holistic wellness Archives - Page 2 of 3

To Empower! Not Control! A Holistic Approach to ADHD

by Thomas Armstrong, PHD – ICPA.org:

Thousands of studies tell us what children with ADHD can’t do, but few tell us what they can do. This article presents holistic strategies for helping children with ADHD succeed at home and in school by building on their interests, learning styles, and many talents.

Eight-year-old Billy, in the front row, will have nothing to do with my demonstration on new techniques for teaching spelling. During my visit to his elementary school classroom in upstate New York, Billy is out of his seat during most of the lesson. When I ask the children to visualize their spelling words, however, I am amazed to see Billy return to his seat and remain perfectly still. Covering his eyes, Billy “looks” intently at his imaginary words—fascinated with the images in his mind!

Later on, I realize that something more important than a spelling lesson went on that afternoon: Billy was able to transform his external physical hyperactivity into internal mental motion and, by internalizing his outer activity level, was able to gain control over it. This incident occurred some time ago but remains memorable to me. Why? Because it suggests that internal empowerment, rather than external control, is often the best way to help kids diagnosed with ADHD.

A Decidedly Unholistic Approach

Much of the current work in the field of ADHD looks at the issue from an external control perspective. The two interventions touted in almost all books and programs about ADHD are medication and behavior modification. While these approaches are often dramatically effective in young people with ADHD, both have troubling features that often receive scant attention. Some researchers suggest that when children receive medication, they may attribute their improved behaviors to the pills rather than to their own inner resources (Whalen & Henker, 1990). Others may expect the medication to do all the work and thus neglect underlying issues that may be the true causes of a child’s attention and/or behavior difficulties.

Behavior modification programs, which abound, seek to control children’s behaviors through some combination of rewards, punishments, or response costs (the taking away of rewards). Some programs rely on token economy systems, while others use behavior charts, stickers, and even machines. For example, the Attention Training System sits on a child’s desk and automatically awards a point every 60 seconds for on-task behavior. The teacher can also deduct points for bad behavior using a remote control. Students trade points for prizes and privileges. Although behavior modification programs may influence children to change their behavior, they do it for the wrong reason: to get rewards. Such programs can discourage risk-taking, blunt creativity, decrease levels of intrinsic motivation, and even impair academic performance (Kohn, 1993).

Looking at the Whole Child

Most ADHD researchers and practitioners see children labeled with ADHD in terms of their deficits. Thousands of studies tell us what these kids can’t do, but few tell us what they can do and who they really are. Two exceptions are Crammond (1994) and Hartmann (1993). Where are the studies that tell us what these kids are interested in, what kinds of positive teaming styles or combinations of intelligences they use successfully in the classroom? What sorts of artistic, mechanical, scientific, dramatic, or personal contributions can they make to their schools and communities?

A new vision of educational interventions is needed to reflect a deeper appreciation for the whole child based on a wellness paradigm, rather than a deficit perspective rooted in a medical or disease-based model. We need to initiate a new field of study to help children with behavior and attention difficulties—one based on discovering their strengths rather than fixing their faults. Parents and teachers tell me about cases of ADHD-labeled kids who are talented dancers, musicians, sculptors, and dramatists. The ADHD community needs to conduct research on the positive qualities of these children and what their abilities could mean in contributing to their success in the classroom and in life.

Such research could develop assessment strategies geared toward identifying their inner capabilities. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (1983) is one possible framework for developing appropriate assessment instruments to help identify such abilities—a refreshing change from the behavior rating scales and artificial performance tests currently used to assess ADHD in children. We must develop individualized educational plans (IEP) that give more than lip service to a child’s strengths and have goals and objectives that solidly reflect a desire to help children achieve success, rather than to “overcome their problems.”

While the ADHD worldview tacitly approves of a teacher centered, worksheet- and textbook-driven model of education (almost all of its educational suggestions are based on this kind of classroom), current research suggests that all students benefit from project-based environments in which they actively construct new meanings based on their existing knowledge of a subject. Some research suggests that students with ADHD do better in environments that are active, self-paced, and hands-on (McGuinness, 1985). Video games and computers are powerful teaming tools for many of these children. In fact, their high-speed behavior and thinking lend themselves quite well to such cutting-edge technologies as hypertext and multimedia (Armstrong, 1995).

Finally, interventions need to go beyond strategies such as smiley faces, points, and medications, and reflect a full sense of the child’s true nature.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Tend Your Mind’s Garden

by Madisyn Taylor – ICPA.org:

The mind is a curious thing, because it is so powerful yet sometimes so difficult to control. We find ourselves thinking a certain way, knowing that this thought may be creating trouble for us, yet we find it difficult to stop. For example, many people have the experience of getting sick at the same time every year, or every time they go on a plane. They may even be aware that their beliefs impact their experiences, so continue to think they will get sick. And then they do.

Sometimes we need to get sick in order to process something, or move something through our bodies. But often we get sick, or feel exhausted, because we don’t make the effort to galvanize the power of our minds in the service of our physical health, which is one of its most important functions. We really can use it to communicate to our bodies, yet we often regard the two as separate entities that have little to do with one another.

