Avivah Werner

Category: Healthy Living

  • And now a staph infection…

    (In case this appears in your inbox, don’t be worried – I just corrected the title of this old post and sometimes this causes it to post as something new.)

    We’ve had a doozy of a time trying to get our health insurance established here in Israel.  To recap, as returning citizens, every family member over the age of 18 has to pay almost 10,000 shekels each (approximately $2700) in order to start our membership in the local health care clinics.  Half of this is refunded within a few weeks, the other half is refunded after a year.

    Dh and I figured this expense into our plans, but we didn’t anticipate all of the difficulties in taking care of what we thought would be pretty straightforward.  The weeks stretched on, we repeatedly went to the National Insurance office, and dh and I finally decided to stop trying to fight a battle that can’t be won.  We were at the point that we needed to have the refunded money in hand already to cover our living expenses for the coming month, and had very little faith that if we did pay the money, that we’d get it back. We’ve just seen too much inaccuracy and incompetency, and we didn’t want to risk money we need for our living expenses on office clerks doing what they’re supposed to do, after seeing that they don’t know what they’re doing.  And we were warned that they like to get as much money as they can, and refund as little as possible.  We can’t afford to not get our money back as promised.

    So dh went to the local health clinic to find out about getting private insurance for the next four months (after six months of being a resident, the national insurance will automatically kick in without having to pay the large fees).  When he got there, the clerk looked at the computer and told him that I and the kids are already covered!  This was such a nice surprise, and it came just in time.

    Ds12 has had a really bad case of chickenpox.  He was burning up for a few days, the inside of his mouth is covered with pox and it makes it very difficult for him to eat or drink anything, and to top it off, he has an infected ingrown toenail that I’ve been working on treating for the last couple of weeks but still looks pretty bad.  I was relieved that we were able to bring down his 105 degree fever, though it went back up to 102 yesterday afternoon.  (I shared about natural chickenpox remedies here , and in the comments, shared some of what I was doing about the fever.)

    You know the phrase, ‘no rest for the weary’?  Well, that’s what came to mind when the morning his fever broke, just a couple of hours later he showed me his noticeably swollen ankle.  This worried me, and I asked dh to make an appointment with a doctor – I didn’t yet have any of the info about the health clinic or I would have taken care of it myself.  He went to make the appointment, and an hour and a half later, ds18 told me that ds12’s foot was turning black and he was losing feeling in his toes.  Yes, this freaked me out.

    I was so anxious that by the time dh got home a very short time later, I was really uptight.  He said there was a line at the clinic, and because of the Sukkos holiday, the clinic closed mid day instead of at 7 pm,  so he made an appointment for the next morning since he didn’t think it was urgent.  “Tomorrow??  No, no, now, he needs to be seen immediately, it can’t wait until tomorrow!” – yep, I was really stressed.  I rarely take my kids to the doctor, and the very fact I had asked for the appointment was a sign that it was important.

    Ds18 told me that ds 12 overheard me talking to dh and it was making him stressed out and to calm down.  But at times when I’m afraid I’m dealing with something serious I don’t have the tools for, the unknown combines with my desire to take the very best care of my children possible and feels like a huge emotional weight.

    Ds called the clinic to find out what kind of medical help was available.  Oh, nothing, until tomorrow morning.  How can we live in a city with 52,000 people and there’s no medical help for that amount of time?!?  Well, it seems there’s some kind of emergency station a few minutes away from us, but it’s not clear to me what kind of help is available there, and when the nurse on the phone heard ds’s symptoms, she said there are sometimes complications of chickenpox in older kids that affect their joints and it sounded like that might be what’s happening, and to get him to an emergency room right away.

    Easier said than done.  Since our move, we don’t have a car, and we don’t even know where the closest hospital is.  This is such a huge difference from having a car and a major hospital five minutes away, which was our situation until two months ago.  Since moving to Israel,  I use public transportation (and enjoy it!), but taking ds to the hospital by bus wasn’t an option.

    We called a couple of friends with cars to ask if they could drive us to the emergency room in a neighboring city, but they weren’t available.  We then called the person we hired a number of times to pick up the furniture we bought from private sellers on a number of occasions to ask him to take us, and as soon as he heard we needed to go to the emergency room, said, “I’ll be there right away”.  And he was.   He’s not a close personal friend, and we called him assuming we’d pay him a few hundred shekels for the drive.  He insisted on waiting two or three hours at the hospital, and when he brought dh and ds home, refused payment.  Can you imagine that?  He said the main thing is that my son is healthy.  We are so blessed with good people in our lives.  (Dd16 made a couple of big gorgeous loaves of challah that we’re planning to take to him today as a tiny token of appreciation.)

    At the hospital, they took an xray, and when the podiatrist who was supposed to look at it finally arrived, the xray wasn’t loading for him on his computer.  He was impatient, took a quick look at ds’s leg, and told dh that there was no need to take the xray, it’s not a joint problem and not directly connected to the chicken pox, but is a skin infection that gets into cuts or wounds (in this case it was next to a pox).  (This is what ds12 told me earlier in the day, that the pox right next to it was hurting and he thought it was connected.)  That was a relief.

    Dh asked him about the ingrown toenail (which looks bad and though I’ve been treating it, would like to know it’s healing properly), and the doctor says, “It’s an ingrown toenail.”   Umm, yes, we know that.  The question is, is it healing normally or do we need to do something else?  “Come back another time for that, right now we’re dealing with the foot.”  Is he joking??  He’s a foot specialist looking at swelling a few inches from that toe, and after they were waiting two hours for him, he can’t take one minute to tell us anything without making a separate visit?  Sheesh.

