Workshop #7 Natural Health Care - Page 2

[Faliciagayle]

My DD had her first (horrible, nasty) cold at about 9 months. To help her, I started eating a bunch of garlic in raw, cooked, and supplement form; I also supplemented with Vit C at 2000 IU or more during her sickness. I gave her Hylands C tablets, rubbed her chest with a eucalyptus blend, dotted her (our) pillows with Eucalyptus essential oil, and gave her doses of homeopathic cold tincture on the recommended schedule.

It took a long time to get better, but there were many influencing factors.
(travel, moving across country, etc etc).


We don't vax, and typically use natural and homeopathic remedies, diet, teas, some supplements.

Our first aid kit is based of Mothering Magazine recommendations, and influenced by "Gentle Healing for Baby and Child," by Andrea Candee; and the book "Natural Baby and Childcare," by Lauren Feder.

This being said, I do believe in Western medicine as well. When DD teethes (holy cow) sometimes the ONLY thing that will enable her to sleep or calm the pain is Children's Tylenol.

We have a hands off approach when it comes to Dr. visits. We got to well baby visits because our Ped is awesomely supportive of selective/no vax, and she pursues other avenues toward healing than antibiotics/prescription drugs/standard western medicine.

[Bohemian Squash]

Isis, we went through the same thing with my ds. We went to a naturopath who figured out he had a dairy intolerance! He hasn't had an ear infection in over a year now.

[sunnylady303]

I just found this thread. My 2YO has severe asthma and has been hospitalized 10 times in the last year. I am so tired of the merry-go-round of steroids, inhaled steroids, allergy meds, antibiotics, antifungals, breathing treatments, GERD meds that we are on all the time. There has to be something else more natural that can help. I've gotten a few suggestions in the last couple of days, but do you all have ideas?
I would also like to know more about the first aid kit.

I'm just noticing as I am posting this that this is a book discussion. I don't even have this book, but I guess I need to see if our library does. In the meantime, do you all have ideas about asthma treatment?

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Originally Posted by sunnylady303

I just found this thread. My 2YO has severe asthma and has been hospitalized 10 times in the last year. I am so tired of the merry-go-round of steroids, inhaled steroids, allergy meds, antibiotics, antifungals, breathing treatments, GERD meds that we are on all the time. There has to be something else more natural that can help. I've gotten a few suggestions in the last couple of days, but do you all have ideas?
I would also like to know more about the first aid kit.

I'm just noticing as I am posting this that this is a book discussion. I don't even have this book, but I guess I need to see if our library does. In the meantime, do you all have ideas about asthma treatment?

No, no! Don't worry that you haven't read the book. We're just kind of using it as a guide of what types of subjects we are discussing.

As for asthma, our previous doctor put ds1 on MSM for his asthma. It's works as an antiinflamatory and really seems to help to prevent his asthma attacks. He was five when he started taking it, so I'm not sure what the dose would be for a 2 year old. You might want to research it though.

But I'd also look into food sensitivities. These can really affect asthma in children too.

[sunnylady303]

MSM? I'm sure this is really something obvious and I'm going to go "duh" but I don't know what that is.

[mamaverdi]

MSM is Methylsulfonylmethane (not Mainstream Media ). It is most commonly used with glucosamine for joint pain.

I really like this site: University of Maryland Medical Center Complementary Medicine.

Here is the link to the section on treatment of Cystic Fibrosis. While of course Asthma is not CF, it does share some common traits.

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Just a heads up about putting essntial oils in your bath. Do not, under any circumstances, pick up black pepper EO instead of what you thought was white grapefruit EO and put 4 or 5 drops of it in your bath.

Is anyone else using alternative therapies with children with special needs?

[RaelynsMama]

Chiropractor

Originally Posted by sunnylady303

I just found this thread. My 2YO has severe asthma and has been hospitalized 10 times in the last year. I am so tired of the merry-go-round of steroids, inhaled steroids, allergy meds, antibiotics, antifungals, breathing treatments, GERD meds that we are on all the time. There has to be something else more natural that can help. I've gotten a few suggestions in the last couple of days, but do you all have ideas?
I would also like to know more about the first aid kit.

I'm just noticing as I am posting this that this is a book discussion. I don't even have this book, but I guess I need to see if our library does. In the meantime, do you all have ideas about asthma treatment?