Knowing this, we have the power to create physical health and mental health simply by paying attention to the tapes running in our minds. Once we hear ourselves, we have the option to either let that tape keep running or to make a new recording. We harness the power of the mind in our defense when we choose supportive, healing words that foster good health and high spirits. All we need to do is remember to tend the field of our mind with the attentive and loving hand of a master gardener tending her flower beds, culling the weeds so that blossoms may come to fruition.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

A Wellness Approach for Children

by Jane Sheppard – ICPA.org:

In raising healthy children, it’s not enough to just focus on the physical aspect of health. To be truly healthy, a child’s emotional health must be nurtured and strengthened. Developing a mental attitude of wellness is also essential. When we adopt an attitude of wellness, we take on a belief that being well is a natural, normal state. Our goal is to have outstanding, vibrant health, not just to be free of disease. With a wellness attitude, we know that we have control over our own body and how healthy it will be.

We can teach and help our children to grow up with an attitude of wellness. Children have much more control over their own health than you may think. The mind is a very powerful mechanism with miraculous control over health and healing. The more children learn to use the extraordinary powers of their minds, the healthier and happier they will be. They may also live longer than someone who takes a passive approach to health.

Children can learn that negative, unhealthy lifestyles are choices that contribute to sickness. We all know what a struggle it can be to encourage children to eat the foods that we know are essential for health, and to avoid junk food. When our children are very young, we can pretty easily restrict the things we know to be unhealthy for them. However, as they get older, telling them that they cannot have sugar or other problem food is not productive. They will feel deprived and will probably rebel. Anything that is forbidden is tempting.

Children need to know they have a choice—they can either choose good health and wellness or opt for poor health and sickness. They need to be taught the facts so they are able to make educated choices. Talk to them about the effects that food has on their body. They can understand that sugar lowers their immunity, making them more susceptible to sickness, as well as contribute to tooth decay. You can explain to them how eating healthy foods will give them more energy and make them feel better. This can be taught in very simple, fun and creative ways. It may take a while to actually sink in, and at first the lure of scrumptious tasting sugar and white flour “treats” that all the other kids are eating may be too much to refuse, but eventually the time and energy you put into health education will pay off. If children are raised with a respectful attitude of wellness, as they get older they will most likely choose to turn down things that they know are not healthy for them. Respectful is a key word, meaning not nagging or shaming them about food.

As they get even older, they can be taught that smoking cigarettes or taking drugs is their choice to opt for sickness. Telling them to “just say no” and forbidding them to smoke or take drugs is not enough. They need to understand the health consequences and realities of putting these substances in their bodies. Children are very intelligent, but they need to be reminded that they are powerful and they have choices. They can understand the consequences of their choices.

Talk to your children about how strong their bodies are and the extraordinary things their bodies can do. Show them how their bodies can miraculously heal a cut, how their heart works and how they can strengthen their heart through exercise and healthy food, how their immune system fights off germs and other invaders, and how getting enough sleep makes them feel better throughout the day. All these things can be taught in fun and imaginative ways with drawings, stories, etc. Children are fascinated with their bodies and they want to know how they work.

Dr. Wayne Dyer tells us in his book, What Do You Really Want For Your Children?, “the more children learn from you to rid themselves of attitudes which foster sickness, the more you are helping them to enjoy life each day. They will actually live longer and more productive lives if they learn wellness as very young children.” Parents frequently make statements that reinforce a sickness attitude. Did your mother ever tell you that if you don’t wear a scarf, you’ll catch a cold and be sick? A wellness approach would be to say, “You are so strong and healthy that you probably won’t develop a cold, even if the other kids do, but here is a scarf to keep you warm and comfortable outside”. Dr. Dyer also cautions us to resist taking frequent trips to the doctor and using medications for everyday aches and pains and common ailments such as a cold. When we teach children that there is a pill for every complaint and that a doctor visit is part of every cure, we disempower them and set them up to rely too heavily on drugs and doctors throughout their lives. They need to know they are in charge of their own health.

In order to teach our children to choose health, we must model wellness and take charge of our own health. Wellness is not just having an absence of symptoms. It’s asking yourself how you can attain outstanding health. It’s making exercise and stress reduction a daily part of your lifestyle, choosing healthy foods and modeling this behavior for your children. As Dr. Dyer puts it, “It means simply being as healthy as you possibly can be, and being determined not to allow your wonderful body, the place where your mind currently resides, to deteriorate unnecessarily.”

There has been much research on the relationship between illness and attitudes. The research suggests that even cancer and heart disease are strongly related to a person’s inner attitudes. Dr. Harrison tells us in his book, Loving Your Disease, that “Predispositions to disease are often not passed on in a physical sense but rather through the messages parents give their offspring and the living habits and diet they pass down”.

Dr. Dyer recognizes the obvious elements of wellness that include diet, exercise, and eliminating negative lifestyle habits. In addition, he suggests two elements that will help children as much as the physical components. These elements are using visualization and having a sense of humor. They are just as important as diet and exercise.

