A few months ago I heard Dr. Lawrence Palevsky speak on the topic of "Getting Sick to Stay Well" at a conference where doctors and researchers discussed a wide range of issues related to vaccines and health. At this time of year when so many people are sick or trying to avoid getting sick, I remind myself of his talk and the words of my pediatrician, who I feel lucky to have found.
The basic message of both is that we want symptoms to be expressed because they are a way for us to understand what is going on in our bodies. It's crazy to expect kids to be well all the time. When they are ill, the immune system is working because it's getting something out of their bodies that doesn't belong there.
What I especially liked was how holistic Dr. Larry was in his description of what that stuff is we might want to get out. He pointed out that we receive info in the following ways:
-genetics
-in utero info from our mothers
-air - what we breathe
-nervous system including all of our senses and anything that affects the senses, including electro magnetic fields
-skin - what we put on it
-intestines - what we eat
and then, through what we insert into the body via injections, if we choose to do so.
Every day, we all eliminate toxins through breathing, through our skin (sweating), through our intestines (bowel movements) and through our senses showing up in things like sleep issues and mood changes.
What we don't know is how kids eliminate the information they get from vaccinations, which contain not only chemical compounds and adjuvants but viruses, which are protein-coated pieces of RNA or DNA from some other being.
Vaccines aside, Dr. Larry described chronic illness as the failure to allow the symptoms of acute illness to cleanse our bodies -- for yucky stuff to leave. When we give kids drugs to lower their fevers or in some way change their symptoms "for the better," we're overloading them with information. The yucky stuff stays inside, and on top of that, these young bodies have to deal with more chemicals and more information that confuses the bodies. This leads to a loss of resilience.
Dr. Larry also noted that there are trillions of viruses around and that we have more microorganisms in our bodies than there are people on earth or cells in our bodies! We fear and so vaccinate against 15 bacteria and 20 viruses -- 35 out of trillions. Doctors are taught in medical school that vaccinations "teach" us to recognize these organisms before we encounter them, but Dr. Larry says we are more likely to encounter them naturally (and that 98% of polio is cleared out through gastroenteritis).
Kids get sick because there is inflammation that their bodies are working to release/resolve. Dr. Larry pointed out that kids often make a developmental breakthrough after a fever, including one 10.5-month old who had a fever for 5-7 days and then, when it broke, got up and walked. My son had a high fever and ear infection (which we did not treat) just after he turned one. He was exclusively breastfed and had, before the illness, almost zero interest in food except for amusing crunchy items like lettuce and celery. After the fever broke and he was back in good health, he was suddenly ready to eat solid food.
Even after staying home with my son for a mild illness this whole past week (more on that later, once I catch up!), I appreciate this paradigm of health that views illness as one piece of the picture and not as some fire to be extinguished.
Dr. Larry works with patients in a way that sounds a lot like our doctor -- he talks to them, emails with them, looks at photos. He told the conference audience that we should demand this kind of attention from our doctors. He said he works with patients to help them decide what is right for their family with regard to vaccinations. In 2000, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged that reductions of most diseases went down before vaccines were introduced, and that contributed to Dr. Larry's understanding that diseases come and go on their own and in response to other factors, like what's in the water and in the air, etc.
Being sick is no fun, and as parents we often want to try to shorten our child's illness. But letting the body do its own thing might just lead to a healthier overall future.
A version of this article originally appeared here on the author's personal blog, Inexact Science: Raising Healthy Families.
Jessica Claire Haney is a freelance writer, editor and tutor. Her writing has appeared in parenting publications and poetry journals. A former high school English teacher, Jessica is mother to one son and is passionate about holistic health and well-being. Find more reflections on parenting at her blog, Crunchy-Chewy Mama, and on DC Metro Moms Blog. Jessica also shares health reflections and recipes at Inexact Science: Raising Healthy Families
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