the mother and the baby.
In this case, a 25-year-old woman went to a chiropractic office 31 weeks into her pregnancy. She was referred to the chiropractor by her obstetrician who had recently performed an ultrasound which confirmed the breech position. She was hoping to avoid a c-section birth.
A chiropractic examination was performed using the procedures of the “Webster Technique”. The Webster Technique is a specialized analysis and procedure developed by the late Dr. Larry Webster who was affectionately known as the “grandfather of chiropractic pediatrics”. A determination was made that this woman fit the protocol, and so the chiropractor applied the Webster Technique.
Within four hours of the first Webster Technique adjustment, the woman reported feeling “a lot of movement”. The woman commented that she felt the fetus had shifted from a breech position to the transverse position. After her second chiropractic visit, the woman had a prenatal visit at which the obstetrician confirmed that the fetus had turned to the proper vertex position. The study noted that the woman continued to receive chiropractic adjustments for resolution of low back pain until delivery. She eventually had an uncomplicated vaginal delivery.
Many parents bring their children into our office asking us to treat their ear infections. My first response is that the purpose of chiropractic care is not the treatment of conditions or diseases; rather, it is the restoration of normal body function. I explain that as chiropractors, we work with the nervous system via gentle spinal adjustments. We reduce stress related interference to the nervous system, thereby enhancing all overall body function. I further explain that all systems of the body—muscular, glandular, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, eliminatory, hormonal and immunological—depend on the optimal function and healing of the nervous system. With chiropractic, we focus on nerve system function to enhance all the body’s systems.
Because many parents are unaware of the variety of options available for the treatment of ear infections, I continue, “As a parent, you have some choices to make. You can either treat the ear infection, or not—that’s your right as a parent. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a watch-and-wait approach, because the evidence-based research about antibiotics is showing that not only are they ineffective at treating ear infections, but they will actually lead to repeated ear infections in your child.
As a parent, you can choose to treat or not to treat. “If you do choose to treat, you again have some options. You can treat the ear infections allopathically (the typical medical/ drug route) or naturally. If you choose to go the usual route to a pediatrician, she may take a watch-and-wait approach.
More likely, she will prescribe an antibiotic. Please understand that most ear infections are diagnosed with acute otitis media (AOM) which most often purely viral and self-limited. Therefore viral ear infection can not and should not be treated with antibiotics, because antibiotics are should only be used for bacterial infections.
If, however, you would prefer to treat the ear infections more naturally, there are several options for you to consider. A naturopath will explore herbs and nutrition; a homeopath will assess your child for a specific remedy; an acupuncturist will work with specific meridian points for healing.
“It is so important that you as a parent realize you have choices, and the right to make these choices for your family.
“Regardless of the choices you make, the chiropractic approach will improve your child’s inherent ability to function. Doesn’t it make sense to have your child function at an optimal level for healing no matter how (or if ) you choose to treat? We will assess your child’s spine, make the necessary adjustments to improve nerve system function and offer lifestyle suggestions to reduce nerve system stress for your child. We will also support any decision you make in your choice to treat the infection or not. This is your right as a parent, and we stand behind informed choice.”
It is important that parents realize the role chiropractic plays in whole-body wellness. So, too, is it important for parents to know, that chiropractic adjustments have allowed many children to express a greater state of health and wholeness, and that their systems were able to overcome repeated infections because neuro-immunology function was restored.
You might have noticed that chiropractic care is becoming an important part of birth preparation for many pregnant women these days. These women are realizing the benefits of regular chiropractic adjustments as they prepare for safer, easier birthing for both themselves and their babies. Chiropractors have actually cared for pregnant women for many years. Recently, however, with the increased interest in natural birthing, and in an effort to avoid having a C-section, a growing number of mothers have incorporated chiropractic into their prenatal care. To understand how chiropractic care can contribute to a better birth, it is important to look at the mother’s and baby’s biomechanics throughout pregnancy.
As a mother’s weight increases, her center of gravity shifts outward and her postural compensations respond accordingly. In addition, the ligament laxity necessary for birthing adds to instability in all of her joints, including her spine and pelvis.