Positive imagery or visualization is a powerful tool that children can use to help them become capable, healthy and vibrant people. Visualization puts the imagination to work to help achieve a desired outcome. It is the process of creating positive thoughts and images in the mind to communicate with the body. It is one of the strongest and most effective ways to make happen what you want in your life. Children can be taught to regularly see themselves in their minds as being radiantly healthy, vibrant, and actively participating in whatever activities they want to do. Positive imagery or visualization is very helpful for children who are overweight or who have acne or other skin diseases and need to establish a better self-image. Verbal affirmations can be used with imagery. A good affirmation for a child to say regularly is “I am good to my body and my body is good to me” or “Every day I am feeling better and growing more vibrantly healthy”. Children can also use visualization to help their body to heal. Studies show that there are significant remission rates among people healing from cancer who use visualization as part of the healing process.

Laughter is a strong healer and health builder. Dr. Dyer tells us that “when children laugh they are actually releasing into their bloodstream chemicals which are necessary for the prevention and cure of disease”. Have fun with your children. Be a little crazy and silly and laugh as much as you can. Each good belly laugh means that you and your children are becoming more physically and emotionally sound.

Healthy Child Online is a comprehensive resource providing parents and caregivers with free information and safe, natural products to enhance the health and lives of children. Healthy Child Online is a project of Future Generations, started by Jane Sheppard, a work-athome mother, in 1997. The children are our future, and Future Generations is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the health and well-being of children by:

• Providing information about how to promote vibrant health naturally.

• Raising awareness about how the profit-driven food, chemical, and medical, and entertainment industries have spawned some unhealthy foods, drugs, vaccines, pesticides, and other products and practices, and are perpetuating an unsafe environment for children.

• Supporting parents and caregivers in switching to a more natural, respectful, nurturing way of tending to babies and children’s needs and helping children to become happy, loving, emotionally-secure adults. We advocate natural, holistic, heart-centered, attachment parenting.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

The Real Drug Problem

by Susan M. Brown, D.C. – ICPA.org:

I happened to be watching television the other day and, instead of my usual flipping channels during commercials, I left it on the channel and saw a few interesting commercials. The first commercial showed a parent heading off a potential drug problem with their child. It had a slogan: “Parents – the anti-drug”. It was a nice public service kind of commercial and hopefully one that people will take to heart. Interestingly, the next commercial showed a parent with their child too but in this commercial instead of the parent trying to keep their child off drugs, they were giving them a drug. The child had a cold with a sore throat and couldn’t sleep. So this angelic figure of a mom was saving them from misery by giving them an over counter medicine, which if you look at the ingredients, amounts to sugar and alcohol with a little dye and artificial flavoring in it (none of which help the child to heal whatever is going on). Within the next hour I saw about a dozen more commercials for one drug after another. There were drugs for depression, headaches, low libido, indigestion, and a whole slew of other ailments. There were even commercials that never said what the drug was for but had lively music and showed scenes of very happy people and simply said to contact your physician to see if it was right for you. The extensive list of side effects for all these drugs, many of which were worse than the ailment the drug was being taken for, was of course, tagged at the end spoken very quickly and very quietly…

