Fwd: Health, Illness, Vaccines

[Guest guest]

>

>I found this to be a very interesting article. I DON'T agree with how

he

>uses homeopathic remedies - too many and not individualized enough, so

I

>don't recommend going by this list of remedies in the article. But the

>concepts of health, illness & vaccines are good.

>

>Sheri

>

>Supporting Children's Health - Alternative Medicine Journal

>------------------------------------------------------------------------

>The rate of chronic illness in children has tripled since 1960,

possibly

>due in part to the overuse of childhood vaccinations. The surprising

news

>is that the standard childhood illnesses these vaccines suppress may

>actually benefit the immune system.=20

>

>by Philip Incao, M.D.=20

>

>One of the best ways to ensure your children's health is to allow them

to

>get sick. At first hearing, this concept may sound outrageous. Yet

standard

>childhood illnesses, such as measles, mumps, and even whooping cough,

may

>be of key benefit to a child's developing immune system and it may be

>inadvisable to suppress these illnesses with immunizations. Evidence is

>also accumulating that routine childhood vaccinations may directly

>contribute to the emergence of chronic problems such as eczema, ear

>infections, asthma, and bowel inflammations.=20

>

>It's a challenging medical proposition, but ever since the 1920s, many

>European physicians and a small band of American doctors (myself

included,

>for the past 23 years) have avoided using most vaccinations, based on a

>medical approach called Anthroposophic medicine.=20

>

>In this field, we regard childhood vaccinations as anything but

routine;

>rather, we consider them in most cases to be suspect, dangerous, and

worthy

>of exceedingly rigorous review. Generally, we try to avoid giving most

>vaccinations and rely instead on alternative, more natural ways of

helping

>the child cope with what we contend are the necessary and beneficial

>illnesses of childhood.=20

>

>The Immune System Benefits from Early Illness=20

>Before these concepts make sense, it must be pointed out that the

immune

>system has two different aspects. One aspect is called the humoral

immune

>system whereby antibodies (specialized defense proteins) are produced

to

>recognize and neutralize antigens (foreign particles in the body).=20

>

>The other aspect is called the cell-mediated immune system, and

involves

>white blood cells and specialized immune cells called macrophages which

>=D2eat=D3 antigens. These also help drive the antigens out of the

body,=

> causing

>skin rashes and discharges of pus and mucus from the throat and lungs.

Both

>are typical signs of the beneficial acute inflammatory illnesses of

>childhood.=20

>

>These two poles of the immune system have a reciprocal relationship.

That

>means when the humoral pole is overstimulated (for example, from

vaccines

>or allergies), the cell-mediated pole tends to be relatively inactive.

>Vaccines do not stimulate this pole, so their contents never get

discharged

>from the body.=20

>

>Polio and tetanus do not belong to this group of beneficial standard

>childhood illnesses. I use the word " standard " to denote acute

inflammatory

>illnesses (usually with rash and fever) typical and common to children

in

>Western, industrialized nations. These illnesses are also standard to

>childhood as a developmental phase, something akin to the predictable

>change in teeth around age seven.=20

>

>Many years ago, Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian scientist and founder of