I'm sorry to hear about all of the problems you've been having. I don't know how well this would work for your family, but I've heard that a chiropractor could do WONDERS for asthma, among other things, the idea being that all of the important nerves running from your brain down your spinal cord to the rest of your body can become pinched by spinal misalignments. Spinal misalignments can be caused by birth, some kind of fall, and every day stress on your body.
Your body has the innate ability to heal itself, and a chiropractor adjusts the spine, allowing your nerves to freely send all of those important messages to the rest of the body. Chiropractors are also wonderful for ear infections, allergies, back and neck pain, sciatica, and many other ailments. It's safe for all ages and during pregnancy. Do some research in your area to find a qualified chiropractor, some are a little expensive, but some are extremely affordable, and some insurances even cover them. The chiropractor I'm going to start oing to charges $40 an adult visit, and children of adult patients under 2 are free, over 2 is a $20 fee. Good luck!

[liza-s]

I am looking for some advice is eventually teaching my boy biofeedback techniques. (He's only 10 months, so I have some time.) I have Tourette Syndrome, and have been completely unmedicated since I was 6 months preg. It was first time in 13 years. I'm managing okay with the assistance of biofeedback, meditation and aggressively fighting stress (it that makes any sense). There is strong family trend for TS and ds has probably at least 50% chance of TS and very likely he'll have something in the spectrum. I learned biofeedback myself at about the age of 18 before I knew there was a word for it. I would like to help it become just a natural coping technique for ds, but I don't know how early kids can learn it etc. Any thoughts???

[Megs Mom]

Originally Posted by liza-s

I am looking for some advice is eventually teaching my boy biofeedback techniques.

Liza, can you recommend a place/way for an adult to affordably learn biofeedback? I'd like to use it for severe migraines.

[dancebaraka]

Originally Posted by QueenOfTheMeadow

Just a heads up about putting essntial oils in your bath. Do not, under any circumstances, pick up black pepper EO instead of what you thought was white grapefruit EO and put 4 or 5 drops of it in your bath.

Oh my goodness!
Bathtime just got a little more interesting :

~~~~~

Just wanted to post that there are many, many medicines growing right around us. Nature has a way of putting just what we need close by. A great example: In the Southern U.S. you'll find a weed called Yellowroot. It is an amazing ancient remedy for all kinds of coughs, colds- basically it is an immune builder remedy on par with Goldenseal root. So why oh why would we endanger Goldenseal when all the help we need is right there, free for the picking!?!?

You can find out more info on wildcrafting herbs if you sift thru the many resourceful pages at http://www.herbshealing.com/

Also, wanted to put in a plug for homeopathy, one of my dearest allies. With one 100+ remedy kit, you could treat an entire village for years. Now that is sustainability!

A great homeoapthy resource is http://abchomeopathy.com/

[liza-s]

Originally Posted by Megs Mom

Liza, can you recommend a place/way for an adult to affordably learn biofeedback? I'd like to use it for severe migraines.

I was pretty much intuitively self-taught (chronic pain & uncontrolled muscle movements from childhood...) As a teenager I learned what I was doing was biofeedback and was able to perfect my practice with the help of a mentor. I saw a psychitrist at a non-drug pain clinic once, but that was going to cost to much and I didn't like him. He hooked me up to a machine with a bunch of electrodes that measured brain activity and by skin temp and blood pressure while I did visualization exercises. It was neat to see that there was measurable changes in my body function, not just an improvement in how I feel. It might be worth finding a local doc or other provider to get you started, but I would honestly only pay for a few sessions unless they were very affordable.

Now, my "free" way of practice is using a skin temperature meter (its a strip that is different colors at different temps) and sometimes a blood pressure monitor. I pretty much use meditation and visualizations of relaxation and warmth. This usually warms my skin (capillaries open) and also drops my blood pressure. That should help with migraines.

I went through a recent dry-spell when pumping breastmilk (direct nursing was fine). I finally had a successful pump when I basically did the same thing, I visualized flowing milk and warmth. It was amazing and relieving in soooo many ways.

Feel free to PM if you'd like to talk directly.

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Originally Posted by dancebaraka

Oh my goodness!
Bathtime just got a little more interesting :

~~~~~

Just wanted to post that there are many, many medicines growing right around us. Nature has a way of putting just what we need close by. A great example: In the Southern U.S. you'll find a weed called Yellowroot. It is an amazing ancient remedy for all kinds of coughs, colds- basically it is an immune builder remedy on par with Goldenseal root. So why oh why would we endanger Goldenseal when all the help we need is right there, free for the picking!?!?

