“If you want to maintain health and have your nervous system function at its best, while staying away from drugs and surgery, the solution is chiropractic care. This is a natural procedure of maintaining good health. The nervous system is the central processing unit of the body, which means that every action, reaction or function of the body is directed and observed by it. Therefore any problem created at this end can result into minor to major ailments. This is the reason why the chiropractic profession is becoming more and more popular, day by day.” - Amit Pathania, TopNews.com, Top News Magazine, India
I think you might dispense with half your doctors if you would only consult Dr. Sun more ~Henry Ward Beecher
Have you heard of cholecalciferol? It is considered to be one of the most essential vitamins for optimizing human health ever discovered. Its scientific name probably doesn’t ring a bell, but its common name, Vitamin D3, is one you will be hearing much more about as time goes on. Vitamin D3 is synthesized by humans in the skin when they are exposed to sunlight. Like its cousin, ergocalciferol (Vitamin D2), Vitamin D3’s main function is to regulate calcium and phosphorous levels in the blood, as well as aid the absorption of calcium in the bones. While it is extremely beneficial in the protection of osteoporosis, high blood pressure, cancer and auto-immune diseases, what is most exciting about Vitamin D3 is its role in immune system function. People with average or above-average levels of Vitamin D3 in their blood have been shown to have a much higher level of immune system function than people who have below-average levels. This fact means that people who take in enough Vitamin D3 acquire less colds and flu viruses; and they have illnesses of lesser duration and severity when they succumb to those types of germs. As a matter of fact, the journal Nature Immunology reports that Vitamin D3 plays an important role in activating your immune defenses against infectious diseases, such as the flu. It turns out that the immune system fighter cells, called T-cells, need Vitamin D to allow the T-cell to start fighting infection. Scientists now hypothesize that in the winter, when people are less exposed to the healthy rays of the sun, they become Vitamin D3 deficient and are more easily infected by flu viruses. Thus the reason why there is such a thing as a “flu season.” Vitamin D3 is found in eggs and fish, but most importantly, it is generated by the sun. Ten to twenty minutes of healthy sun exposure a day is all that you need to maintain proper Vitamin D3 levels in the blood. To optimize health, supplement the diet with Vitamin D3 capsules. You can take them on a daily basis (especially in the winter) or use them as an immune system aid when becoming ill. According to Dr. Joe Mercola of the Mercola Wellness Center in Chicago, many experts agree upon 35 IUs per pound of bodyweight as a recommended dosage. The best way to find out how much Vitamin D3 is for you, is to have your Vitamin D levels tested by a laboratory. Based on the latest research, it seems to be one blood test that is worth the pain of the needle.
According to the March 2nd, 2007, Journal of Human Hypertension, Chiropractic adjustments were better in lowering blood pressure than 2 medications combined! George Bakris M.D. said, “Not only does it work, we saw no side effects and no problems!” This was an 8 week study, where 25 patients who were receiving medication to treat early-stage high blood pressure were specifically adjusted. They significantly lowered their blood pressure compared to 25 similar patients who received sham or fake adjustments. Those patients who received specific chiropractic adjustments saw an average of 14mm Hg greater drop in the top number, and an average of 8mm Hg greater drop in the bottom number. George Bakris M.D. said, “when the statistician brought me the data, I actually didn’t believe it. It was way too good to be true.” The statistician said, “I didn’t believe it either, but we checked for everything and there it was.” – Dr. Kate and Patrick McCann, D.C., Brookfield Now.com
Pain full hands, wrist, shoulders, hips, knees, and or feet? These are common concerns with many people which many times leads them to take anti-inflammatory drugs. If one round of meds do not take care of the problem good chance the second, third and so on will not solove the problem. I think the problem started because the work load has increased while the power has decreased. Over time (around age 35) the body’s fat to muscle ratio starts to change. (less muscle more fat) In other words were are walking around with less power but our work load (daily life activities) do not go down. With less power and more load the body experiences break down. How do you solve this problem? Give the body more power! Start a weight lifting program. Check out my bull dozier analogy.