the

>Anthroposophic approach to medicine, argued that childhood illnesses

are a

>standard feature of childhood because the young body needs them. Now

let's

>see how this plays out in a standard childhood illness or its

suppression

>with vaccinations.=20

>

>An acute inflammatory childhood illness--measles, mumps, rubella,

chicken

>pox, scarlatina, or whooping cough--develops the cell-mediated immune

>system, while a vaccine activates the humoral immune system. The

difference

>here is crucial because it is the cell-mediated response that protects

the

>child from future illness and that provides, in effect, the deeper

immunity.=

>=20

>

>Physicians who practice Anthropo-sophical medicine generally believe

that

>having acute but limited inflammatory diseases as a child helps protect

one

>as an adult against more serious, long-term, chronic illnesses. Not

having

>these childhood illnesses (because of multiple vaccinations) can lead

to a

>greater incidence of adult health problems. The same is true when these

>childhood illnesses are routinely suppressed with antibiotics rather

than

>helping the cell-mediated immune system to work out the illness in a

rash

>or mucous discharge.=20

>

>Recent research in conventional medical journals is now confirming this

>view. In early 1997, a team of British physicians writing in Science

made

>this provocative statement: " Childhood infections may, therefore,

>paradoxically protect against asthma. " In other words, these infections

>have a purpose in building general immunity.=20

>

>The British physicians noted that the incidence of asthma has doubled

since

>1977 in Western countries and in the U.S. it is responsible for 33% of

all

>pediatric emergency-room visits. Yet this growing incidence of asthma

seems

>to be related more to the suppression or absence of respiratory

infections

>than to the commonly perceived cause, air pollution.=20

>

>Highly polluted European cities where the use of antibiotics and

>immunizations is less than in the U.S. have lower asthma rates than

>comparable U.S. cities. Conversely, in Tucson, Arizona, despite the dry

>heat and lack of irritants (such as dust mites) in the air, the rate of

>asthma is the same as elsewhere in the country.=20

>

>The Science physicians suggested that diseases such as tuberculosis and

>whooping cough may permanently alter a child's immune system such that

they

>confer a lifetime protection against asthma. Certainly they were not

saying

>children should have tuberculosis, but they noted that the humoral

immune

>system needs to be tempered by the cell-mediated response, and this

best

>happens during an infectious childhood disease.=20

>

>When a child undergoes an intense but short-term lung infection, this

>provides the necessary exercise of the cell-mediated immune system. If

this

>does not happen, the humoral system is left unbridled and subject to

>over-reaction to otherwise harmless pollen and dust particles;

eventually,

>this may lead to asthma.=20

>

>Let's follow this idea in the case of measles. When a child gets a

measles

>rash, the body excretes the virus through the skin, usually within

about

>four days after rash onset. If the child does not get a measles rash,

some

>of the measles virus remains unneutralized in the body where it can act

as

>a chronic irritant to the immune system and contribute to degenerative

>disease later.=20

>

>The fever and rash of measles enable the body to burn up the virus;

having

>a measles vaccine is like planting a seed of future infection in the

body

>and tricking the body not to reject it. This is because a vaccine

results

>in only a partial immunity; i.e., the humoral system is triggered while

the

>cell-mediated system remains dormant or can even be inhibited by the

>vaccine. This insight was first put forward by Boston homeopath

>Moskowitz, M.D., in the early 1980s.=20

>

>Danish physician Tove Ronne stated it simply in The Lancet in 1985:

> " Measles virus infection without rash in childhood is related to

disease in

>adult life. " Among these, Dr. Ronne listed skin disease, immune

>dysfunctions, degenerative diseases of bone and cartilage, and certain

>cancers. It's alarming to note that a few years later, in 1991, the

>National Cancer Institute announced that the rate of all cancers among

>white American children grew by 4.1% between 1973 and 1988. More

>specifically, the rate of childhood leukemia increased by 10.7% while

brain

>cancers soared by 30.5%.=20

>

>Predisposing Children to More Disease Later?=20

>Put simply, the research suggests that if children do not undergo some

type

>of limited respiratory infection, they are more at risk for developing

>asthma, among other problems. Michel R. Odent, M.D., and colleagues at

the

>Primal Health Research Centre in London, England, documented this

>connection in a report on 448 children, published in the Journal of the

>American Medical Association in 1994.=20

>

>Out of this group, 243 children (average age, eight years) had been

>immunized with the pertussis vaccine for whooping cough. Of these, 26

(10%)

>had asthma compared to only four (1.9%) of the 208 children not

immunized.

>This suggests that having the pertussis vaccine can increase a child's

risk

>of developing asthma by more than five times.=20

>

>Similarly, in the vaccinated group, 130 children had ear infections

>compared to only 59 among the 208 non-vaccinated. Here the risk of

>developing subsequent ear infections was increased by almost two times

in

>pertussis-vaccinated children. The incidence of other diseases

(excluding

>asthma, ear infections, eczema, and whooping cough) was also noticeably

>higher in the vaccinated group--34.6% versus 24% for non-vaccinated=

> children.=20

>

>The measles vaccine has been linked with higher rates of inflammatory

bowel

>disease. Based on a study of 3,545 people who received live measles

vaccine

>as children, their rate of developing ulcerative colitis was

>two-and-one-half times higher and three times higher for Crohn's

compared

>to an unvaccinated group, as reported in The Lancet. The MMR (measles,

>mumps, rubella) vaccine has also been implicated in higher rates of

>diabetes (see accompanying sidebar, " Do Vaccinations Cause

Diabetes? " ).=20

>

>There are still other data suggestive of a vaccine link with disease.

For

>example, for largely " unexplained " reasons, between 1960 and 1981, the

rate

>of activity-limiting chronic conditions among children doubled from 1.8

to

>3.8%, most noticeably in allergic and mental/nervous system disorders.