Changes During Pregnancy
These hormonal and structural changes can lead to spinal and pelvic misalignment and the lower back pain, which many women experience during pregnancy. Lower back pain, in and of itself, is a burden to a woman’s daily function and quality of life. However, the misalignment of the spine and pelvis have a far more crucial consequence to a mother and her developing baby. In chiropractic, these misalignments are called subluxations. These insidious blockages cause stress overload to the mother’s nervous system, potentially impairing any of her vital systems and organs. During pregnancy, when a mother’s body systems are basically functioning for two, any interference to the nerve transmission supporting their function can be detrimental to her health and well-being, as well as the growing baby’s. Reducing this nerve system stress is a key ingredient for normal bodily function.
Another effect of spinal and pelvic misalignment throughout pregnancy is a condition imposed on the baby called intrauterine constraint. To understand this, it is important to look at the mother’s anatomy and see the relationship between her pelvic biomechanics and the baby’s positioning. The mother’s pelvis has various key ligaments attached that support her uterus. As the baby grows, their role becomes increasingly important. If her pelvis is in biomechanical balance during pregnancy, the uterus will be supported symmetrically. This allows the baby optimal room for movement in utero and provides it the opportunity to develop free of constraint. Conversely, if the woman’s sacrum (the major triangular bone in her pelvis) is out of alignment, it will affect the alignment of her entire pelvis. Misalignment of the pelvis will create an uneven pulling effect on the uterine ligaments, which explains why some women feel sensitivity on one side more than the other. Intrauterine constraint can create torsion in the uterus, limiting available space for the developing baby. This can inhibit the development of the baby’s spine.
Gross misalignment conditions like torticollis create excessive stress to the baby’s developing neuromuscular system, and can impair his nervous system and adversely affect virtually any of the body’s systems and functions.
Intrauterine constraint not only compromises fetal positioning, but can also impair the future health of the baby. The optimal position for birth is anterior vertex (rear-facing, head down). When a baby presents breech or posterior, it often is the result of an imbalance in the mother’s pelvis, forcing the baby to assume a compromised position.
Even if the baby is vertex, the head may be tilted off to one side. This tilting is termed “ascynclitic.” While this position is less troublesome than breech or posterior, it could still result in a lengthier, less comfortable and more complicated birth. Ideally, the baby’s neck should be flexed forward without a tilt to either side.
The body’s intelligence wants the easiest route out for the baby. If mother’s biomechanics are compromised, obstetric interventions are more likely to be recommended and implemented. Each and every intervention has significant side effects for both mother and baby. Many drugs and procedures are used “off label,” meaning the FDA has not approved them for their obstetric application. Furthermore, such interventions are often not evidence-based, and therefore their effectiveness is questionable, at best.
Preventing Interventions
All obstetrical interventions increase the risk of subsequent and more serious procedures. For example, with any intervention (e.g. Pitocin, epidural anaesthesia, etc.), the risk of mechanical delivery (the use of forceps and vacuum extraction) and surgical delivery (C-section) multiplies substantially. These unnatural modes of delivery are risky and traumatic to both mother and baby. Proper prenatal chiropractic care, however, is a valuable tool to decrease the reliance on these invasive delivery procedures.
Medically classified birth trauma is when the baby has fractured clavicle and humeral bones, overt neuromuscular damage such as Erb’s and Bell’s palsy, or severe spinal cord injury. Chiropractic classification of birth trauma is much more specific and distinct. Evidence of birth trauma is when the baby has misalignments to his or her spine affecting nerve system function. These less obvious traumas can be detected by doctors of chiropractic as soon as a child is born. The unique expertise of chiropractors can detect and correct these misalignments with a gentle touch to the baby’s cranium and spine. When parents understand the importance of nerve system function and the potential trauma of birth, they recognize the importance of having their infants checked immediately after birth.
Fortunately, today’s parents are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the mother’s pelvic biomechanics throughout pregnancy. Giving it due attention will not only result in a more comfortable pregnancy, but will optimize the baby’s developing systems in utero and contribute toward achieving optimal fetal positioning for a safer and easier birth for both mother and baby.
As loving and caring parents, we naturally want to help our children feel better when the inevitable fevers, colds, and illnesses arise. Many of us will reach for popular over-the-counter remedies to suppress fever and alleviate symptoms, in the belief that these products are reliable. Yet, it is important to recognize that by suppressing fever, we are suppressing a critical immune response—one that has a necessary function in fighting illness.
I can attest to the enormous fear that fever provokes in parents. By far, the greatest number of after-hours telephone calls are questions regarding the “management” of fever with drugs. Undue attention to a child’s temperature and mishandling of fevers generate a great deal of unwarranted parental anxiety, avoidable medical complications, and countless calls and costly visits to doctors and emergency rooms. As long as we remain captive to the medical myth that nature made a mistake in causing a fever during illness, our children will be put at risk.