Simply put, children with properly aligned spines have a better opportunity to be healthy.
Beginning at birth, children go through many different micro-traumas, (such as) frequent falls as they learn to crawl, walk and eventually run. Chiropractic adjustments give children an edge by reducing many physical stressors they endure throughout life.
The child’s spine is developing rapidly in the first 10 years of life. (Seemingly) innocent events, such as wearing backpacks, using the computer, having poor posture and getting injured playing sports, can create spinal subluxations (misalignments) in the child’s spine. Subluxations can put pressure on the child’s nervous system. When the nerve isn’t functioning correctly, it can result in symptoms related to organs, muscles and various systems of the body. Symptoms such as colic, asthma, ear infections, stomach ache, bed wetting, poor posture, hyperactivity and frequent colds or flu might be evidence of subluxations.
Through safe and gentle adjustments, a chiropractor can realign the child’s spine with specific contacts, reducing the pressure on the nervous system, allowing the body to heal and reduce symptoms. Like dentistry, many parents also see the benefits of providing preventive care for their children and see this as an important role in their child’s overall health and wellness. - Dr. Jeff Ludwick, PennLive.com
Is Fear of Fever Hurting out Children?
By: Edda West- VRAN Newsletter January-March, 2003
Its shadow partner, “fear of fever” compels us to suppress fever whenever it arises and insures out captivity to monopoly, sickness oriented medicine. The medical/pharmaceutical empire logs us with theses tactics, imprinting fear in the collective psyche, the favorite tool with which they dominate the masses and usher us down the slippery slope of health breakdown and drug dependency.
Children in particular have been hit hard as they are the most vulnerable members of society. New evidence is now emerging that fever suppress and drugs may be another contributing factor to the explosive epidemic of neurodevelopment disorders like autism.
Many will reach for popular over-the-counter remedies to suppress fever and alleviate systems in the belief that these products are reliable, effective, and safe. But, how safe are they really? And what are the risks when fever is suppressed and symptoms masked? Does fever have a critical function in fighting sickness that we have lost sight of?
There is plenty of scientific evidence validating the benefits of fever in fighting viral/bacterial inflammations and its important role in the healing process. Fever increases survival rate during infectious disease – basic information that has yet to reach the majority of people who remain misinformed and misled by pharmaceutical and medical propaganda which still shamelessly advocates and use of antipyretic drugs at the first sign of fever. The myth that in treated fevers while lead to seizures and brain damage is perpetuated ad nauseam. Fever is maligned, misunderstood and seen as an enemy to be feared rather than an ally that signals the immune system gearing up for action.
Health Canada recently issued an alert cautioning that the overuse of these over-the-counter remedies can lead to serious liver toxicity and death.
A recently published article identified acetaminophen overdose as the number one cause of acute liver failure in the US, and most of these overdoses were unintentional.
It is important to understand that fever is not a disease, but rather a symptom of and illness. There is urgency for us to re-examine our basic assumptions about the nature of fever and its evolutionary role in he survival of the species.
High fevers in some diseases like Measles and Roseola are needed in order to discharge the virus. In a clinical study of 56 children during the measles epidemic in Ghana, Africa in 1967, it was standard practice to treat every case of measles with sedatives, antipyretics like aspirin and Tylenol, cough suppressants, and also as needed with antibiotics. In the first half of the epidemic, 35% of the children died. But the treating doctors also observed that the children who survived were usually the ones who had higher fevers and more severe rashes than the ones who died. Although the ones who died seemed less sick than the survivors at the beginning of the illness, they then later got pneumonia and died.
At a vaccine risk conference in 2000, Dr. Philip Incao cited this study as an example of the vital role of fever. “The doctors began to think that the higher fevers and rash helped clear the measles virus from the body and enhanced survival. And so half ways through this measles epidemic, the doctors revised their treatment and gave no sedatives, no aspirin or Tylenol, nor cough suppressants, but still gave antibiotics, antimalarials and blood transfusions if needed. In this group, also of 56 children, only 7% died compared to 35% in the first group. This is a dramatic demonstration, and there are many others, of the vitally important basic principle that it is dangerous to suppress an inflammatory discharge.”