By

>1995, this figure had climbed again to 6.7%. In other words, the rate

more

>than tripled since 1960. I contend the rise is not " unexplained; "

rather,

>it is explained by the fact that we have overused antibiotics and

>immunizations.=20

>

>Certainly this evidence paints a picture, and it confirms what

>Anthropo-sophic physicians have contended for 75 years. It is healthier

for

>the child to undergo an acute upper respiratory infection (with

appropriate

>herbal and homeopathic support, described below) than to suppress or

>preempt it with antibiotics and vaccinations. The more you allow

children

>to work out their acute illnesses, to really exercise their immune

systems

>without suppressing the process, the stronger the system will be and

the

>less prone the children will be to serious adult degenerative

illnesses.=20

>

>When an adult comes down with an infectious, inflammatory disease, it

is

>actually a blessing because it might prevent them from developing a

more

>serious chronic problem. I've seen adults who suppressed inflammatory

>diseases, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, then five to ten years later

>came down with cancer. Letting the inflammations run their course

instead

>(with support, naturally), may have prevented the cancer from

developing.=20

>

>How Measles Can Cure Eczema=20

>Now let's see how undergoing childhood measles may actually improve a

>child's health, both immediately and in the long-term. Consider the

case of

>Hans, whom I first treated for measles when he was nine.=20

>

>Hans did not receive the measles vaccine because he was allergic to

eggs.

>The vaccine contains an egg product and is not recommended for children

>with this allergy. When he was nine, he came down with measles, which

is a

>bit late for children. Of considerable interest here is the fact that

for

>years Hans had suffered from severe eczema; his skin was dry and

cracked,

>particularly behind the elbows and knees, and occasionally it bled. In

>fact, Hans often could not straighten his legs because the eczema made

it

>too painful.=20

>

>His measles produced a strong rash and a fever of 104=A1F, yet I did

nothing

>to suppress these reactions with Tylenol or Advil, for example, as

>conventional medicine would recommend. Instead, I gave Hans

Anthroposophic

>remedies to support him through the measles process. Specifically, I

gave

>him low potencies of Apis, Belladonna, Argentum/ Carbo/Silicea, Ferrum

>Phosphate, Prunus Spinosa (from the sloe plum), and Echinacea.=20

>

>These remedies do not suppress the fever, but allow the constitution to

>tolerate it better. The temperature does not need to come down, but the

>child needs to be able to tolerate it. Again, the important concept is

that

>the fever is a natural, useful, necessary process for a child's health.

The

>child must be closely observed by a medical professional during the

illness

>process to be sure the course the illness is taking is benign. It is

>important to find out if complications like encephalitis or pneumonia

are

>developing. These rarely occur and are not directly linked to the

degree of

>the fever.=20

>

>The remedies we use for children make the body more transparent or

>permeable to allow the toxicity or fever process to flow through it

without

>getting stuck. Let me illustrate this principle with an analogy.=20

>

>If you have a copper rod and you light a candle at one end of it, the

>warmth of the flame will flow quickly through the rod and you feel the

>warmth at the other end. Similarly, if the body is like a copper tube,

the

>warmth of the fever will flow through it but not cause a complication

such

>as a convulsion; but if the body is more like lead, which is dense and

does

>not conduct heat well, complications are likely to arise.=20

>

>The lead does not conduct or dissipate the heat; rather, it starts to

melt

>at the point of contact with the heat. It remains cold at one end and

gets

>overheated at the other. This is analogous to the undesirable situation

of

>children having cold feet and a hot head. Care should always be taken

that

>children have warm feet, especially during a fever.=20

>

>If you suppress the fever with drugs or antibiotics, you block this

flow

>and make the body more like the lead in this analogy. How long a child

has

>the disease is not as important as avoiding complications. The length

of

>time depends on how much toxicity the body needs to discharge through

the

>fever.=20

>

>When Hans' measles were over, his eczema had almost completely

disappeared.

>Hans is now in his twenties and has never had a recurrence of eczema

since

>his measles. This is a typical example of how stimulating the

cell-mediated

>side of the immune system can help the body overcome an allergic

problem.