I have to wonder, where is the real drug problem? How do we expect our kids to “just say no” to drugs with the media portraying drugs as being the great panacea and when many adults are on several prescriptions as well as giving their kids drugs to avoid any type of discomfort? There seems to be such an incredible double standard. You can take these drugs because the “authorities” say they are OK but not these drugs they say are not. The “good drugs” may be just as addictive and have as many or more side effects as the “bad drugs” but that’s OK because with a prescription they then have the magic stamp of approval. It’s OK for this person who is depressed to take Prozac to give them a boost and make them feel artificially OK whenever the world gets to be too much but the drug addict who is most likely experiencing more emotional/mental pain than the average person could imagine is wrong for doing essentially the same thing. Kids grow up having their parents or doctors give them various drugs for the slightest discomfort, drugs that are not intended to strengthen their bodies and help them to heal, but to cover up the symptom, which ultimately weakens the body. Then we wonder why as the kids get older and feel whatever angst they experience in their lives and need a little “pick me up” they go to drugs or alcohol. Maybe it’s because that is what they learned you do when you feel uncomfortable. You “take something” to make the pain go away so you can supposedly feel better. They didn’t learn to see the discomfort as a message from the body asking to make a change or telling you that it was working hard to heal something so please do healthy things. They didn’t learn that discomfort is uncomfortable but not life threatening and that the body given time will heal most things and become stronger in the process. They didn’t learn that the peaks and valleys are part of life and can make it fuller if you learn to flow with it and approach it like a roller coaster ride, sometimes scary and sometimes a blast. They learned that if you are uncomfortable, take a drug to make it better. My body is not capable of healing so I need a drug to do it for me.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely against medicine nor do I think that people should never take drugs. I just think that we tend to live in a pill popping society where many seem to think that drugs will make it all better. And bottom line, drugs don’t make it all better. Most of them simply allow one to function in spite of whatever is really going on. I’m reminded of a person I saw when I was first in practice, we’ll call him Max. When Max first came in I saw from his history that he was on several medications. I asked him why so many? He gave me a very typical story that he started on one and then started having other symptoms (actually side effects from the first drug) and so was given an additional drug and then started having more symptoms (more side effects) and was given another drug and so on and so on. Ultimately he was on about 10 different medications, about a third of them for the depression and the rest for various side effects including insomnia, indigestion, pain, constipation, and anxiety. Now keep in mind that the researchers test the effect of one drug on the body and there has been some research that has tested the effects of two drugs in combination on the body, but they have no idea what the overall effect of 10 drugs in combination on the body will be. I’d like to say that Max is an exception, but that wouldn’t be true. Many people are on multiple medications and it is standard care in medicine. The other noteworthy thing on Max’s history was his reason for being in my office. He said he came in because he was uncomfortable all the time and was told I might be able to help. I asked him in what way was he uncomfortable. Instead of what I expected, which was the common “chiropractic complaints” of my back hurts or my neck hurts, he began to tell me about his life. He hated his job as a social worker in which he saw an endless line of people who he described as having the most heart wrenching lives in the world many of whom he could not really help within the system. He was unhappy in his marriage and had been for many years. His wife belittled him constantly and his children had started doing the same, but this was no different than his childhood in which his parents had done it too. He had no hobbies that brought him joy. Any friends that he had were long gone and the only socializing he did was with his wife’s family who made no bones about expressing their belief that his wife had married a loser. I asked if all this had started before he started taking the medication and he said yes that it had been going on for years before. Then I simply said, “Max no wonder you’re depressed. If I had your life I would be depressed too.” He looked at me first with confusion and then with recognition as if a light had gone on for the first time and he started to laugh. The next words out of his mouth were, “You’re right my life sucks.” To make a very long story short, Max started getting adjusted and making changes in his life. He asked his doctor to begin to wean him off all medication, got a new job and was much less depressed. He found a hobby and had little glimpses of enjoying life. I’d like to say that his path to healing was effortless but it wasn’t, it was hard work and required that he begin to looked at himself and his life honestly. He had times when he felt he needed to take an antidepressant but it was to support him through a time of great change while he was on the road to healing his life. It was a short term choice for support and not a long term choice for denial. He realized that the depression he was experiencing wasn’t something that was wrong with him but something that was very right with him. It was a cry from the core of his being saying “I deserve something more in life. I deserve to be happy and to be loved and to enjoy life. I can’t tolerate a life that does not nourish me.”

Max made a choice to heal. Often people make a choice not to heal, but to feel better. Now don’t get me wrong, I love feeling great. I love it when it is an expression of my state of being and not an artificial feeling created by artificial means to hide what is really going on. On some level my body knows what is really going on. And it will continue to give me stronger and stronger signals until I pay attention. So, I can either keep taking more and more drugs or I can pay attention to those “uncomfortable” signals and consider what needs to change. We have to ask the question, is it reasonable to expect that our kids will choose to say no to drugs when most of society doesn’t? Is it reasonable to expect that they will have the tools to heal and integrate the many uncomfortable experiences they may have in life if we as parents never gave them those tools? You may be thinking “but I only give them cough medicine and maybe some antibiotics when they are sick” and “I really need that Prozac or those beers to get me through those stressful days”. Where do we draw the line? Most cough medicine has alcohol to make them drowsy and sugar to coat the throat. It is definitely more comfortable for the child and the parent because the child will often sleep, as most people want to do with a little alcohol in their system, but the sugar coating the throat is perfect food for the bacteria their body is trying to battle, the cough suppressant is inhibiting their bodies from getting rid of the debris, mucous, and bacteria in their lungs, the aspirin is decreasing their fever, which the body needs to fight infection and stimulate the immune system, and the antibiotics weaken the immune system. Most diseases are self limiting and most cold/flu ailments last for about a week regardless of the treatment sought. So, in most cases, why not do things to strengthen the body while it is working to heal. Learn the natural ways to strengthen the body and become an informed consumer for your health and the health of those you love. If you are depressed, distressed, and generally stressed why not consider the reasons why. Learn tools that help you to heal and pass that on to your kids instead of “here take this”. In order for parents to “be the antidrug” we have to provide kids with options and role models for what it means to be drug free. We need to give them tools so they don’t feel the need nor the desire for them. If we do this will it guarantee that our child will never take drugs? Unfortunately, no, but if they do we can know that we gave them the best foundation possible and that at least we were consistent in the message we gave. We can know that we were conscious of the choices we made and did all we could to listen, love, and learn and pass that on to our children.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Great Expectations

by Kevin Donka, D.C – ICPA.org:

A very busy road near my home is under construction right now. I travel this way twice every day, but the other day I noticed a sign I hadn’t seen before. The sign said, “New lane configurations—EXPECT DELAYS!” Now at first, this didn’t seem strange to me, but as I continued to think about it, I wondered why I should EXPECT delays, rather than just preparing for them. What I mean by this is, if I leave a little earlier than I usually do so that I don’t have to worry about being late and I bring an extra CD to listen to in the car, then I am prepared for a delay. And, if there is no delay, everything is still fine. This way, my EXPECTATION is that the situation will be fine no matter what happens.