“What I read in this study twenty years ago confirmed what I experienced in my own practice, that the children who produced higher fevers and strong rashes, and good discharges of mucous and pus, were healthier and more robust and had strong immune systems than the children who produced a low intensity of these symptoms, These robust children in my practice, who vigorously externalized and healed their infections spontaneously, often without antibiotics, had had little or no antibiotics, or antipyretics, or vaccinations in their lives. And the other children who had had all their vaccinations, and lots of antipyretics, and antibiotics- who had had a lot of suppressive, internalizing medical treatments, these children never got high fevers. And these children were the ones who were more likely to have allergies and autoimmune problems.” (2)
The pervasive belief that fever is dangerous and must be suppressed disregards the scientific evidence demonstration its beneficial role in inflammatory diseases. The immune system depends on the essential role of fever to accomplish myriad tasks when gearing up to fight infections. New Zealand researcher Hilary Butler has assembled on impressive list of citations from medical literature to prove this point. We are grateful for her work, and include these excerpts as an addendum to this article.
“Doctors do a great disservice to you and your children when they prescribe drugs to reduce fever” says Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, pediatrician and author of How To Raise A Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. “Fever phobia is a disease of pediatricians, not parents, and to extent that parents are victimized by it, doctors are at fault.” Parents are left to fear that their child’s temperature will keep rising unless measures are taken to control it. “They don’t tell you that reducing his temperature will do nothing to make the patient well or that our bodies have a built-in mechanism, not fully explains, that will prevent and infection-induced temperature from reaching 106 degrees F (41 degrees C) (3)
Mendelsohn emphasizes that, “Only in the case of heatstroke, poisoning, or other externally caused fevers is the bodily mechanism overwhelmed and inoperative.” This would also include drug reactions and overdose.
Fever: Your Body’s Defense Against Disease is the title of chapter 7 in Dr. Mendeloshn’s book, and undoubtedly one of the best guidelines ever written for parents seeking a balanced and accurate perspective of the beneficial and defensive role of fevers in childhood. He condemns the useless and dangerous practice of fever suppression through drugs. “If your child contracts an infection, the fever that accompanies it is a blessing, not a curse. The spontaneous release of pyrogens cause the body temperature to rise, a natural defense mechanism needed to fight disease. The presence of fever tells you that the repair mechanism of the body have gone into high gear. It is something to rejoice over, not to fear.” (3)
“Fevers produced by viral or bacterial infections will not cause brain damage or permanent physical harm. Fevers are a common symptom in children and are not an indication of serious illness unless associated with major changes in appearance and behavior or other additional symptoms such as respiratory difficulty, extreme listlessness or loss of consciousness. The height of a fever is not a measure of the severity of and illness.” (3)
Numerous studies have shown that fever enhances the immune response by increasing mobility and activity of while cells called leucocytes which disable bacteria and viruses and remove damaged tissue from the body. A complex sequence of immune activities is activated of fever. Antiviral and antibacterial properties of interferon are also increased with fever. With a rise in temperature, iron is removed from the blood and stored in the liver, further disabling the rate at which bacteria can multiply. Studies of artificially induced fevers in laboratory animals infected with disease have shown that elevated temperatures enhance survival, while lowered temperatures increase the death rate. (4)
There is an exception however. When fever arises in a newborn baby in the first few weeks of life, there is a heightened lever of caution. “Newborn babies may suffer from infections related to obstetrical interventions during delivery, prenatal or hereditary conditions, aspiration pneumonia from amniotic fluid into the lungs because of overmedication of the mother during the delivery… and exposure to the legion of germs that about in the hospital itself,” writes Dr. Mendelsohn who advises parents to seek medical help if the baby runs a fever in the first 2 months of life. Breastfeeding plays a critical role in preventing infections in infants. Breastfed babies are superbly protected from a vast range of pathogens and have a lesser risk of developing fevers in the newborn phase of life.