>The measles process enabled Hans' system to stop reacting allergically

and

>producing the eczema symptoms. In a sense, you could say that the fever

>burned the allergic reaction out of his body.=20

>

>His case also underscores the fact that childhood measles in

industrialized

>countries is a benign disease if you understand how to treat it. Hans'

>symptoms, the high fever and intense rash, were not mild, but

scientific

>studies have shown that the stronger the initial symptoms, the less

likely

>it is that the child will get the damaging or dangerous complications,

such

>as encephalitis or pneumonia.=20

>

>How a Fever Can Reverse the Effects of a Vaccination=20

>It is increasingly noted that many of the routine childhood

vaccinations

>can produce a variety of side effects and complications, posing both

>immediate and long-term dangers. Todd, aged 19 months, had all his

>vaccinations, including DPT, MMR, tetanus, polio, and Hib (haemophilus

>influenza type .=20

>

>After his first two DPT shots at two and four months, Todd screamed

every

>night for a week, after which his parents and pediatrician realized he

had

>reacted to the shot and should have no more DPT. At 18 months, Todd

>received his MMR and polio immunizations, after which he slept almost

>continually for two days; when he was awake, he was lethargic and his

>breathing was shallow. A week later, Todd had trouble standing erect

and

>did not want to walk on his own. About two weeks later, Todd came down

with

>a 104oF fever and a rash. When both subsided, he was his normal self

again.=

>=20

>

>To understand what happened with Todd, you need to appreciate the

>documented fact that some vaccines can produce a slight but significant

>state of encephalitis, or brain inflammation. While this is usually

>reversible, it may also leave lingering effects such as dyslexia or

>attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I didn't get to treat Todd

until

>after all this had happened, so I focused on giving him remedies to

heal

>his post-encephalitic state. I gave him Arnica, Belladonna, and Formica

to

>take for the next six to 12 months for the aftereffects of the brain

>inflammation caused by the vaccines.=20

>

>Todd's fever and rash following his MMR vaccination was his body's

attempt

>to " burn " the vaccine toxins out of his system. The first sign that

these

>materials irritated his system was Todd's lethargy, two-day sleeping

binge,

>and inability to walk; these symptoms, in fact, indicated a slight

brain

>inflammation. The second sign was the rash and fever which arose to

>discharge these toxins from the body.=20

>

>In Afghanistan, the common treatment for measles is to wrap the child

in

>blankets to produce a rash. The idea is that the more the measles comes

out

>as a skin rash, the less likely the child is to get encephalitis or

>pneumonia. Anthroposophic physicians concur with the thinking behind

this

> " folk remedy. " =20

>

>In the months immediately following his MMR injection and reaction,

Todd

>developed constipation (with movements only every 2-3 days) and a

spastic

>bowel. I regarded this as another symptom of his vaccine reaction.

Spastic

>colon is often a symptom of food allergies and according to research

>reported by L. Coulter, Ph.D., in Vaccination, Social Violence,

and

>Criminality: The Medical Assault on the American Brain (North Atlantic

>Books, 1990), many of today's food allergies are traceable to vaccines.

Dr.

