Childhood Complaints using “Chinese Medicine”
And other Natural Therapies
And what you can do for them at home
Many mothers have asked me for advice about their children. This has prompted me to write this article on childhood complaints and what you can and cannot do for them at home.
Before I begin I must stipulate, that, if your child has an acute condition, high fever, green mucus, extremely sore ear etc, get them to a doctor as soon as possible. One of the dangers with children is that they do deteriorate very quickly if they are very ill and have a high temperature. Therefore, do not mess around trying to fix it yourself or seek help from anyone except a doctor.
The other side to children is that while they do deteriorate very rapidly, they also recover very rapidly with the right treatment.
Most of the time I don’t see children unless they have a chronic condition that has failed to get better from other medicines. The chronic suffers that I do treat all get very good results.
Some Western drugs used in Childhood Complaintss
Antibiotics
One of the main reasons people bring their children to see me is that they don’t like using antibiotics. I can understand their reasoning for this, as antibiotics have been misused and abused in recent times. Antibiotic overuse in childhood has recently been linked to childhood onset Asthma. This is very disturbing and much is being done to stop the medical system from overusing these needed drugs.
The other main problem with antibiotics is people not taking the full course that has been prescribed. People tend to disregard their course e few days after use. This is because they generally feel better and think they don’t need to take it anymore. This is where complications set in for further years to come. If you do not take the full course, the bacteria/disease is not killed off in full and the left over bacteria then builds up immunity to the drug prescribed. This then makes it harder to kill future strains and this causes complications for everyone.
While I think that antibiotics are overused, at the same time I think they are very necessary. If you or your children have acute symptoms, antibiotics are the best and safest treatment to take. Sometimes several courses may be needed and shouldn’t cause too much harm to your body, if taken in short courses. If your doctor was prescribing antibiotics to you all the time, for minor complaints, then you should be worried. Time to get a second opinion.
While taking any antibiotic, it is a good idea to increase your vitamin intake though. Antibiotics do deplete your body of much-needed vitamins and minerals and also upset the gut. As well as killing off the bad bacteria in the body, they do kill off the good bacteria as well. Always follow up antibiotic use with a good practitioner prescribed acidophilus powder. Don’t use an over the counter one as the dosage isn’t anywhere what they need to replenish the gut flora. Using herbs and vitamins in conjunction with them is a good idea.
Cortico-Steroids
Cortico- Steroids are derived from cortisone and not often used for children very much. At the same time, some children do need them, but you should make sure they are monitored well.
Cortico-Steroids should never be taken in high doses for long periods. Short courses generally will not cause too much harm. Make sure that if they are on them for long periods that you ask why.
Asthmatic children are usually the most common people to be on these drugs. Most of the preventer’s such as becatide , flixatide etc. are cortico-steroid based. Another drug called Prednasone is a cortico-steroid too. This is generally taken in short courses and then cut down slowly.
One thing that is very important while taking any steroid, don’t ever just stop taking it. It could cause an adverse reaction and make what ever you’re being treated for, worse. Steroids have to slowly reduced in dosage before being cut out.
If you have an Asthmatic child, never let anyone tell you to just stop his or her medication. There are many people out there that will try to tell you to do so. If your feel your child is getting better there is no harm in getting the dosage reduced (see your doctor first), but never just stop the medication.
While taking any form of Cortico-steroid, a calcium and phosphate supplement should be taken as well. Any steroid will strip the body of much needed calcium and phosphate as well as many other nutrients.
People who are on these steroids for a long time are at great risk of developing osteoporosis later in life.
What Chinese Medicine has to offer?
People these days tend to think of Chinese Medicine as an ‘Alternate’ medicine. However, even though it is used as an alternative, it is really a complementary medicine. Chinese Medicine is more a complementary medicine that can work along side any modality. If this weren’t true, doctor’s, wouldn’t be trying to incorporate some or all of its practices into their own clinics.
Even with acute cases, Chinese Medicine can help speed up the recovery rate more quickly when used with western drugs. It can also help with the side effects of many drugs.
Chinese medicine sees many childhood complaints as being easily treated. Even some chronic problems respond better to Chinese Medicine than western Medicine. The reason being is that Chinese Medicine treats the cause and not just the symptoms
Chinese medicine sees a child’s digestive function as being the main cause of many childhood problems. The Chinese believe that a child’s digestive system has not fully developed and is easily disharmonized because of this. Poor diet and an overload on the digestive function, then leads to disharmonies.