It is known that the blood-brain barrier is not intact until at least 6 weeks of life. This is why fever in very young infants, raises a big caution flag because of the ease with which pathogens, viruses/bacteria can gain access to the baby’s brain/nervous system creating a higher risk for meningitis. When medical help is sought for the feverish infants less than 6 weeks of age, it may leave to invasive procedures like spinal taps, antibiotics, steroids and fever suppressants, which are also not without risk. If a parent disagrees with the course of treatment, they are likely to encounter hostility from the medical staff, as recently happened to a Boise area mother who lost custody of her 5 week old baby when she took her to the local ER for a check up.
The baby had been fussy and feverish all day, and the mother wanted to make sure everything was alright. She consented to blood tests, urinalysis, x-ray and I.V., but declined the spinal tap and wanted to wait for what the test results might show. She calculated that there was about a 95% change her baby did not have meningitis and likely had the same cold the family had just gotten over. Her decision to forgo the spinal tap and antibiotics prompted the hospital to call Child Protective Services and the baby was taken from her. The doctor felt the child’s life was in danger because the mother refused “life-saving treatment,” despite the fact that the baby had improved significantly after some house on I.V.
It would seem prudent to protect newborn infants during this early, vulnerable time from exposure to an situation, or procedures that would put them at risk of developing fevers. Yet, the majority of newborns and young infants are vaccinated in the first 6-8 weeks of life. Doctors know full well that the injection of vaccine cocktails containing a brew of viral/bacterial particles, foreign proteins, and adjuvant and chemical preservatives will likely precipitate a feverish reaction in a large number of babies. They even anticipate this, and often advise parents to dose the child with “baby Tylenol” prior to going in for the shot(s). In the aftermath of vaccination, the standard reassurance given to worried parents calling the doctor’s office with a fussy, feverish newly vaccinated baby, is “it’s perfectly normal – nothing to worry about. Just give the baby some Tylenol.
In their determination to initiate vaccine agendas as soon as possible, there is a curious and willful blindness amongst doctors in the vaccine establishment. Why there is no concern about the impact of vaccine induced fevers in infants during this critical early period of life? Why is it that if a spontaneous fever arises in the newborn, it is viewed as a potential medical emergency, but if the fever is vaccine induced, it is brushed off as “normal” and parents are advised to suppress it with antipyretics?
The medical mindset that imposes vaccine schedules in early infancy violates a fundamental precautionary principle which disregards the fragility of the baby and the vulnerability of the immature brain/nervous system/immune system. Just look at the double standard operative here. On the one hand parents are cautioned to seek immediate medical help if fever develops in the newborn, yet are heavily pressured to submit their babies to multiple vaccines without regard for the fact that these injections are the primary cause of fever in your infants. Fever is knowingly induced during these early weeks of like, when all common sense and instincts should prevail to protect the infant from this outcome.
It is not only the vaccine induced fevers which raise a caution. While the fever signals the infant’s immune response to the artificially implanted viral/bacterial and chemical agents he/she is forced to cope with, the bigger question is – what deeper affect do these toxic substances have, how that they have access to the blood stream, vital organs and the immature brain/nervous system? What additional insult to injury occurs when the resulting fever is then manipulated with antipyretic drugs preventing the normal mobilization of the immune system?
A new theory regarding a potential cause of autism is currently being explored by Dr. Anthony R. Torres, M.D., Senior Scientist and Director of the BioMedical Lab at Utah State University. His hypothesis questions whether fever suppression is involved in the etiology of autism and neurodevelopment disorders.
Dr. Torres is investigating evidence suggesting that the etiology of autism involves infections of the pregnant mother or of a young child. “Most infections result in fever that is routinely controlled with antipyretics such as acetaminophen. The blocking of fever inhibits processes that evolved over millions of years to protect against microbial attack. Immune mechanisms in the central nervous system are part of this protective proves.