But again, why should I actually EXPECT delays? If you’re still confused, let me try a different means of explaining what I mean. The fact is, you cannot escape something you are giving your attention to. When I put my attention toward EXPECTING a delay, I am very likely to experience that. But, when I put my energy into EXPECTING to be OK with whatever happens because I am PREPARED to deal with it, I often will experience whatever is best for me.

This concept is true with every area of your life—even your health. My question for you is, what are you EXPECTING to happen with your health? In other words, does more of the energy with your thoughts, words and actions go toward worrying about what might go wrong, or toward what might go right?

Most of us were raised with the belief that our bodies are inherently weak and defective and that they will break down without some kind of medical intervention. This begins in pregnancy with all of the talk about how hard labor is and that drugs will be necessary for the mother to be able to handle it.

Next, we are told that we need lots of vaccines because our immune systems are inadequately prepared to handle life. We are taught that if your body raises its temperature it is a mistake and that we must take some kind of medication to lower it. If we are creative and active in school, we are told we have a condition that doesn’t allow us to focus and function normally. We are basically told that we are not good enough the way we are, but that medications can make us better. This continues on throughout our lives and we unknowingly pass this legacy of lunacy on to our children.

The chiropractic paradigm takes the completely opposite approach to health and life. It says that we are all born with an innate intelligence and that when we fully express this intelligence our bodies are strong, healthy and we are free to happily work toward the actualization of our purpose and potential in life.

If there is any interference in the ability to express this intelligent force, then we end up in a state of “dis-ease.” We call this interference in your nerve system the subluxation process. The chiropractic adjustment process restores the free flow of intelligent energy and allows us to progressively return to the full expression of health and life. By making sure your brain and body can communicate effectively and by living a healthy lifestyle, you are PREPARED for whatever life brings you.

People raised in this mindset tend to progressively apply this way of thinking to every area of their lives, and so the legacy they pass on to their children is one of health, hope and faith that every situation offers an opportunity for growth. So again, I ask you—

What do you expect?

About the Author:

Dr. Donka is a nationally recognized author and lecturer and has shared the stage with many of the chiropractic profession’s leaders. His practice, The Donka Chiropractic Family Health, Wellness & Life Improvement Center in Palatine, Illinois, is a wellness-based family practice. The focus is on maximizing expression of Life by reducing and removing nerve interference in the form of the vertebral subluxation. In addition, there is a very strong emphasis on education and development of a healthy and well-rounded lifestyle that includes physical, mental and spiritual well-being. This with the understanding that there is no “finish line” as far as the process of health development is concerned.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Caring for a Sick Child

by Pathways Magazine – ICPA.org:

More important than how you care for a sick child is that you care for a sick child. Children need time and rest to fight off illness and to consolidate the physical and developmental changes that may be occurring. If given insufficient time to recuperate, their immune systems can weaken and become more prone to complications or future infections.

Many busy mothers are so harried that they do not think to call everything to a halt so they can keep their sick child at home and attend to his or her needs; they do not think to get help with the shopping or driving of other children or managing the many errands that arise each day. Mothers who work away from home are often tempted to give antibiotics immediately (suppressing symptoms) so that their children can be back in school or daycare within 24 hours. Those who cannot use their own sick days to stay home with a sick child are expected to take their children to unfamiliar daycare “infirmaries.” Clearly, our culture is not set up to meet the needs of children and working parents.

When a child is sick, one important principle must be kept in mind: the child needs reduced stimulation. A familiar setting and lots of quiet time can optimize the ability to regroup the inner forces needed to heal. This means quiet play, staying in bed if necessary, and eating lighter foods (usually less meat or egg, which most sick children desire less of instinctively). Television, because of the quality of stimulation it produces, is best avoided during an illness.

The importance of home care for a sick child cannot be overestimated. But what can you do at home? For one thing, you can observe your child, both physically and intuitively. With infants, note how they hold their body when they cry, observe the breathing and the nature of the cough, and note the eyes and facial expression. Try to feel what is happening and whether your child is getting better or worse.

All good pediatricians ask parents for their observations and intuitions about a sick child and take this information seriously. So be alert, and develop a relationship of trust with your child’s doctor, a feeling that you are both working toward healing of the whole person. Paracelsus, the renowned 16th-century healer, said, “Nature heals, the doctor nurses… Like each plant and metallic remedy, the doctor, too, must have a special virtue. He must be intimate with Nature. He must have the intuition which is necessary to understand the patient, his body, his disease. He must have the ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ which make it possible for him to be in sympathetic communication with the patient’s spirits.”
As parents, we too must develop the intuition and powers of observation that will help us see our children as more than machines that require a quick fix.

You can do much to help your child’s comfort and recovery at home. First, recognize the value of your care and love. All children, particularly when ill, need to be surrounded by warmth and love; but love and connectedness often tip the scales in the cases of seriously ill infants or premature babies. There is real healing power in love.

Next, look at your child’s surroundings. Putting the room in order, fluffing the pillows, and placing fresh flowers in a vase will enhance the impressions your child is taking in. Consider the air in the room and the amount of light coming through the curtains, and make adjustments that feel “right.” A bowl of water with a few aromatic drops of rosemary or other oil can add freshness to the air. Apply compresses and poultices, prepare special herbal teas, and offer therapeutic touch.