The Chinese believe that the Spleen/Stomach govern digestive function as they are responsible for absorbing Qi from our food and then transporting it through our bodies. The Spleen is also responsible for making blood.
The Spleen/stomach does not like thing too cold or too sweet. Overuse of either of these will cause disharmonies. Foods like Ice cream, lollies, fruit bars, Muslei bars will all disharmonize the digestive system. Most childhood problems start from having too much sugar in the diet. Even most of the snacks that you though were healthy for them probably have way too much sugar in them. Too much fruit can be a problem too, as it sweet, cold in nature and still contains sugar. Cold water straight from the refrigerator is another problem. Give them room temperature water instead.
The Spleen is also known as the mother of the Lungs. When the Spleen/Stomach function is impaired, the Lungs can therefore be disharmonized too. This association can be seen Asthmatic’s. Most Asthmatics’ problems start in the gut and many of them have digestive problems.
If we look at things clinically, we can see why this may be so. The gut plays a big part in immune function and the Spleen is responsible for blood cell formation and is the largest lymphatic tissue in the body. The Lungs transport oxygen through the body via the red blood cells. If red blood cell production is decreased, so will oxygen transportation will be decreased.
View the article on how poor diet & poor gut function is the root of most child hood illness - Poor Digestion
Childhood Complaints
Asthma
Asthma is increasing at a very alarming rate. Brisbane has one of the worst records of asthma in Australia. This is mainly due to Brisbane geographical location and levels of humidity.
Besides that, one of the main reasons for this increase, in my opinion, is poor diet. The increase of additives in food and lack of exercise is another major factor. But mainly asthma is from poor digestion caused from poor diet. Much of the food that children eat is full of sugar and additives. Even the foods that most of us think are healthy are really not that good for them. Sugar is the main offender. Their poor little digestive systems just can’t handle it in big doses.
So what can Chinese medicine do for this?
If children seek proper treatment at an early age, this disease can often be managed very well and very often cured. Children seem to respond a lot more to treatment than adults, who are sometimes very hard to treat.
The main treatment is based around Chinese herbs and Acupuncture (mostly laser Acupuncture). The main treatment is centered on improving digestive and lung function. Digestive function is the major focus. Treat the cause primarily.
Generally, wintertime is worst because of the cold. Many acute symptoms occur at this time and I find that if they are acute, ventolin and preventers are the best solution. I tend to help support them with Chinese herbs and acupuncture as well through the winter. They generally recover very quickly while using the herbs as well. The main treatment is used while they are well, in the summer time. Most of the time they can reduce their drugs in summer (On doctor’s advice only). We usually build up their immune systems in the summer time to reduce the likely hood of attacks in winter. The results are extremely good.
Recent studies show that treatment using Chinese Medicine has been very effective (Germany, China, Sydney (Aust)). 56% of patients no longer needed to use Steroid preventers or ventolin. 40% reduced their medication and patients symptoms improved after treatment. 4% were in effective. The study was done on more than 4000 patients.
What you can do
Make sure they do not eat too many sweet foods. This does include fruits. Don’t give them too many cold, raw foods. Give them water at room temperature. Swimming is great for asthma and there are many heated pools all year round.
Also, train them to breathe through their nose. Most Asthmatics are mouth breathers. Breathing through their nose helps filter the air, helps warm the air, and nose breathers are generally less prone to lung disorders.
Steam inhalation is great also. It helps open the airways and helps clear the nostrils.
Stewed pears are good for the lungs so give them some of these. Always give it to them warm. Never give them cold food or cold drinks straight out of the fridge.
I was once a very bad asthmatic when I was young and I can tell you that without Chinese Medicine I probably would still be. I went thirteen years without an attack because of this treatment. Before doing Chinese Medicine myself, I let my health go a bit; moving to Brisbane didn’t help either, and got a few attacks again. I got back on regular treatment s again and am still experiencing relief.
Colic
Colic is a very common problem with newborn babies and is often caused from the mother’s diet. Common signs are baby crying a lot, baby cries when laid horizontally, projectile vomiting, or baby stops crying when in upright position. Many people when treating young ones for colic forget to treat the mother as well. Treat the mother to treat the child.
Mainly people are prescribed ant-acids and this generally does the trick. The only problem with any ant acid is that they contain a lot of aluminum. Chinese herbs are far less harmful and far more effective, I think. Make sure that you see qualified practitioner who knows what they are doing.