    He prescribed antibiotics and an antibiotic ointment for the foot, as well as a painkiller.  This is the first time ds12 has ever taken antibiotics or used an antibiotic cream (none of our kids except ds18 have taken antibiotics until now – ds18 had them twice).  I don’t know if it’s any better than the salve that I made that we use, but we’re giving him antibiotics and continuing to keep doing what we’ve been doing (mega doses of vitamic c, chicken broth, olive leaf tea) along with adding in probiotics to offset the negative effects of antibiotics.

    So thank G-d though it looks bad and it’s very painful, this morning he was limping but able to walk on the foot (last night he had to walk like a crab, sideways, and pull his leg after him), and hopefully it will be better soon.  It’s a relief just to know what you’re dealing with, you know?

    And ds didn’t mind the trip to the hospital – dh bought him some ice cream (ds told me the cafeteria was basically a small room filled with snacks – you’d hope in a place dedicated to healing this wouldn’t be the case!), and during the drive there, he enjoyed seeing an Arab “from a thousand years ago” in traditional garb with a shepherd’s crook herd twenty goats down a sidewalk in the city of Nahariya, which is where the hospital he went to was.  Social studies.  🙂

    You want to hear something funny but not funny?  Last night, ds12 told me he got worried when he heard that I was worried.  (I tend to be pretty laid back about heath issues and handle things that come up with out getting too worked up.)  I told him that I got worried when I heard ds18 describe his leg to me (as above), and ds12 said, “What? I didn’t say I lost feeling in my toe!  He touched my toe and I said it didn’t hurt!”  And it wasn’t turning black, either, though the healing skin is a darkish pink color, it was just ds18’s way of describing it – so though I’m glad we took ds to see a doctor and had already asked dh to make the appointment before ds18’s description, my extreme worry was based on the equivalent of ‘broken telephone’!

    And PS – this morning dh went to the health clinic and the computer now says that I don’t have health insurance.  🙁  Apparently it was delayed in processing all the relevant information.  But the kids still do, and we had it in place when we really needed it!

    (This post is linked to Real Food Wednesdays.)

    Avivah

  • Natural chickenpox remedies

    Well, it’s happened – five more of our children have come down with chickenpox in the last 36 hours, two weeks after ds5 came down with it. 🙂

    Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to alleviate the discomfort of chickenpox.  I’ll start with homeopathy.

    Homeopathy:

    a) If you recognize the chickenpox early on, give aconite.  This will bring it to an end very quickly, without compromising the immunity benefits of getting chickenpox.  I learned about this over twelve years ago from a friend who used it at the first sign of chicken pox, and it was over in a day.   I couldn’t find a local store that sells homeopathic remedies, was fortunate to find a friend in the area with a homeopathic kit from whom I was able to borrow the two remedies I needed, but not in time to give the aconite to ds12 and dd10, who broke out first.  But I am giving it to ds2, ds4, and ds9,  and their cases are (so far) significantly lighter than the two older kids  or ds5.

    b) Then there are some other remedies you can give, but the main one I’ll mention here is rhus tox.  Rhus tox is good for alleviating the itching, and I’m giving the two older kids rhus tox 30x (3 times a day for 48 hours).

    c) Chamomilla is a good remedy for soothing.

    Baths:

    Lots of people recommend Aveeno to relive the itchiness of chickenpox – but do you know what Aveeno is?  Oatmeal!  So open up your pantry and use the oatmeal you already have there, and it will be lots cheaper and just as effective.  I  put the oatmeal in a knee high nylon and knotted it at the end, to allow all the helpful substances in the oatmeal to seep out, while keeping the oats themselves out of the drain.  Ds5 had a great time playing with this in his bath, and there was no mess at the end when I let the water out of the bath.  The older kids didn’t play all day long in the bath like he did, but they also found it soothing.

    I added some herbs to the oats to speed the healing: chamomile and comfrey.  The chamomile is for soothing, and the comfrey is to help soothe the itching and heal the pox.  (I was so glad I decided to bring my medicinal herbs along with me when I moved!)  I used a tablespoon of each herb combined with a cup of rolled oats (I chopped the oats in a food processor but this isn’t necessary).  Lavender is another good herb to include in the bath.

    A couple of other things that can be helpful in baths are baking powder, and powdered ginger.  With ds5, I sprinkled baking soda on the damp pox to alleviate itching.   I didn’t bring along the large containers of powdered herbs that I used for cooking as well as for medicinal purposes (like mustard, cayenne, and ginger), so I didn’t use that.

    Another herb that is soothing is slippery elm powder; it can be applied directly  on wet pox.

    Cool baths are more soothing that hot baths, which can exacerbate the discomfort of itching.

    Herbs:

    All of these herbs are good when brewed as tea:  lemon balm, echinacea, St. John’s wort, ginger, pau d’arco, and burdock.  I have most of these, but chose to make ds12 some tea with echinacea and cut stevia (the leaf) for some sweetness.  All of these would be good added to the bath, as well.

    Essential oils:

    Before I moved eight weeks ago, I bartered fifty pounds of spelt berries and six pounds of natural beeswax for several small bottles of essential oils – lots easier to bring with me!!  Naturally, of the four oils that I now have on hand, I didn’t have any oils that were of help in this situation.

    Here’s a couple that can be diluted with a carrier oil or some chamomile tea and applied to the pox: tea tree oil and lavender oil.  A few drops can also be added to bath water.

    Vitamins:

    When dealing with any cold or infection, it’s good to build up the body’s resources to aid it in fighting germs.  Vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin D are always good for any kind of cold. (I posted guidelines for vitamin C dosing here.)

    Vitamin E oil is great to apply on the pox to reduce scarring.  Coconut oil can also be helpful when applied to the pox.