“Pathological infections, including vaccinations, commonly result in fever. For example, 50-60% of young children develop fever after receiving MMR vaccine,” and are routinely related with fever suppressants. Many parents report their children slipped into autism following MMR shots. Fr. Torres has also found that “43% of mothers with an autistic child experienced upper respiratory track, influenza-like, urinary and vaginal infections during pregnancy compared to only 26% of control mothers,” suggesting that in some cases autism may be liked to the “sequella of pathogenic infections, especially those of viral origin.” (4)
Suppressing fever during pregnancy and labor may effect the fetus as research has shown that acetaminophen “significantly decreased maternal and fetal serum IL-66,” an immune factor the infant is incapable of producing at birth and depends on from the mother. (4) A press release (Oct./02) from the British Thoracic Society cautions that a recent study links paracetamol, an acetaminophen based drug similar to Tylenol to childhood asthma when used by the mother in late pregnancy. (5)
The central nervous system and scores of factors in the immune system work synergistically to achieve optimum immune function. What affects one affects the other. Dr. Torres points to evidence that acetaminophen is an immunosuppressive agent. In highly technical language, he describes the complex activities launched by the immune system and the many signals relayed to control centers in the brain when the body is fighting pathogenic organisms. The activation of pyrogens stimulates the rise of fever and “production of various cytokines (immune cells) from organs in the viscera (gut)”- the gut being the primary and largest immune organ of the body. Key signals carried along the vagus nerve which connects the gut/ brain immune pathways, and which are normally mediated by prostaglandins, can be blocked by antipyretics like acetaminophen, thereby derailing the complex sequences of immune signals that flow between the gut and the brain.
Dr. Torres postulates that the blockage of fever with antipyretics, whether induced by infections or vaccinations, interferes with normal immunological development in the brain, leading to neurodevelopment disorders in certain genetically and immunologically disposed individuals. The effects may occur in utero or at a very young age when the immune system is rapidly developing.
Kathy Blanco, President of CHILDSCREEEN www.childscreen.org , herself a mother of autistic children, predicts that theses findings will not be popular with mainstream medicine and are “potentially a public relation time bomb.” Searching for advice on fevers and vaccine reactions on the internet, Blaco found that the majority advise ‘ If your child has a fever during a reaction to a vaccine, give them acetaminophen.’ “This all too common advice may actually cause autism. However, if Dr. Torres’ groundbreaking theory proves true, it could be the means of saving thousands of children from becoming autistic.”
Currently, a tremendous amount of fear is bring whipped up over the outbreak of SARS (sever acute respiratory syndrome) in the country. Health officials are in an uproar even hinting that this may be the “Big One’ – the pandemic they’ve been anticipating for years, even though it’s not influenza. Draconian quarantine measures are being implemented, and some sources are speculating whether this is a training exercise to test the population’s willingness to submit to quarantine in preparation for biowarfare attack. To date there has been no definitive identification of the pathogen, although there is speculation that it is a form of corona virus, the family of viruses found in the common cold. At one pointing it was thought it might be related to the paramyxo virus which is related to measles and canine distemper – there’s even speciation that Chlamydia could be involved. The measles virus has been mutating and its footprint identified in some nasty cases of encephalitis and respiratory infections in Asia in recent years. Already plans are tolling to start vaccine development which is surprising since the virus or viral combination is yet to be identified.
Early reports described SARS as being with a dry cough that keeps getting worse, and that some people get headaches, body ache, and “skyrocketing fever or blotch rash on their bodies,’ and as illnesses go, this one seems fairly “vicious.” Treatment? People are given a “battery of drugs – cocktails of antibiotics and antiviral medications.” They’re probably getting strong doses of fever suppressants as well….which has left me wondering whether antipyretics diminished the immune capabilities of those who have died from SARS. Is this one of those diseases that needs a higher fever to rally the immune system to optimal output? Are the aggressive medical treatments actually creating a higher risk of death?
Homeopathic and Naturopathic healing modalities have a long and trusted history in the prevention of treatment of epidemic diseases. One of the greatest antivirals known is vitamin C, which has been used with stupendous success in both the prevention and treatment of infections diseases. Highly effective treatment protocols have been developed by administering ascorbates of vitamin C intravenously in critical situations and are documented in medical literature and accessible through Dr. Robert Cathercart’s website with links to Kr. Klenner, and Linus Pauling. Intravenous vitamin C should be available for every patient facing acute and critical illnesses, but the current medical monopoly blocks access to this simple and highly effective treatment.