If your child is well enough to sit up, try setting a straightbacked chair upside down at the head of the bed to make a backrest. And maybe make a small lap table out of a cardboard box. Once your child is nearly recovered and eager to do things, you can provide quiet activities. Coloring or playing with small figures in the covers is engaging yet not over-stimulating.

If at all possible, do not send your child back to school or the usual routine until he or she has regained full strength. The old adage recommending one day of rest afterward for each day of fever is sound advice—even when your child is symptom-free. Children sometimes become ill because they need time to be quiet at home, time to “reorganize” before making the next developmental move forward. One boy in my kindergarten, for example, tested positive for strep throat but had no symptoms. By law, he was not allowed back in school until he had a negative throat culture. I had a sense that this particular child had gone through some “stretching” to be at kindergarten and to adapt to all the children and activity, and that he was telling us he had had enough for a while and needed 10 days at home with no discomfort!

The health and vitality of our children are our responsibility. Our children will benefit as we learn to view childhood illnesses as a developmental necessity and to regard fever as a serious but essential strengthening process. We can assist in this process by reaching out to healthcare providers and integrating their expertise with our own. Healing is a joint effort, combining the child’s inherent immune response, sensitive diagnosis, careful monitoring, and therapeutic home care.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Choosing a Wellness Mentality

by Kevin Donka, DC – ICPA.org:

One day not so long ago, a practice member named Craig walked into our center with a slight limp. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that he had been wrestling with his son A.J. and had hurt his knee. When I told him we’d take a look at it he replied, “Oh that’s OK, it will be fine by the end of the week.” Just then, a woman walked in and I heard Amy at the front desk greet her and ask her how she was doing. She replied to Amy, “Oh I’m fine today, but I just know I’m going to be in bad shape by the end of the week with the storm that’s on its way!”

Albert Einstein once said, “The most important question you will ever ask yourself is whether this is or is not a friendly universe.” Dr. Einstein believed that your answer to this question would in fact be the most important decision you would ever make. The reason it would be so important is summed up in another of his famous quotations; “You cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that existed when it was created.” You see, Einstein knew that it is our deeply held BELIEFS about something that will determine which actions we will consistently take or avoid regarding that thing, and those actions or inactions will in turn determine the circumstances we will find ourselves in. So, your determination of whether we live in a friendly or hostile world will influence your actions in the world and bring about the circumstances of your life.

In our center for wholeness, we can see your answer to this question demonstrated in your attitude. You see, you either go through life with what we call a WELLNESS mentality, or an ILLNESS mentality. People with an illness mentality expect that mainly unpleasant things will happen to them because they believe that the world is basically hostile, unpredictable and out of their control. On the other hand, those with a wellness mentality expect that mainly good things will happen in their lives because they believe that the world is basically friendly, and that they control and attract to themselves most of what happens to them through each of their thoughts, words and actions. In the story above, Craig was in a state of dis-ease, and yet he had a WELLNESS mentality—a positive expectation that things would be good.

The other woman was actually in a state of ease, and yet had an illness mentality – a certainty that things would go downhill for her.

How do we develop, maintain and even expand a wellness mentality? Three things are necessary.

1. A deliberate focus on moving TOWARD what you want, as opposed to trying to move away from what you don’t want.

2. A healthy lifestyle that allows your body to function properly, heal and continue growing.

3. A clear neurological CONNECTION.

4. Where does chiropractic fit into this equation? Interference in your nerve system (what we call the subluxation process) causes your body to use energy at a much greater than normal rate. This rapid depletion of energy sends your body into SURVIVAL MODE and causes the highest thinking centers of your brain to shut down. With these parts of your brain shut down, do you think it is possible to see the world as friendly, or do you suppose that coming from a state of SURVIVAL that you might interpret many (if not all) things as threatening?

5. The chiropractic adjustment process restores the free flow of energy at a normal and natural rate; a rate that allows for EASE of function in every cell, tissue, organ and organ system—INCLUDING YOUR BRAIN! Your body goes out of survival mode and back into ease, allowing you to once again see the world as friendly.

6. You see, your adjustments don’t just help you feel better, they allow you to FEEL better—that is, they allow you to sense your environment in a totally different way than you would if you were subluxated and in survival mode. This is why we emphasize so strongly that everyone should get checked by a chiropractor regularly.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Symptoms Are Not the Problem

by Susan M. Brown, D.C. – ICPA:

I’ve had people say to me “I know you don’t want to hear about my symptoms, but…..” Enough people have said it lately that I thought an explanation of my view of symptoms was in order. It’s not that I don’t want to hear about symptoms or that you can’t tell me what they are, I just view them so differently.

The current view of health holds that if we have symptoms, we are sick and if we are without symptoms then we are healthy. And so much of modem health care, especially that which is medical in its approach, is geared toward ridding the individual of their symptoms. Some of the sickest people are symptom free. They just don’t feel anything. Their bodies are so impacted with toxins and stress and injury (emotional and physical) that they have shut down. So lack of symptoms does not necessarily prove to be a healthy individual. As the reverse can also be true. A person with symptoms is not necessarily “sick”.