    Nutrition:

    Good nutrition is always important, especially when a child is under the weather.  Now’s not the time to give them sugary treats to make them feel better; they’ll be happy for the moment but it will slow their healing.  Lots of liquids are important to keep your child hydrated; I made a huge pot of  chicken broth with garlic and astragalus that we’re going through quite quickly!

    Some other external things that can be applied:

    Calendula cream – helps to heal pox after they’ve scabbed.  Witch hazel can also be applied to help dry the pox out.

    What not to use:

    I’ve always thought of calamine lotion in the same breath as chickenpox, but after learning that it’s suppressive, didn’t go out to buy any for this go around with chicken pox.  While it dried up the lesions, it keeps the toxins from exiting the body through the skin like they need to – you always want to allow the disease to leave the body!

    Similarly, I personally try to stay away from fever suppressing drugs – eg Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, aspirin, etc. I believe that fevers aid the body in healing, so when a child has a fever that spikes (like ds12 right now), I use sponge baths or a damp cool cloth on the forehead to relieve excess heat.

    Have any of your children had chickenpox?  What tips have you found helpful in alleviating their discomfort?

    (This post is linked to the Living Well Blog Hop and Real Food Wednesday.)

    Avivah

  • Chickenpox!

    On the first day of Rosh Hashana began, ds5 showed me a blister on his neck that was bothering him. He couldn’t see it, but felt it, and told me he had a wart there. Since recently I’ve been noticing unusual bug bites on ds4 that I don’t know the source of, I chalked this up to another kind of insect bite. I asked if it was itchy, but he said no.

    The next morning ds5 told me the ‘wart’ was hurting him. Thinking it must be a bug bite, I asked him again if it was itchy, and he said no. When I was dressing him that evening, I was concerned to see a number of red bumps all over his back. He’s had a heat rash in that area recently, but this was looking like a bit more than heat rash. We wondered if it might be chicken pox, but it’s been fifteen years since I’ve seen it so I didn’t have a recent memory to draw on, and ds wasn’t itching.

    Dh went across the street to a retired nurse to ask her opinion, but she wasn’t home. On his way back into the building, he bumped into a neighbor who has three grown children, and asked her opinion. ‘Chicken pox’, she proclaimed. Dh came upstairs and shared the good news with me. 🙂

    My oldest three kids had chicken pox, though the third was only a few months old, and though she had a pretty bad case, I don’t know if she has immunity. The next six kids haven’t had it, though I’ve been hoping for years they would catch it. I explained to ds5 that he had chicken pox, which was awesome and amazing, so much so that some people make chicken pox parties to share the germs with children of parents who want their kids to aquire natural immunity.

    That’s a problem with homeschooling – your kids stay too darned healthy without all the sick kids in their class to infect them constantly. After all these years of keeping my eyes and ears open for families with chicken pox, it took less than a month in school and no effort on my part for ds5 to catch chicken pox! Who knew how awesome school was and what I was missing all these years?

    The worst part about this news was that it was on the second night of Rosh Hashana (Thurs.) when we realized what it was, and there was very little I could do to alleviate his discomfort for another two days. Fortunately, he didn’t really get itchy until Sunday, though by Friday morning I could almost see the spots breaking out on him as I watched him, they were appearing so fast. On Sunday I made him a bath with a blend of oats and herbs, and he spent most of the day in the tub; every time he’d come out, he’d cry that he was itchy, then jump back in the tub and I’d add more hot water. He looked like a prune by the end of the day, but he was a relatively happy prune. 😛 The next day I gave him different shaped containers, cups, and silverware for his bath, and he had a great time. Ds4 kept requesting to join ds5in his bath, but I told him he had to wait until he gets chickenpox.:)

    Shown for educational purposes and not to gross you out – full breakout stage

    When the chickenpox vaccine came out in 1995, it was well-known that it was developed as a convenience to working parents. Chickenpox basically consists of an itchy rash, mild fever, and general fretfulness, and necessitates keeping your child home from school for about a week. And a week is a long time for parents to stay home from work. So most people thought it was ridiculous and superfluous.

    Fast forward about fifteen years, and it’s frightening to me how many people think that chickenpox is something life-threatening. A lot of effort was put into PR to make so many parents who grew up with chickenpox as a normal passage of childhood to believe this. This is a pattern with disease education; when there’s no disease, you’ll read how relatively infrequent it is and how minimal the chances of complications are. Enter a new vaccine, and the slant totally shifts to convincing people they run the risk of severe injury or death if they don’t give their child (or self, when appropriate) the particular vaccine. Well, there’s lot of money to be made if you can convince parents that they need your product, so who can blame the producers for finding an effective way to line their pockets? Fortunately, the mothers I’ve so far spoken to here all expressed the unanimous sentiment that it’s a good thing for a child to get chickenpox at a young age.

    Anyway, I really didn’t want my kids to reach adulthood and not have chickenpox, because it’s when people get chickenpox as adults that there’s a problem (when it manifests as shingles). There are exceptions, but for the most part getting chickenpox once offers lifelong immunity. Unfortunately, as chickenpox has become less common during childhood, the incidence of shingles has become correspondingly higher.

    So far no one else in the family has shown any signs of pox, but the incubation period averages about two weeks, and it’s during this period when a person is most contagious. When my oldest three had chicken pox, it took six weeks until it passed through all of them.

    So I’m hopeful that this will pass around and all the kids will get it.

    Avivah

  • High quality and inexpensive probiotics

    Dh has been on the GAPS diet since a year and a half ago, yet after the first month, he didn’t use the recommended probiotic supplements since they were so pricey.  We figured we’d do probiotics the frugal way – with cultured foods like kefir and fermented vegetables. But even though he’s found his digestive health improved, it hasn’t been to the degree we would have hoped and expected.