The other modality that gets a lot of results for colic is osteopathy.
Hopefully you can get a good night sleep after this.
What you can do
If you are breast-feeding, watch your diet. Do not eat too many spicy or upsetting foods. Foods such as chocolate, cabbage, peppers, chilies, garlic, capsicum, caffeine, oranges and citrus fruits, lychees, can all cause problems for the little one.
Also, lay the little one on an angle so that the acid can’t flow backwards. A tri-pillow is good for propping them up.
Mild massage in a clockwise direction around their stomach is good for increasing digestive function.
Tonsillitis
Use antibiotics only if a serious infection is present accompanied by a high fever. If there is no high fever, then Chinese medicine is a great option. Chinese herbs will also help prevent any reoccurrence of this problem
Children can go down hill too quickly if they get a fever. Don’t mess around trying to seek other treatments for this if they do get a fever. The only treatment you should seek is medical. You can use herbs along side the medical treatment to help speed up the recovery and help with any side effects from the drugs if you have to take them.
Epilepsy
Childhood epilepsy can be helped dramatically with using Chinese medicine. I have seen too many children who have responded very well after getting treatment from Chinese medicine. Again it can be used along side western epileptic drugs and can help with slow reduction of these drugs over time (if improvement is shown).
The problem with many epileptic drugs is that it can inhibit their learning process and make them very lethargic. At the same time these drugs are very necessary and need to be taken.
Chinese medicine can help with the side effects of these drugs as well as help in the treatment of the cause. Once again, treatment of the cause, not just treatment of the symptoms is the key to helping this condition.
Osteopathy/Chiropractic is another modality that yet again may be of great help. Sometimes the fits may be coming from having the spine out of alignment.
Last year my nephew started to get fits and was diagnosed with epilepsy. The drugs he was on gave him relief but at the same time made him very lethargic and gave him rashes. His learning ability also slowed. We then gave him some Chinese herbs to help with the side effects of the drugs and to treat his digestion. He improved dramatically and was able to reduce his dosage and regain some vitality and his learning improved. He still got the occasional fit though, so I recommended him to see a very talented Osteopath/Chiropractor at Nerang, Dr. Peter Pedersen.
After examining x-rays, he found that his first cervical vertebra was misaligned and wedged up under his skull. It was touching several nerves that stimulated a response that caused the fits. One adjustment later and he has never had a fit since. Osteopathy/Chiropractic is definitely worth a try!
Eczema
Many babies develop eczema early on and it is quite common. It can also be treated very easily. Speaking from experience I can tell you that Chinese Medicine works very well. My daughter got baby eczema not long after birth .I put her on small doses of Chinese Herbs and used a herbal cream and it went away very quickly.
We chose to use the Chinese Herbs because much of the prescribed ointments are steroid based. I think it is best to stay away from the steroids, if you can, at such a young age.
What you can do
Add some Neem oil in their bath with a touch of lavender oil. Cut down on the soaps in the bath too. Find a good hypoallergenic soap if you can. Babies really don’t need that much soap anyway.
Massage some Vitamin E Cream into the rash mixed with some Neem extract (Make sure it is processed Neem)
Leukaemia/Cancer
Hopefully you wont ever have to experience the heartache that is involved with any of these. Even if the outcome is successful it still causes much emotional upheaval along the way for all involved.
The only reason that I decided to put this in is for those families who have to go through this.
I am not here to say that Chinese Medicine is a miracle cure for these diseases .It isn’t. Modern Medicine is needed to treat these diseases. Chinese medicine can be of assistance in reducing the side effects, caused by the drugs and radiotherapy. There have been many cases of people getting cured from using Chinese Medicine. Chinese herbs and acupuncture can build up the immune system. We even have specific anti cancer formulations. Chinese medicine is definitely worthwhile using, even used in conjunction with western medication. Never stop the medication.
Hopefully more research will be done and offer some results in the future. Who cares what modality gets the best results as long as it helps. Hopefully a cure is just around the corner.
There are many other childhood complaints that Chinese Medicine and other Natural Therapies can treat. Conditions like nappy rash, teething etc. If you are in doubt just call your nearest ‘Qualified Professional Therapist’ in your area. You can call me anytime if need some advice.
Always remember that if your child has a high temperature go straight to the doctor.