Now at first, ridding the system of symptoms seems like a wonderful, noble thing. At least until you start to consider how the body functions. Many of the symptoms people experience are actually signs that the body is healing and stopping those symptoms can inhibit the healing process. For example, a normal fever rise is the body’s first line of defense against infection. Temperature goes up, which increases the body’s activity and signals the immune system to ‘turn on”. When we take something to decrease the temperature it compromises the body’s natural healing response.

When we ingest something that the body considers to be toxic, nausea and diarrhea are healthy responses. When a joint is injured the body gives us pain to let us know to be careful, to avoid using it and re-injuring it. It swells to provide a natural splint to the area to protect the injured joint and gets hot as the body increases the circulation to repair and heal the injured tissue. The runny nose we get at the change of seasons is the body sluffing off the old respiratory lining, much like the trees sluff off their leaves and animals sluff off winter coats.

Every symptom our body lovingly gives us is a message. The body can only speak to us in two ways, pain or pleasure, discomfort or comfort, ease or dis-ease. The words it speaks to let us know it is working or not working are what we have defined as symptoms. A heart that aches after years of abuse will signal us with chest pains. A stomach will flare up with an ulcer to let us know that we have let life get too stressful, that it is too much to bear. Our pulse will race with the anxiety forcing us to face the fears that have built up in our bodies.

When symptoms occur, when our body is trying its best to communicate with us, do we listen to what it is trying to say? Or do we just try to shut it up, quite down or stop the symptoms. Do we ignore the body’s only voice and try to “shut it up” like putting our hand over the mouth of a screaming child. If our intention is just to stop the symptoms, then we miss the gift. It’s not that I don’t want to hear about the symptoms, it’s that my intention is not to treat them or silence them, it is to acknowledge them with something far greater than talking about them.

My purpose and intent is to turn on the power of the body so that it can heal, and can integrate the experiences of life. Sometimes when the body is in flow with life it has no symptoms and sometimes it does. Sometimes we feel great, sometimes we feel the process of healing happening and sometimes we feel our body telling us that a change is definitely in order.

Life is a process not an event and so is healing. When your body is speaking, listen to what it is saying, acknowledge it and answer it. Educate yourself as to the processes of the body so that you can help it to heal and understand the messages it is giving you. I think the body’s wisdom will amaze you and if you both listen and respond, the conversations you have will surely enlighten you.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Flu Fears and Fantasies

by Stephen Marini, PHD, DC – ICPA:

The grand fantasy for MedImmune was the billion dollar blockbuster vaccine, FluMist. $25 million marketing dollars attempted to create national demand for this miraculous new vaccine. The financial reality struck when $60 million less than anticipated revenues from this vaccine was realized. Perhaps people were a bit fearful of the listed adverse effects such as the spreading of live virus for 21 days after receiving the “mist”, getting the flu from the vaccine, Guillain Barre syndrome, and the warning to individuals with health issues, especially anyone on immunosuppressives like steroids, to avoid anyone so vaccinated for 3 weeks.

Isn’t it a coincidence that the media hypes up this tremendous flu epidemic in the beginning of flu season just when the drug companies dream of a mass demand for flu vaccine. Goes to show that epidemics can be created on demand without the epidemiologic support. What a great idea to shop at Walmart and get your Flumist. Even folks not intending to pay the $60 to $70 for the vaccine could just breathe in the cloud of live viruses unleashed in the store. It won’t take long for that horror fantasy to be listed as a dangerous biohazard. But neither the cheaper flu shot or the FluMist contain the Fujian strain of flu virus that will cause influenza this year, a fact the advertisers and the media have not mentioned to the consumers.

We have learned that cell mediated immunity rather than humoral immunity, the form induced by the vaccines, is necessary to become immune to the flu virus. Humoral immunity induced by the vaccines is conducive to a chronic ongoing infection rather than immunity. Permanent immunity to a specific viral strain and better versatility to respond to future variant strains of flu result from acquiring the natural infection. Nature intends for us to generate a predominantly cell mediated response to externalize this viral infection and become immune. The drug companies intend to generate a predominantly humoral response that may reduce the severity of the infection, providing the vaccine and the bug going around are pretty identical, but at the price of internalizing the infection to a chronic state. Of course the lack of response versatility generated by the vaccines necessitates getting the vaccine every year for protection. The main prevention against the flu virus as well as the plethora of other flu-like viruses is good hygiene. Hand washing with hot soap and water is a must, especially in public places. Alcohol prep pads and the waterless hand disinfectants which contain alcohol also work well. Parents and teachers need to instruct children in hand washing and not sharing food, drink and utensils.

If you or the children get the flu or any other cold virus, cellular immunity needs to be up to the task. We have also learned from psychoneuroimmunology that imbalances in an individual’s spirituality, emotions from stresses etc. as well as interference within the nervous system from subluxations, somatic and visceral dysfunctions etc. can have a drastic effect on the T cell conductor of the cellular response leaving us vulnerable to viral infection. Avoid the “too much stress, and too little rest” scenario. Kids need less time in front of the game boy, computer, television and more time exercising to remain healthy. Quiet times for reading, meditation go long way to restore balance to many body systems, especially the immune system.

