By Janet Levatin, MD, Holistic Pediatrician
Last week I had an all-too-common experience at my office: I saw an 18-month old child who was very sick with several chronic conditions.
He was covered with eczema that was itchy, day and night. He couldn’t sleep due to the itching, and was being medicated with a steroid cream. He has asthma, which has led to emergency room visits and repeated courses of inhaled medications to open his airways, and has allergies to multiple foods. His mother keeps an Epi-Pen close at all times in case of a life-threatening reaction to an accidental exposure to an allergenic food.
As if this were not enough, he has acid reflux and is taking a medication to suppress the production of his stomach acid. To top it off, he has had recurrent strep throat and ear infections, resulting in multiple rounds of antibiotics. At the tender age of 18 months, he has been to 4 pediatric specialists… a dermatologist for his skin, a gastroenterologist for his reflux, a pulmonologist for his asthma, and an infectious diseases specialist for his recurrent strep infections. And of course, he has been fully vaccinated.
Many of children I see have combinations of these inflammatory and infectious conditions that start during infancy. Conventional pediatricians give several rounds of multiple suppressive medications, including steroids, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories to these tiny humans, who then require frequent doctor visits for additional pills to treat the side effects of the pills.
Chronic illnesses are now so common, having a sick child seems to be the “new normal.” As a holistic pediatrician, I often point out to a parent that just because a situation is common, that does not mean it is normal! Children are supposed to be vibrant, healthy, and free of disease. They should not need to have multiple medications on a daily basis.
What is contributing causes to the epidemic of sick kids?
It is no surprise that the rates of chronic disease have increased in parallel with the ever-expanding infant and childhood vaccination schedule. For over 20 years, one-day-old infants have routinely been injected with hepatitis B vaccine. Parents never get to see their babies at a normal, un-medicated baseline. By age 2, most children will have received almost 40 doses of 15 vaccines. The medications given to my 18-month old little patient are used to suppress symptoms caused by pro-inflammatory environmental toxins and vaccines. The shots contain bacterial and viral particles, toxic ingredients, more than 60 different chemicals, heavy metals such as aluminum and traces of mercury. Not only does the baby have to mount an immune response to the injected pathogens, (which is not physiological at such a young age), he also has to attempt to clear the toxins, an overwhelming task for his little body. It’s no wonder children are so sick.
The treatment plan for his little boy had several components. I advised the mother to feed him only organic whole foods, avoiding known allergenic and other common inflammatory foods, such as soy and processed, gluten-containing carbohydrates. I also counseled her to use only petroleum-free moisturizers, and to get a bath water purifier so her baby would not be exposed to chlorinated bath water. Petroleum and chlorine are toxic to everyone, but especially those with areas of broken skin. I recommended vitamin D drops, topical calendula oil and a colloidal silver-containing gel to heal infected areas of skin. He was given a homeopathic medicine that was tailored to his individual needs and constitution. Finally, I recommended that she get familiar with TIMC’s allergy elimination program, called SRT, which is safely used by all ages.
I am looking forward to watching his evolution to wellness using natural means to restore his health rather than continuing suppressive medicines that keep him sick. I’ll keep you posted on his progress!