    Back in January, I started researching probiotics in order to find an affordable option that would allow us to buy the full amount to give dd16, to see if this would help resolve the stomach pains she’d been having – but high quality and affordability don’t seem to go together when it comes to probiotics.  Until I found Custom Probiotics, a company that sells  customized probiotic blends. 

    I called to order an eleven strain oxylate blend that isn’t offered on the website,  and the person who answered the phone (Harry – turned out he was the owner of the business), asked why I wanted this particular blend.  I told him it for dd.  He asked about her stomach pains, when it started, and some other specific questions, and then told me it sounded very much like something he had experienced. Actually, it was what led him to starting this business ten years ago, after healing himself naturally by using probiotics.

    I had never heard of the term he used -H pylori – so I asked him twice to repeat himself and the third time just asked him to spell it for me.  When he asked me if her stomach pain felt like someone stabbed her in the stomach with a knife, I told him I know it’s pretty bad because she doesn’t complain much so if she says her stomach hurts, she would only say something if it really hurt, but I wasn’t sure if that was how it felt (I was hoping it wasn’t, because it sounded so excrutiating). H pylori is a bacteria that about 50% of people in the world have, but that causes infections in a only some of those people.

    A little later in the day I spoke to her and asked if this was an accurate description, and she said that’s exactly how she feels.  I told her all about what he had shared with me, and then while I went off to do some shopping for her, she went on to do some research about it.   When I got back, an email was in my inbox from her, saying she looked at the detailed symptoms and she thinks it looks like a good match for her.

    Since then, we’ve done lots more testing and eliminated the possibility of H pylori, and since she had taken massive amounts of this probiotic without change, I was pretty sure even prior to the testing that it wasn’t H pylori.   Before this testing, a naturopath and osteopath both also were strongly inclined to think it was H pylori as well based on her symptoms, so it was a very good guess.  Though it wasn’t what dd16 needed to remedy her stomach issue (and I unfortunately still don’t know what to do to help her – nothing we’ve tried has helped), I strongly believe probiotics are very valuable for the digestive system. 

    And back to dh – he and I both feel it would be helpful for him to really get the full benefits of gut healing that are supposed to result from the GAPS diet.  But even inexpensive probiotics aren’t cheap, and so we pushed off purchasing any for dh.  That is, until today, when in preparation for our move to Israel in two weeks, I ordered 200 grams for dh of the customized GAPS blend so he’d have enough to last a good while. 

    By the way, I’m very impressed with the owner of Custom Probiotics.  Back in January, in addition to spending 20 minutes talking to me and sharing some ideas about treating H pylori that he’d have no benefit from me buying since he doesn’t sell them, he insisted on sending me the probiotics Fedex at his expense – I told him I’d rather the cheaper shipping option, but he said he wanted to be absolutely sure it arrived to me before I left to visit dd, and he’d cover the difference in shipping.  Today, I asked if there was a larger container available than 100 grams (you know how I buy everything in bulk!), and he said there isn’t but is doing me a favor and filling the bottle fuller (beyond the weight I’m paying for), and charging me the same amount. 

    In case you’re wondering about the cost of this particular blend, it’s $175 for 100 grams.  (There are a number of different probiotics blends available and most of them are less expensive than this one.)  I know it sounds insanely expensive to pay that much for a little bottle, but when it comes to probiotics, you have to see how many billion cfus there are in a given serving, then compare that.  Once I did that, I realized that this probiotic was much more powerful than others I looked at, and as a result, a smaller amount was necessary.  We originally bought the BioKult probiotics that are recommended in the GAPS program, and using it was shortlived since we couldn’t keep up with the expense – this is comparable quality and lots more affordable. 

    I really appreciate dealing with people who care about what they do, and offer great service in addition to great products!

    (This post is linked to Real Food Wednesdays and Pennywise Platter Thursdays.) 

    Avivah

  • Chakra quiz

    Yesterday I told a friend about an online test I did to see how my energy was – it’s a test to evaluate your chakras (seven energy centers).  Though I think I’m pretty self-aware, I was surprised by the results: five of my chakras were strong, one of my chakras was weak (no surprise), another was closed. 

    The surprise to me was that one chakra was totally blocked, and when I did a little reading beyond the little information bite, I didn’t believe that the results for that chakra were accurate.  So I did a search for a more detailed free test and then took that.  The results of that were more specific, given in percentages, and this time, it showed that one chakra was weak (the same as before), and everything else was in a good range.  (In case you’re wondering, I don’t know enough about what questions correlate to what to be able to get the answers I want, and if you’re going to take a test like this, you should be as honest as you can be or the results aren’t indicative of anything.)

    About six weeks ago I went to an osteopathic doctor who also is an accupuncturist and familiar with Chinese healing modalities, and she asked me a bunch of questions, including about my energy.  (I’ve been doctor-less for my entire adult life, and thought it would be nice to have the support of someone comfortable with an alternative perspective, and when I learned that she is covered by my insurance plan, I jumped at the opportunity.)  I told her it was basically fine, and she kind of went, ‘um hmm’, sounding somewhat doubting.  Then she checked all my energy points and seemed suprised, so I asked her why, and she said, “Your energy is all actually flowing pretty well; I didn’t expect that.”  😛

    But it’s been a draining year and the chakra quiz brought up the area I’ve been lagging in a very obvious way.  It was helpful to see this validated, and though I believe that things I’m already doing will improve how I’m feeling in this area, it brings home to me that it’s an area I need to consciously pay attention to if I want to feel balanced. 

    Here’s the quiz for anyone who’s interested – it’s free and there are simple suggestions online for how to rebalance a weak chakra.  (Like everything, there’s lots to learn but you don’t have to become a specialist in order to apply basic strategies.)