You can find out more info on wildcrafting herbs if you sift thru the many resourceful pages at http://www.herbshealing.com/

Also, wanted to put in a plug for homeopathy, one of my dearest allies. With one 100+ remedy kit, you could treat an entire village for years. Now that is sustainability!

A great homeoapthy resource is http://abchomeopathy.com/

That's awesome! I just made my first tincture this year! It was a yarrow tincture. It's good for bleeding, heavy periods, and it's got antiviral properties. Next year, I need to get my butt in gear earlier in order to collect more of my own herbs. I've been ordering some from Mountain Rose Herbs. But I have identified a lot of remedies in my back yard. Can't wait until dandelion season again!

[DaytonsMom]

Originally Posted by sunnylady303

I just found this thread. My 2YO has severe asthma and has been hospitalized 10 times in the last year. I am so tired of the merry-go-round of steroids, inhaled steroids, allergy meds, antibiotics, antifungals, breathing treatments, GERD meds that we are on all the time. There has to be something else more natural that can help. I've gotten a few suggestions in the last couple of days, but do you all have ideas?
I would also like to know more about the first aid kit.

I'm just noticing as I am posting this that this is a book discussion. I don't even have this book, but I guess I need to see if our library does. In the meantime, do you all have ideas about asthma treatment?

i just wanted to say that i had asthma since i was 10. my dad had it as a baby. the doctor told my grandma to take him off of all dairy products for a year or two i can't remember, and that would cure him of it and it did. if i go off of dairy and wheat i have no problems ususally. but i'm also allergic to dogs (we have 2) so i have an air purifier on during the day. it helps so much!! if we don't have it on i'll start to get congested and have trouble breathing. even when i am vacuuming everyday with my dyson animal vac.

also when i was 11 or 12 my parents took me to a acupuncturists for a while. my asthma completley went away, i could even run around and have no problems. but they couldn't afford it for long. but it's defintly worth a try. it helped so much and didn't really hurt that bad at all. it might be hard to get a 2 year old to lay there though. but maybe if he saw you or dad go first. it's worth a try.

i've been on a lot of the meds and have an albutural inhaler for emergencys, but if i eat right i usually don't have any problems. best of luck to you guys. i now how scary it is. it was always scarier for my mom than me though, i was pretty used to it. even now she gets anxious when i start wheezing! =)

[shanniesue2]

research base for alternative health care

The other day I had someone recommend cst... I have heard about it, but never really looked it up or knew what was involved. So I googled it, and I have to admit... it seems really...well... (not to offend anyone)... but like a complete hoax.

I'm pretty middle of the road when it comes to health care. I do believe that you should start with a healthy lifestyle, then natural remedies, then medicine. I don't like the idea of just fixing things with drugs. I see definite value in good nutrition, avoiding exposure to chemicals,and the like. I see a chiro on a regular basis, but that's for back problems and not because I think he can rid me of...say, allergies (or whatever). But I also believe that there is a time and place for medicine and I like and trust my MD family doc very much (of course, he's pretty middle of the road, too).

I guess what I'm saying is that I feel like treatment ought to at least make sense (call me a skeptic). So what is the research base or evidence behind some of these alternative health care options (especially cst)? And I'm not really asking for testimony or anecdote (just like an anecdote from someone who had an epidural and pitocin during their birth wouldn't convince me that it's good practice).

[mamaverdi]

CST is able to reshape children's heads with birth deformity or traumatic birth injury (from forceps, vaccuum, etc), all without surgery or helmets. It's a fairly old practice. And Doctors of Osteopathy used to all be trained in this hands-on method. Now, most of them are trained similarly to MDs, but the ones who also take on hands-on training are usually quite good with excellent results.

My son had plagiocephaly, and his head was completely reshaped....which changed many many things. It's not the least bit what it sounds like. You really have to see someone work who has good results to believe it perhaps. But they have plenty of data available.

[shanniesue2]

I can see how it would be beneficial in infants and young children whose skulls haven't fused yet... just not adults

[mamaverdi]

It helped with my migraines.

[MountainMamaGC]

I decided to stop vaxing my DD after her 2 month shots. She is almost 10 months now. I am dedicated to ensuring her immune system stays healthy. I started taking her to a chiropractor to boost her immune system as well as to help her sleep better. I also plan on nursing her for at least 2 years.

I had crohn's disease. I say "had" because i dont want any ego attatchment to the illness. I do beleive our ego strives to identify itself with anything and can manifest or prolong illness. I havent had a flare for 4 years so as far as i am concerned I dont have it. I do use probiotics, enzymes, Fish oil and vitamins to keep my gut balanced.