Routine antioxidant use helps protect T cell function. Up your daily amounts of the 4 aces, Vit. A,C,E,S (selenium) and Zinc. Grape seed extracts, berries, certain teas, and even dark chocolate provide natural antioxidant protection. Sugar and caffeine on the other hand are suppressive to the immune system and are to be avoided. Immune stimulating support can be acquired from Astragalus, Ligustrum, Andrographis paniculata, and mushroom extracts such as Host Defense and Immune Enhance. I am skeptical of products such as Bovine Colostrum and Transfer Factor that claim to increase immunity. The increased immunity may be directed to life on the dairy farm and pastures but not human environments.

Homeopathic nosodes and preparations to assist the body in externalizing infections have also proven effective against flu. Standard antibiotics have no effect on virus infections and may generate unhealthy imbalances if used during viral infections.

Herbal supplements with anti-viral capability are garlic, especially if used raw, Isatis, Oil of Oregano, St.John’s Wort, Osha, Turmeric.

Keeping one well hydrated, especially when fever is present, is essential. Good hot chicken soup with perhaps some black mushrooms, garlic, cayenne, or whatever your cultural background finds helpful. Adequate hydration may be a challenge in a child with a sore throat. Making ice pops out of the sport water drinks is a good strategy to keep kids hydrated and in electrolyte balance. The sport waters are preferable to the high sugar Gatorades and the like. Children are very susceptible to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Some signs of dehydration that may call for immediate medical attention are: marked reduced urine output, dry mouth and nasal membranes, rapid heart beat, poor skin pliability, unresponsiveness, listless etc.

Put a humidifier in the bedroom to keep nose and throat membranes moist in order to protect them against germs and irritants. Adding herbs and essential oils such as thyme, fenugreek, eucalyptus, lemon, tea tree, lavender and sandalwood to the humidifier or infuser helps when you are sick. A hot bath with wrapping herbs such as wintergreen, eucalyptus, lemon grass, juniper and bath salts in a bath bag is another great water therapy when sick.

Living in harmony with our environment, being attuned to our bodies, and eliminating interferences within our spirit-mind-body are the recipes for converting the fantasy of health and well being to vibrant reality.

Article originally posted at ICPA.org.

Homeostasis

by Keith Wassung – ICPA:

The word “homeostasis” describes the body’s ability to maintain relatively stable internal conditions even though the outside world is constantly changing. Homeostasis indicates a dynamic state of equilibrium or a balance in which internal conditions change and vary but always within relatively narrow limits. Communication within the body is essential for homeostasis and is accomplished chiefly by the nervous and endocrine systems.

Homeostasis: (ho`me-o-sta’sis) a tendency to stability in the normal body state (internal environment) of the organism. It is achieved by a system of control mechanisms activated by negative feedback. 1

Many of the most vital functions of the human body are influenced by the endocrine system, which consists of glands that secrete hormones, or chemical messengers into the bloodstream. The hypothalamus, located in the brain, acts like a radar, receiving incoming information from the nervous system. It then uses this information to manufacture hormones that either target specific part of the body, or to target other glands to produce specific hormones for homeostatic regulation.

The endocrine system consists of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, pineal gland, the thyroid gland, the parathyroid gland, the pancreas, the adrenal glands, the ovaries and the testes. All of the organs of the endocrine system are glands, but not all glands are part of the endocrine system. Other organs that produce hormones, but are not part of the endocrine system include the placenta in the pregnant female, glands in the gastro-intestinal tract, structures in the heart and blood vessels, and structures in the kidneys.

Hormones are the body’s internal chemical messengers. They carry the information that controls the function of almost all of the body’s cells and tissues. Most hormones are themselves are controlled by a mechanism called feedback, which is similar to a thermostat in a central heating system. When a gland is working harder than the body needs it to, the hormone system switches off; when the body needs the gland to speed up, the nervous system turns on the switch again.

Hormones reach every part of the body, and the membrane of every cell has receptors for one or more hormones that stimulate or retard a specific body function. The hypothalamus, located at the base of the brain, acts as the mastermind that coordinates hormone production, producing regulatory or releasing hormones; these travel a short distance through special blood vessels and nerve endings to the pituitary gland, which is often referred to as the “master gland”. Attached to the hypothalamus by a short stalk, the pea-sized pituitary gland hangs from the base of the brain and is composed of two parts, an anterior and a posterior lobe. Some of its hormones act indirectly by stimulating target glands to release other hormones. Others have a direct effect on the function of target glands or tissues.

Hormones can work in astonishingly small concentrations. On the high end, the ratio of hormone molecules to blood molecules is 1 to 5 billion, and on the low end side the ratio is 1 to 5 zillion, ( 1 in 5,000,000,000,000,000) This would be the equivalent of putting one drop of liquid in a swimming pool that was filled with the water of 660 railroad boxcars. A train with 660 boxcars would be six miles in length.