    Avivah

  • Dd and concussion

    Yesterday was ds12’s birthday, so we enjoy a nice birthday dinner and then a special home movie.  Everyone got to sleep late, but somehow, I woke up much earlier than usual today!  I love the idea of going to sleep early and getting up early, but it doesn’t seem to work well for me at this stage of life.  So even though my early rising was prompted by concern I was feeling about dd16, I appreciated being able to have an early morning today.

    On Thursday night my dd16 slipped, fell down five steps, and her head slammed into the wall.  It was a serious fall, though she didn’t pass out, and was loud enough that it brought people running from all over who heard. It was, as she put it, one of the scariest things that ever happened to her, and her friend who was with her said the same thing, that just seeing it was incredibly scary. 

    As soon as I learned about this (she mentioned it on her blog), I was concerned that she had suffered a concussion, even though she insisted she was fine when I called her.  (She always plays down any pain or discomfort she has.)  I told her I wanted her to get arnica and start taking it every few hours, and find an osteopath who could do cranio-sacral work to deal with the blow to her head.  She agreed to find out about where to buy arnica and to look for an osteopath but I could tell it was because I said so, not because she was concerned. 

    Yesterday morning I was surprised by an early morning call, letting me know she was on her way to the doctor since she was having so a lot of nausea and bad headaches.   Knowing how much she dislikes doctors and her tendency to tell me everything is fine, it was obvious she was worried about her symptoms, which in an of itself concerned me.  By this time, I was absolutely positive that she had a concussion, and though I didn’t have much confidence in this doctor, because I’d already heard that the feedback from students who have been there a couple of years is that the diagnostic ability/competence isn’t very high, I told dd that at least it would be valuable for assessment purposes.

    When I called her back later in the day to find out how the visit was, she told me the doctor said she couldn’t have a concussion since she wasn’t vomiting, and that her symptoms were from stress.  Right.  She was perfectly healthy two days before but she got so stressed out over her relaxing and enjoyable Shabbos with friends that she starts having intense head pain and nausea, and there’s absolutely no connection to a major blow to the head the day before her symptoms began- makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?!?  This isn’t the kind of thing that instills confidence in the medical profession. 

    Dd16 realized based on the reading she did about this before going that it wasn’t accurate, but the other girls in her program accepted the stress diagnosis, even though all of them are skeptical about this doctor.  Dd couldn’t understand how they were willing to accept feedback that made no sense, especially since they know her and that she’s not a person to make things up, and they know that the doctor doesn’t have a reputation for being competent.  (If you’re wondering why she went, it’s because this is the doctor the school sends the girls to.)   She found the unquestioning confidence in medical authority somewhat disturbing. 

    I think it was harder for her to feel invalidated than to experience the pain and discomfort she was having, to have what she was feeling to be minimized since it must just be ‘stress’.  I said to dd that it must be hard to be in a situation where there’s not much understanding or validation for the physical symptoms she was having.  And she said, “Yes, but I’m lucky I have a mother like you to talk to.”  I really love her!  And I feel pretty lucky myself to have such a wonderful daughter.

    Thank G-d we’re not dependent on this doctor to be her primary care physician, and I’m very, very grateful that her dorm counselor has an interest in alternative health so she is a great resource person for dd.  Otherwise I don’t know where she’d start trying to get the information and help that she really needs.  Her counselor even offered to lend her money for the visit to the osteopath.  I’m also grateful that we know about options to the ‘let her suffer and wait it out’ approach, and have the resources to pay for this, since private doctors are outside of the coverage of the school insurance plan. 

    I was glad to speak to her early today and hear she has an appointment this Thursday with an osteopath.  She’ll have to take the day off from school to travel over 2.5 hours in each direction to get there, but the main thing is that she has an appointment!  And she was glad to tell me that a friend called her grandmother, a doctor here in the US, and told her what the doctor dd had gone to said, and the grandmother doctor said it was inaccuate information and it definitely sounds like a concussion.  Now another friend of hers in the school is planning to call her parent who is a doctor about dd, and dd is feeling better just knowing that someone else in her school knows that it’s not all in her head!  (Or should I say, that it literally is all in her head? :P)

    Even though dd didn’t have a stress component regarding her concussion, I did :), and I’m also feeling much better knowing that she’ll be seeing someone who has the possibility of offering her concrete help. 

    Avivah

  • Healthy feet – part 2

    After a year of my dd experiencing pain in her feet, I finally found out that the issue was fairly simple to resolve – the cause of the pain was slightly fallen arches, and the answer was orthotics.

    Just a week after the appointment in which the orthodist told me the worst thing for dd was to go barefoot, we had a well-read guest for a Shabbos meal.  We have a similar holistic approach to health and nutrition and somehow we stumbled onto the topic of foot health.  I told him my discomfort with the idea that going barefoot was harmful, and my sense that orthotics was addressing the symptoms but not doing anything to treat the cause itself.

    In response, he told me of a book he read called Born To Run.  In it are discussed an ancient tribe that lives in Mexico called the Tarahumara. The Tarahumara can run extremely long distances without stopping (100 miles at a time) in an area that has a harsh terrain.  Not only that, but people in their nineties can do this, too!  And they do it without the benefit of expensive running shoes that have been engineered after decades of extensive research, but wearing thin sandals. And though 80% of runners experience foot and leg injuries every year, these people with their seemingly primitive shoes rarely experience injuries, even though they log so many more miles than the typical modern runner.

    I wanted to read the book myself to learn more about this, but wasn’t able to get it until this Sunday from my library.  Since it took me five weeks to get the book, I did some research online to learn a bit more about foot health and what kind of shoes are actually most beneficial to the feet (but I was glad to finally be able to sit down with the book!).  In my eagerness to learn more about this, I read the 289 page book at one sitting.  (Here‘s a 1 1/2 minute clip of the author in which you can see his new way of running and foot gear; I thought it was worth watching.)  There was a lot of information about body mechanics, but I’ll sum up what I learned.