Yes, fever can be uncomfortable. A child with a high fever will often seem irritable, lethargic, glassy eyed, and listless. This alerts you that the body is mobilizing defense against disease and you, in turn, must care for your child in the most appropriate way: encouraging rest and fluids. On the other hand, there may be no reason to treat even a high fever if your child seems happy, active and alert.
The pervasive belief that fever is dangerous and must be suppressed disregards the scientific evidence demonstrating its beneficial role in inflammatory diseases. The immune system depends on the fever to accomplish myriad tasks when gearing up to fight infections.
“Fever phobia” is made worse by hearing myths about children being severely harmed by having a high fever. Many people know of children or adults who had a high fever and ended up with some sort of injury…brain damage or hearing loss. These problems are never caused by fever. The likely explanation is that they had a serious illness that gave them a fever, but it was the illness that caused the brain damage or other result. The fever was only the body’s attempt to fight the infection.
“Doctors do a great disservice to you and your child when they prescribe drugs to reduce fever,” writes Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, pediatrician and author of How to Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor. “Fever phobia is a disease of pediatricians, not parents, and to the extent that parents are victimized by it, doctors are at fault.” Parents are left to fear that their child’s temperature will keep rising unless measures are taken to control it. Yet, reducing the child’s temperature will do nothing to make the child well, and our bodies have a built-in mechanism that will prevent an infection-induced temperature from reaching dangerous levels. Mendelsohn emphasizes that “only in the case of heatstroke, poisoning, or other externally caused fevers is this body mechanism overwhelmed and inoperative.”
“Fever: Your Body’s Defense Against Disease” is the title of Chapter 7 in Dr. Mendelsohn’s book, an excellent resource for parents seeking a balanced and accurate perspective of the beneficial role of fevers in childhood. Dr. Mendelsohn condemns the useless and dangerous practice of fever suppression through drugs, and counters the myth that high fever causes seizures. “Many parents are fearful of fevers because they have witnessed a convulsive seizure and believe their child may experience one if the body temperature is allowed to rise too high. High fevers do not cause convulsions. They result when the temperature rises at an extremely rapid rate and are relatively uncommon.” Only a small percentage of children with high fever experience convulsions, and those who do suffer them do not have any aftereffects. Simple febrile seizures are self-limited and harmless, although they are one of the most frightening things that a parent can witness.
Dr. Mendelsohn continues, “Fevers produced by viral or bacterial infections will not cause brain damage or permanent physical harm. Fevers are a common symptom in children and are not an indication of serious illness unless associated with major changes in appearance and behavior or other additional symptoms such as respiratory difficulty, extreme listlessness, or loss of consciousness. The height of fever is not a measure of the severity of the illness.” A child who appears very ill with a fever of 101°F would be much more of a concern to me than a child who feels fine, is drinking and playing, but has a fever of 105°F.
Numerous studies have shown that fever enhances the immune response by disabling bacteria and viruses. Also, with a rise in temperature, iron is removed from the blood and stored in the liver, further disabling the rate at which bacteria can multiply.
As a note of caution, when a fever arises in a newborn in the first few weeks after birth, there is a heightened level of concern. “Newborn babies may suffer infections related to obstetrical interventions during delivery, …aspiration pneumonia from amniotic fluid forced into the lungs because of overmedication of the mother during delivery…and exposure to the legion of germs that abound in the hospital itself,” writes Dr. Mendelsohn. Parents are advised to seek medical help if a baby runs a fever in the first two months after birth. As breastfeeding plays a critical role in preventing infections in infants, breastfed babies are superbly protected against a vast range of pathogens and have a lesser risk of developing fevers in the newborn phase.
Mistrust of natural processes and reliance on drug-oriented medicine has obscured parents’ understanding of the importance of childhood illnesses and the necessity of fever as a vital aspect of the immune system. When a child has a fever, it is not necessary to artificially lower the temperature. It is, however, important for the child to take in plenty of fluids, because in this time of elevated body temperature, it is easy to become dehydrated. Broth, liquid electrolytes, and fruit juices are great choices because they replace electrolytes that are used up in the fever process. Rest during times of fever will allow the body to use its energy to fight off infection.
Make a commitment to spend time with your sick child. Any time that you feel concerned about the way your child is acting, or if your instinct is that something is wrong, do not hesitate to call your doctor.
