Sacral dimple ultrasound natural alternative?

[jonathan75]

I know everyone says how safe ultrasounds are. I hear "it is just sound waves" all to many times. But based on my research I don't feel they are safe. We avoided them during pregnancy and don't want to do it now either. Our sons dimple is less then 5mm total width and 4.5cm from his anus and centered. There is no tuft of hair but you can't see the end of it. There is no discharge or other signs of problems. He kicks well and has strong legs. He is now a month old and he can stand for brief moments if you help balance him so he looks healthy. Is there any way we can test for a tethered cord or spina bifida without a ultrasound or even worse an MRI?

Thanks

[KatWrangler]

No there is not. Ultrasound is what they normally use for little babies. After a few months old they use MRI. It is the ONLY way to detect tethered cord and or anamolies of the spinal column.

The slight risk of an Ultrasound should not deter you from finding out if your child has something wrong. You need to understand with tethered cord it is attached. As the child grows the spinal cord becomes stretched which cause nerve damage. Nerve damage for the most part is irreverseable. We are talking bladder, bowel, lower extremities etc.

My child has Lipomyelomeningocele, Tethered Spinal Cord, Neurogenic Bladder and Neurogenic Bowel. She was born with a hemangioma at the base of her spine. By two months of age we knew something was terribly wrong. Her left leg was cold and purple. Her foot dropped down and in. The circumference of that leg was smaller than the right. Prior to two months we had concerns about the hemangioma but were told time and time again it was normal.

[claddaghmom]

OP I am wary of US and still debating whether or not to do ONE quick scan in the 2nd trimester.

But the risk of an US does NOT outweigh the risk of what you are talking about.

You know, if your bone was splintered you would get an xray and a cast, right? If your leg was infected beyond treatment, you would amputate?

Western medicine has its time and this is one of those times.

[jonathan75]

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback. I will get it done soon then. I don't want to have to get a MRI because he is too old.

[KatWrangler]

Let us know how things turn out. Good luck! Crossing fingers and toes its nothing.

[jonathan75]

Thanks Kate, I just made the appointment for next Friday. I will try to find some Holy Basil oil to rub on him to help protect against the ultrasound radiation.

[anj_rn]

Good luck with the ultrasound. I hope everything comes out well. You do not need to wroory about radiation, the ultrasound does not use radiation.

[jonathan75]

In physics, radiation describes any process in which energy emitted by one body travels through a medium or through space, ultimately to be absorbed by another body.

[SiobhanAoife]

What are the physics of Holy Basil oil vis-a-vis ultrasound? I've not heard of its use in this way before.

[LynnS6]

It's helpful to have perspective too - doing ultrasound just because you can is probably a bad idea. Doing an ultrasound to detect/rule out a serious medical condition is a necessary risk.

When my mother was a child, they had x-ray machines at the shoe store. You could put on shoes and they would show you your feet in x-rays to see how the shoes fit. My mom tells of how they thought it was cool to see the bones in your feet. They had no idea of the dangers of x-rays. When I was 14, I broke my tibia (the big bone in your lower leg). They x-rayed it to make sure and to see whether it was in alignment.

X-raying your feet to see how shoes fit is a bad idea. X-raying a leg to see if it is broken is a necessary risk. Unfortunately, many parents on this board have had to undergo these necessary risks far more than they'd like.

[feminist~mama]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

It's helpful to have perspective too - doing ultrasound just because you can is probably a bad idea. Doing an ultrasound to detect/rule out a serious medical condition is a necessary risk.

When my mother was a child, they had x-ray machines at the shoe store. You could put on shoes and they would show you your feet in x-rays to see how the shoes fit. My mom tells of how they thought it was cool to see the bones in your feet. They had no idea of the dangers of x-rays. When I was 14, I broke my tibia (the big bone in your lower leg). They x-rayed it to make sure and to see whether it was in alignment.

X-raying your feet to see how shoes fit is a bad idea. X-raying a leg to see if it is broken is a necessary risk. Unfortunately, many parents on this board have had to undergo these necessary risks far more than they'd like.

LynnS6, you said exactly what I was thinking! OP, your child has a medical need for an ultrasound. You're not taking a 4D image in utero for fun pictures to put on the fridge. It's absolutely different in my opinion!

Best of luck, I hope you get good news!

[JessicaS]

My son had this test, he does not have SB but the test is very much worth it. Including my pregnancy (which had a lot of issues) my son has had about forty u/s by now. He is thriving and shows no ill effects.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you need to do. There are are very much some situations in which some things are necessary

[jonathan75]

Holy Basil

Holy Basil can protect cells from damage and help repair. We are giving Holy Basil to mother to pass on to baby through the breast milk. We are also giving the baby ChlorOxygen Chlorophyll through a little water to also protect him from the ultrasound damage. Another thing we will try that can have no negative effect but I question the science behind it is called Vibropathic by Hanna Kroeger. It is water Electro magnetically attuned to a specific frequency. I heard good things about it so we will try.

http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-14594-...ohol-free-1-oz

http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-14008-...act-tulsi-1-oz

http://www.hannasherbshop.com/shop/product/2261

[mrsfru]

We had this ultrasound done when ds1 was about 4 mos old. It was pretty quick. I'm not big on ultrasound myself--only had 3 w/my first pregnancy (one of which was truly medically necessary--the others were just checks). As it turns out, it's good we did them. W/ds2's pregnancy, we had multiple ones, and again, it's good we did or we might not have known what danger he was in. At any rate, ds1's u.s. for the sacral dimple showed he did not have a tethered cord, and it was a relief to have that info b/c he did have low muscle tone and other issues (and they did NOT show at one month of age!). Our ped was dismayed that he missed the sacral dimple, b/c that time would have been lost if he had a tethered cord.

Best wishes and hope it's okay!

mrsfru

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Please keep the forum guidelines and the UA in mind when posting:

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[KatWrangler]

As the PP stated, this is a Special Needs Board. We don't take lightly the medical procedures our children need. My daughter has had more Ultrasounds than I can count, 6 MRI's and other medical procedures, not to mention several surgeries in her short 4 years of life. If I could do it over again, would I put her thru it? YES! Because it is SAVING her life.

We have to balance this out. Modern medicine is NOTall bad.

[sattygirl99]

nevermind