    The foot is a very complex appendage.  It is very sensitive, and is made up of 26 bones, 33 joints, 12 tendons, and 18 muscles.  When you wear shoes, it weakens this supportive network of your foot, similar to when an arm or leg are put in a cast – tendons get stiff, muscles get weaker.  As the muscles of the foot get weaker, the arch collapses and other injuries occur.  So here was the answer to my unspoken question at the orthodist – why does an arch fall?  And how does wearing orthodics help that?

    My understanding in short is that the arch falls because the muscles of the foot aren’t being used enough.  Orthodics are like a crutch for the foot – the create artificial support that the weakened foot isn’t creating for itself.  But to really remedy the underlying issue, it seems the foot needs to be exercised more, not less, in order to strengthen those muscles.  (It very much reminds me of eye glasses, another compensatory measure that leads to increasing muscle weakness over time.)

    It seems that minimalist shoes are best for allowing your foot to mimic being barefoot, but other than the specialty shoes I’ve looked into (Vibram, Vivo, Nike Free), I’m unclear about if inexpensive canvas shoes with minimal support are better than good quality shoes in terms of allowing the foot to exercise more (if so, dd has a few pairs of those).  Dd developed the problem she had after a year of wearing Crocs all the time, and the orthodist told us that shoes like that are what keep her in business!  I think a shoe like Crocs might be problematic because there’s so much cushioning on the sole but no support all around, whereas a thinner sole would allow the foot to better protect itself from harmful walking patterns.  When it comes to running shoes, a study showed that ironically, the more expensive the running shoes, the higher the injury rate for runners was.  Those wearing less expensive shoes were actually better off than those with shoes with all of the technology behind it. When the foot is less cushioned, you’re more aware of how you use your feet and adapt accordingly.

    I’m strongly leaning toward Vibram Five Fingers, even though they look so darn funky.  But I’m sure my dd wouldn’t wear them in public, and around the house I told her she might as well go barefoot!  My kids are like me – they’re willing to do alternative stuff, but want to look ‘normal’ in the process.  😆  The Vivo Terra Plana shoes look normal, but they are so extremely expensive – over $100 for a pair of flats – and I don’t know how long they last.

    I find the idea of spending huge amounts of money to mimic not wearing shoes to be kind of contradictory.  Obviously walking barefoot is free, but since one still needs to wear shoes when out and about, I’m still wondering if there are inexpensive options to the specialty shoes.

    I’m looking for a good buy on Vibrams and when I find them plan to get a pair for myself (my arches fell after six pregnancies).  I think if I get dd the Vibrams and can get her to wear them, once her feet feel better it will be easier for her to consider wearing them more frequently, but I’m not willing to pay so much money and have them sit in the box, so it will depend on finding a good deal.  For now I’ve suggested to dd that she go barefoot or in socks as much as she can when at home, and am  still leaning toward having her buy several pairs of Teva shoes when she gets to Israel.    I haven’t found anything yet that says Birkenstock-type shoes (like Teva) are problematic, but I’m not able to independently come to an educated conclusion about that – I don’t know how the body mechanics are affected by cork bottom shoes.  As of now I think it’s a decent option – certainly preferable to a lifetime of orthotics.  I’m far from an expert, but learning so much about how the feet ‘work’ has been very interesting and educational.  If anyone knows of any good options for minimalist shoes, please share!

    Avivah

  • Arnica – a must have remedy

    A few weeks ago an older woman fell down in front of a store I had just walked into.  My ds11 rushed in to tell me that my dd15 was outside helping her, so I went out to see what the situation was.  The woman had stumbled over the cement parking divider and fallen forward, hitting her head hard.  As soon as I saw her head (bleeding and a large lump rising fast), I started rummaging around in my purse for my vial of arnica, THE homeopathic remedy I don’t leave home without.  Unfortunately my kids had given some to my baby a couple of days before and put it back in the wrong place in my purse; fortunately there were still huge mounds of snow in the parking lot so after helping her to her car and cleaning up her head, I was able to make her a makeshift ice pack by ripping up a plastic shopping bag and tying it around some snow that I packed together.  But I felt frustrated not to have been able to find the arnica when I needed it.

    Yesterday I was listening to a cassette and the speaker mentioned that arnica stops bleeding – I’ve heard this before a number of times and every time forgotten about that aspect of arnica’s healing qualities, and I mentally resolved to fix this little fact into my mind this time.  A half hour later I was picking up something from a friend’s home and in the few minutes I was there, her 9 yo daughter cut her head badly when she fell while outside playing with my dd9.  When I saw her, blood was gushing all over her head and onto the ground and I couldn’t tell what the size of the cut was, or even where on her head it was.

    Fortunately this time the arnica in my purse was back where it was supposed to be and I had the timely reminder about it being effective in stopping bleeding (though I would have given it anyway because of the blow to the head and issue of swelling), so I quickly gave her about six or seven pellets.  Her father asked me what I was giving her, and I told him it was a remedy for shock and trauma and would stop the bleeding and reduce any swelling.  Cuts to the head always bleed profusely and scare the living daylights out of parents since it looks so alarming, but within five minutes the bleeding had totally stopped.  (It was probably less but I wasn’t keeping an eye on my watch.)

    I wanted to give her a second dose after ten or fifteen minutes but by then the emergency medical volunteers had arrived (in a case like this it’s recommended to give a dose every fifteen minutes for an hour).  As I was watching the little girl getting more and more ‘shocky’ looking (pale, staring, looking faint), I knew she needed more arnica, but the medics were taking care of her and it wasn’t appropriate for me to be involved at that point.   I did mention to her mother after she was taken to the emergency room that if they could pick some up at the health food store, it would be a good thing to give her a few doses over the next day for the trauma. Fortunately she only needed one stitch and was back home a few hours later.