Health activist Croft Woodruff writes, “In the spring of 2000 I referred a young relative, who was suffering from and acute case of mononucleosis, to a medical doctor who administered four separate intravenous infections of vitamin C as sodium ascorbate over as many days. The results were quite dramatic. The patient recovered completely, albeit with a newly acquired respect for the power of vitamin C as a healing agent.”
Our mistrust of natural processes, and reliance o drug oriented medicine has obscured out understanding of the importance of childhood illnesses and the necessity of fever as a vital aspect of the maturation of the immune system enabling a strong & resilient foundation of health to evolve. When we discard the old fears and life the veil of ignorance, we are then empowered to see our innate intelligence, the real picture unfolding in front of is – and recognizing that the artificial manipulation of children’s immune system, via mass vaccination programs, indiscriminate use of antipyretics and antibiotics, rather than protecting, is threatening their health – their future.
The encouraging and wise words of Dr. Incao may help s shed old fears and embrace a new relationship to Nature – “Every childhood inflammation, every cold, sore throat, earache, fever and rash is a healing crisis and a cleansing process, a strong effort by the human spirit to remodel the body, to make it a more suitable dwelling. Anthroposophic and homeopathic remedies aid and promote this cleansing process and help the illness to work its way out of the body so that healing can occur.” In a personal conversation recently, Dr. Incao reminded me that – “it takes a while to free our mind from the imprisonment, and out need to adhere to political correctness for fear of being judged radical. Illness is part of life, t is not alien or abnormal and has to be accepted as a part of life, Every breakdown is a spiritual growth opportunity. We need to learn how to deal with the work through it – this is part of the new paradigm.”
Homeopathy is an allopathic (treatment of disease using remedies) medical system developed over 200 years ago by a German physician named Samuel Christian Hahneman. Homeopathy has been practiced in the United States since the 19th century. One of the largest homeopathic hospitals in the world was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was aptly named Hahneman Hospital. (Hahneman still functions as a hospital today, only it is now strictly a medical institution.) Homeopathy uses remedies that are100% natural to treat illnesses, diseases and injuries. The principle of homeopathy is based on “like cures like,” or the principle of similars. Hahneman’s theory is, if a substance can cause disease or symptoms in a healthy person, extremely small amounts of that substance can cure a person who has similar symptoms. Homeopaths (doctors of homeopathy) believe that the lower the dose of the homeopathic solution, the greater its healing capacity. Therefore, all homeopathic substances are diluted into their smallest parts, and then classified as a homeopathic remedy. Homeopathic remedies are developed from plants, minerals or animals. The most commonly used remedies are derived from red onion, arnica and the stinging nettle plant. In 2007, a National Health Interview study found that 3.9 million adults and 900,000 children used homeopathy in the previous year. The most common conditions that homeopathic remedies are used to treat include allergies, asthma, digestive disorders, ear infections, cold symptoms, headaches and muscular aches and strains. Does homeopathy work? According to scientists in the medical field, there is little evidence to suggest that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for health conditions. This statement does not mean that homeopathy does not work, it may only suggest that research proving its effectiveness has not been done. Many people (myself included) have used homeopathic remedies for themselves and their children. There are a number of extremely popular homeopathic products, such as Hyland’s Teething Tablets and Colic Tablets, which are available in CVS, WalMart/Target chains and local supermarkets. Countless people who are not even aware of the homeopathic distinction have found the remedies very worthwhile. Many, many ‘repeat customers’ have found homeopathic products helpful and, more importantly, they are harmless to the overall health of the body. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, famously said in his writing, “First do no harm.” Homeopathy cares for the body while following this all important rule. With that, we should all follow the call to ‘do no harm’ with a call to ‘do more research.’
Homeopathic remedies for Colds, Cough, and Traumatic Injuries