>Coulter noted that encephalitis, especially derived from vaccinations,

can

>produce allergic states, adding that " the interrelation among

allergies,

>vaccination, and encephalitis has been an active topic of medical

>investigation since the 1930s. " =20

>

>While conventional medicine sees no connection between the digestive

and

>nervous systems, the interrelatedness of the two is strongly

acknowledged

>by practitioners of Anthroposophic, Chinese, and homeopathic

medicine.=20

>

>To correct Todd's intestinal problems, I started him on ground flaxseed

at

>the rate of two teaspoons, twice daily. Six months later when I saw him

>next, Todd was having daily bowel movements; the stools were softer and

>were eliminated without pain. He also had no problem standing up or

moving

>around on his own and by all visible signs was developing normally.=20

>

>Todd cured most of the brain inflammation himself by getting the rash

and

>fever. However, Todd is still at risk for a learning disability such as

>dyslexia--in effect, a third layer of reaction and damage from the

>vaccines--when he eventually attends school. Many of these

relationships

>are subtle and problems may not surface or become noticeable until

years

>later.=20

>

>Remedies for Dealing with Childhood Illnesses=20

>Most of the illnesses common to childhood are the standard upper

>respiratory tract conditions. While in the view of physicians

practicing

>Anthroposophic medicine it is crucial to not suppress the illness with

>drugs or antibiotics, we offer many remedies to parents to support the

>discharging--we call it " the expressing " --of the illness, driving it

out of

>the body.=20

>

>Typically, I find that about 90% of the childhood illnesses can be

helped

>with about a dozen low-potency home remedies. I often prescribe my

>personalized home remedy " kit, " which contains 13 Anthroposophic or

>homeopathic medicines, to parents wishing to approach their children's

>health in this way. For example, Ferrum phosphate is effective for

>relieving colds, flu, sinusitis, or any upper respiratory infection

such as

>bronchitis; Cinnabar is for sore throats and swollen lymph glands; and

Apis

>belladonna (a homeopathic combination of the honey bee and deadly

>nightshade) works well for fevers and pain.=20

>

>These are classical homeopathic remedies, but among specifically

>Anthroposophic medicines we often use Infludo for flu, bronchitis, or

>pneumonia. This formula contains phosphorus, Aconite, Bryonia,

eucalyptus,

>Eupatorium, and Sabadilla. For earaches, my home remedy kit includes

>capsicum (red pepper) and the herb lovage, given orally or directly

into

>the ear where it has a gentle warming effect that relieves the pain.

The

>parents obtain the kits (and other Anthroposophic medicines) from

Weleda

>Pharmacy which prepares the kit according to my prescription for each

>child. Certain old-fashioned remedies, including milk of magnesia which

>cleanses the colon, are handy for treating children with inflammatory

>diseases.=20

>

>>From our medical perspective, it is often not the type of childhood

illness

>that determines the mix of remedies, but rather the child you are

treating.

>You have to individualize, based on symptoms and the child's particular

>constitution. Two different children with the same illness may require

>quite different treatments.=20

>

>Anthroposophic, homeopathic, and other natural medicines have also

enabled

>me for the last 20 years to avoid using antibiotics in treating

children.

>The aim of treatment is to support the externalizing and discharging of

the

>illness process--to get it out of the body--so that no residual illness

>remains to become a chronic problem later in life. The essential point

is

>that health is not merely the absence of illness, as conventional

medicine

>presumes. Rather, it is the balance between acute inflammatory and

chronic

>illnesses; when you suppress the first in childhood, you're likely to

get

>much more chronic illness in adulthood.=20

>

>Do Vaccinations Cause Diabetes=20

>

>While the U.S. population has only doubled since the 1940s, the number

of

>Americans with diabetes has increased 200 times, and it has increased

by

>300% in the last 15 years alone, representing about 15% of all U.S.

>health-care costs. Routine childhood vaccinations may be a prime cause

of

>the diabetes epidemic, according to testimony presented before the U.S.

>House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on April 16, 1997,

by

> L. Coulter, Ph.D., medical history scholar and president of the

>Center for Empirical Medicine in Washington, D.C.=20

>

>Based on animal studies, the pertussis vaccine (part of the DPT

>vaccination) is known to stimulate overproduction of insulin by the

>pancreas. This is followed by exhaustion of that organ's " islets of

>Langerhans " (which make insulin) and underproduction of insulin,

resulting

>in chronic low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and eventually diabetes, says

Dr.

>Coulter.=20

>

>Both untreated rubella and the rubella vaccine (part of the MMR

>inoculation) produce immune complexes that can damage the pancreas and

>significantly reduce the levels of insulin that organ is able to

secrete.

>As an untreated disease, mumps can damage the pancreas. As a vaccine,

there

>are now many case reports directly linking the onset of

diabetes--sometimes

>within only a month's time--with receipt of the mumps vaccination. New

>Zealand researchers observed a 60% increase in the cases of juvenile

>diabetes following a hepatitis-B vaccination program.=20

>

>Despite the mounting evidence linking vaccines with diabetes, the U.S.

>government refuses to research the connection, says Dr. Coulter. " The

fact

>that the federal medical establishment--which would be the major source

of

>funds for such an epidemiologic investigation--is itself highly

committed

>to the childhood vaccination program, goes far to explain the absence

of

>any official interest in this connection. " =20

>

>Washington, DC 20016. Available by e-mail: hlcoulter@....=20

>

>

>Do Vaccines Delay Children's Development=20

>

>According to the U.S. Select Committee on Children, Youth, and

Families,

>7.5 million American children are considered developmentally delayed,

>compared to 4.8 million in 1991. Of these 7.5 million, an estimated 30%

are

>autistic, which is not surprising as autism has been linked with the

MMR

>vaccine.=20

>

>Children with developmental delays (based on a survey of 696 children,

aged

>1-12) are 27% more likely to have had at least three ear infections and

50%

>more likely to have been on continuing rounds of antibiotics (20 cycles

or

>more), according to the Developmental Delay Registry in March 1995.

Most

>important for this discussion, the study also found that

developmentally

>delayed children were four times more likely than normal children to

have

>had a negative reaction to a vaccination.=20

>

>***************************************************************************

>

>-----------------------------------------------------------------

>Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA wwithin@...

>Well Within's Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours

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