    Arnica is a must have remedy.  It’s the only homeopathic remedy that I buy two of – one for my house, one for my purse; there are so many situations that it can be helpful in, and having it immediately can allay all kinds of bumps, bruises, and trauma.  My ten month old baby recently was at the stage of learning to pull himself up and then falling over backwards hard – he quickly learned to recognize the arnica vial and as soon as he sees it, he stops crying immediately and his eyes brighten up while he waits for me to give him some (it’s in tiny sugar pellets).  I also bought some arnica flowers to make a muscle rub, but have yet to get around to that project.

    Something I especially appreciate about homeopathic remedies is that it’s very easy to get kids to take them since they taste so good.  This was very important at a time like today, when my friend’s daughter had no idea what I was giving her and had blood running all over as I gave it to her – being able to tell her it tasted like candy made it much easier.

    Eventually I’d like to learn lots more about homeopathic remedies so I can effectively use a wide variety of them, but for now arnica is a very useful remedy with many day to day applications – any bumps, bruises, falls, or cuts.  When my oldest son was 6 he was hit by a bus and thrown across the street (the passengers on the bus thought he was killed but miraculously he only suffered a cracked collar bone), I took him to my pediatrician a day or two after the accident to be sure everything was okay (he had been in the emergency room overnight for examination and supervision immediately after he was hit, so it wasn’t like I waited two days after a major accident to wander in to a doctor).  She was a Russian doctor who took one look at him and told me, “He’s in shock.  Give him some arnica immediately!”   At that time I didn’t know what it was, but in the last ten years, I’ve learned!  (She also taught me about garlic oil for ear pain.)

    It’s ironic that using arnica sounds like something new-agey but it’s actually something that was a well-known remedy for a long time. A few months ago my dh bought a comic book written over a half century ago (I think it was Little Nemo), and when someone in the book got hurt, my kids got a kick out of reading that arnica was recommended!

    I usually buy arnica itself, but last time I was at the health food store they had a new product, which is what I used today.  It’s called Arnicare Trauma, and contains arnica, bellis, and ledum; it’s made by Boiron.  It’s not better than arnica alone, but the formulation is slightly different to address a slightly different concern.  If I had to choose between the two, I’d go with plain arnica.  One vial of a homeopathic remedy costs about $7 and is worth every penny.

    (This post is part of Fight Back Fridays.)

    Avivah

  • Oh, no, the mumps is coming! Puhleeze.

    Today I received the following email from my synagogue regarding what is being portrayed by the city health department as a public health warning.  You can see the response I sent to the synagogue at the end as well as additional comments.

    “We want to share some important information with you regarding a continuing mumps outbreak in this part of the country.

    The situation has involved over 1200 people, primarily members of the Hasidic community in New York and New Jersey.  While this health alert targets the Hasidic community, we are aware that the Yeshiva community has been affected as well.

    There have been no outbreaks in the Hasidic community in Baltimore City .  However, with Passover fast approaching and with it the opportunity for extensive social interaction with people from the affected areas of New York and New Jersey , the Health Department aims to make the community aware of the issue and to encourage everyone, especially children, to be sure they are fully immunized against mumps. This is achieved by receiving 2 doses of MMR vaccine, at least 4 weeks apart.  Typically, one dose is given at 12 months and the second at 4-6 years, prior to school entry.  However, the doses can be administered at a later age.  The other way to be protected, of course, is to have had the disease, as confirmed by a physician.

    We are asking your assistance in communicating this information in an appropriate manner to your family and friends.  You can cite the facts that are presented in the attached document. The Health Department has already sent out information to the pediatricians and federally qualified health centers in the area.

    Please keep in mind that this is a time-sensitive issue.  Passover is coming; the first night is March 29.  With families joining together for the holiday, that will create optimum opportunity for mingling and infection.

    The vaccination requires 10-14 days to produce protection.  So it is imperative that you make your family and friends aware of this so they can ensure their protection in time for the holiday.”

    Things like this disturb me because they are: 1) based on inaccurate information; 2) creating fear and hysteria; 3) don’t have any helpful information to balance the message being sent.  Here’s the message I sent in response:

    “I’m disappointed to receive a message like this from the shul.  Those who are familiar with the mumps outbreak know that in fact the majority of those who contracted it were fully vaccinated on schedule, and therefore the recommendation to take care of vaccinations is unhelpful. I realize the purpose of this message was to be helpful but I’ve watched a lot of hysteria in the frum community online build for at least a couple of months now based on inaccurate information like this.  People are frantic since their vaccinated children are getting mumps and the only information they have is that the vaccination should have prevented it.

    Mumps is a minor and unpleasant childhood illness that is easily dealt with with mega doses of vitamin C in the event that someone does contract it; let’s not get people worked up about something like this, particularly at a time of year when so many people are already stressed out and won’t have the time to get accurate information. “

    I realize whoever sent it out was basically cutting and pasting the information from the city health department,  seeing it as a service to the community.  I don’t see this as a negative reflection of the synagogue employee or volunteer who sent this, clearly trying to be helpful.  But I do see statements like these: “With families joining together for the holiday, that will create optimum opportunity for mingling and infection” as inspiring fear.

    I also think that since young children are the least affected by mumps, the suggestion to be sure that especially children get the vaccination makes no sense.  It’s not the kids who have to worry about long term side affects; it’s post adolescent boys and men (I’ll put this concern into perspective below).

    I was on a discussion board a couple of months ago when a woman shared that her daughter overseas had a roommate who contracted the mumps.  I couldn’t believe the extremely  emotionalized and dramatic reaction of the mother – threatening to sue the school (as if the school has the power to keep germs from circulating in the air :roll:) since they must have allowed a student who wasn’t fully vaccinated in, saying that those who don’t vaccinate are responsible for spreading disease, and on and on and on.

