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| Hpathy Ezine - April, 2005 | ||||
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An Interview with DANA ULLMAN, MPH Treating Children with Homeopathic Medicines |
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| One really stark difference between homeopaths and regular pediatricians is the way the pediatrician will rush in with drugs to stop a fever and consequently, most parents are terrified when their child gets a fever. Most often, one needs to treat the parent’s anxieties and fears more than the child’s fever. The best way to treat these fears is with education about the wisdom of the body and about fever as an important defense. I say this because physicians and physiologists today recognize that fever is a useful response of the person’s body to infection. While it is true that certain high or long-lasting fevers need to be treated or suppressed in some way, such fevers represent an extreme minority of fevers in children. I am quite concerned about the overuse of conventional drugs to lower fevers. Homeopaths assert that we create a lot of chronic disease when we suppress acute illness. I am often amazed at how well and how fast homeopathic medicines work in fevers. Because a fever is a defense, the body will make good use of additional tools that it is given to help in its defense. This is distinct from conventional drugs, especially anti-inflammatory drugs that ultimately are obstacles to the true cure. I can and will refer the child for immediate medical treatment if fever is experienced in newborns (within first 4 months) that does not respond to homeopathic treatment within two hours, or if a fever in any child is over 40 degree Celsius and doesn’t respond to home treatment after 6 hours, or if high fever in any child leads to great lethargy and neck stiffness. Dana, children seem to get a lot of ear infections and, of course, antibiotics are the only treatment offered. Is there anything wrong with this? Antibiotics may have a place in treating ear infections but not necessarily as a treatment of first choice. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines for the use of antibiotics in acute ear infections in children is actually that they should be avoided for the first three months. It may surprise some people to learn that a meta-analysis of the best studies on ear infection (British Medical Journal, 1997, 87:pp.466-74) found no benefit of using antibiotics as compared to placebo. To make matters worse, some evidence suggests that administration of antibiotics lead to three times the number of ear infections as those children left untreated. Part of the problem with antibiotics is a basic premise of healing that is commonly ignored, that is, anytime you get something done for the body, the body doesn’t learn to do it on its own as well. In the U.S, it is too common that antibiotics are prescribed to newborns, even for simply having a reddened ear. The long-term consequences are unknown and scary. This over-prescribing of antibiotics for both newborns and any child is a part of what I call "medical child abuse." I look forward to the day that homeopathy gains more respect and is added into the medicine chest of more parents and doctors. What can homeopathy do for ear infections? Homeopathy is magnificent for the treatment for childhood ear infections. It is often as simply as ABC + P: Aconitum, Belladonna, Chamomilla, & Pulsatilla…with less common use of Mercurius, Mercurius iodatus.flavus., Merc iodatus.ruber, Hepar sulphur, and Silicea. Results are often rapid, but even when they aren’t, it seems as though these children still aren’t getting as many ear infections as those for whom antibiotics are prescribed. According to a recent study of 75 children with otitis media that was published in Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, parent’s diary scores showed a significant decrease in symptoms at 24 and 64 hours after treatment in favor of those given a homeopathic medicine (P<.05). There were also 20% less "treatment failures" in children given a homeopathic medicine as compared with those given a placebo. [Reference: J Jacobs, DA Springer, D Crothers, Homeopathic Treatment of Acute Otitis Media in Children: A Preliminary Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 20,2 (February 2001):177-183.] How long would a parent have to wait for results after giving a homeopathic remedy for a severe ear infection? There is an old saying, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall." I translate that into the more serious the pain and discomfort, the faster the relief. It is as though their defenses are so strong that the homeopathic medicine provides a greater and faster relief than those with mild, persistent discomfort. Typically, the relief from a homeopathic medicine is within a couple of hours and certainly after one night’s rest. As you know, our remedies come in many different potencies, and a parent may be confused as to which one to buy. From 6X or 6C to 1,000 (known as "1M"). The more confident I am, the higher the potency, and the more vitality the child has, the higher the potency. That said, people who are not as knowledgeable of homeopathic medicines should buy the 6th, 12th, or 30th potency. Do they give the remedy just once, or repeat it often?
And no doubt, stop taking the remedy, too, if you get worse! Dana, if I can change the subject, what's up with Fluoride? I believe that we should fluoridate candy, not water (although this sounds like a joke, it actually make more sense than putting fluoride in water). Fluoride does help the teeth in small doses, but it also will irritate them in overdose. One has to remember that once fluoride enters the water system, it is then not only drunk, but it is eaten when one washes food with it or cooks with it, and it is not always easy to regulate the proper amounts of fluoride in the water. There are safer ways to strengthen a child’s teeth than taking fluoridated water or fluoride pills: a "constitutional" homeopathic remedy or even occasional doses of the 3rd or 6th potency of the appropriate Calcarea salt (to their body type) would be a better idea. |
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