    When other posters jumped on board to agree with her and blame all those horrible and selfish natural- granola- crunchy-negligent parents who don’t care about anyone and leave a trail of disease and suffering in their wake, I felt it relevant to share just one tiny little detail that was leaving the medical establishment in Israel (where this happened) scratching its head – most of those who got the mumps were fully vaccinated (as I mentioned in my note to the synagogue).  An investigation was launched there to figure out what happened – since clearly the issue was  the lack of effectiveness of the vaccine.

    Does anyone else wonder why a critical point like this is conveniently being omitted?  Maybe because noting it would create a conflict between what you’re being told to do and what will actually be of benefit.  There’s nothing being suggested to protect oneself from the mumps except vaccination – and what can they tell you to do when you’ve already followed their suggestions and it hasn’t helped?!

    Fear of the unknown is hard to deal with and it’s understandable that people overreact when faced with something they hardly know anything about.  Here’s a little bit of information to dispel the fear.  The mumps for many generations was a common childhood illness – uncomfortable but rarely dangerous.  Lifetime immunity was a nice side benefit for those who had the mumps.  Some of you might be as old as me, lol, and remember when chickenpox was considered in this way.

    Is someone reading and thinking, “doesn’t she know about the sterility issue? You can’t take a chance with that, can you?” Isn’t it a wonder that humankind has somehow perpetuated itself despite the majority of males for hundreds of years having the mumps?  Hmm.

    The reality is that only about two percent of males who get mumps after puberty have testicular swelling.  Of that very small percentage of post adolescent boys,  98% have swelling on only one side.  Now, of that very, very small percentage that have swelling of both testicles, the huge majority recover and have no issues affecting sterility. So you don’t have to be a professor of mathematics to realize that statistically this is unlikely to be a problem.

    And you already know I’m of the belief that building up a strong immune system is your best defense for any kind of sickness (along with lots of vitamin C and rest).  I wrote about guidelines for taking vitamin C here.  A positive outlook can do wonders, too!  I won’t be worrying about this one tiny bit, and I hope none of you will, either!

    Avivah

  • Echinacea glycerite

    Several weeks ago I  preapared a batch of echinacea glycerite.   I made about five cups worth, which should last a long time when you consider that it’s given by the dropperful.    And a dropperful only holds half a teaspoon!

    A glycerite is similar to a tincture, but uses vegetable glycerine as a base for the herbs instead of alcohol. To make it, I used equal amounts of echinacea and yarrow, a sprinkle of cayenne (I’ll leave this out in the future), 2 -16 oz bottles vegetable glycerin, a little bit of water, and brewed it for three days on the lowest flame.  Using glycerine makes it pleasant tasting for kids and adults –  you can serve it easily by putting a dropperful in a cup and adding a little bit of water.  They drink it right now!

    A couple days ago dh was giving the kids some elderberry syrup (the littles don’t let us forget to give this to them every morning) and taking some echinacea for himself, and said we should call them Mommy’s yummy-ites  instead of glycerites. 🙂   Everyone has been appreciating my efforts to provide tasty and  enjoyable ways to strengthen their immune systems.

    Dh was been feeling under the weather for the last few weeks, and last week I suggested he take a teaspoon of this echinacea blend every hour.  He had been taking it once or twice a day, but with echinacea, that’s not enough.  Echinacea is most effective when taken at the first signs of being under the weather, every hour or two.  I’m happy that he’s now back to himself – I won’t fully credit the echinacea for it, but I’m sure it helped!

    Recently  I was somewhere when I met a young couple visiting from out of state. Their toddler was sick and listless, and the parents were very concerned.  Generally I don’t say anything about health or nutrition to people unless I’m asked about it, but the mother knows me for several years and because of some suggestions I gave her regarding pregnancy and childbirth, she was able to avoid some medical issues she was concerned about.  So she knows I’m not a flake.  🙂

    Because I could see how helpless they felt, being far from home and not having anything in the house to give her (the father said he wished they had antibiotics for her), I offered them some of this glycerite (I even gave it to my 4 month old baby when he was showing the beginning signs of a cold – he excitedly slurped up the dropperful because it was so tasty).

    But the baby’s father said he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of giving her something new (because they don’t want to give her something that might disagree with her), which I respected.  Their toddler had no appetite because of whatever her little body was fighting off, and it was a little sad/ironic to me when right after telling me they wouldn’t give her the echinacea, they gave her a piece of cake and then some very sugary breakfast cereal to encourage her to eat.

    Everyone has their own process and their own timeline that they come to new things at….

    On the flip side, today a friend came by to get some for her husband, since the health food store was closed, and I was happy to be able to share what we’ve made.

    I transfer all of the herbal remedies I’ve made into amber colored glass bottles with dropper lids.  I have 2 oz. and 4 oz. bottles, but for our family I find the 4 oz a more practical size.  When they need to be refilled, I pour it from the larger glass jar that I keep stored in the fridge.  I put a label on each smaller bottle and keep them on the door of my fridge on their own shelf where it’s easy to find them.

    Making these herbal remedies is just a matter of finding a recipe and following it.  I took the concept for my mix from a comment in the Bulk Herb Store catalog, which said that echinacea, yarrow and cayenne are a powerful combination.   But the cayenne adds a little bit of a kick that doesn’t enhance the taste and I’d rather in the future just add cayenne to my personal serving of broth when feeling under the weather.

    Making your own herbal remedies may sound intimidating or complicated, but if you can bake a cake or cook oatmeal, you can make your own remedies.  It’s very satisfying to be able to learn new things that you can use to help your family stay healthy!

    Avivah