One of the questions I am asked most frequently is about vaccination. This is a controversial and difficult area for many people. We all very much want to protect our children against serious and dangerous diseases, something that conventional medicine insists vaccination guarantees. However, there is sufficient anecdotal evidence that vaccination (especially given in the quantities and at the very young ages we see recommended today) has some frightening consequences and long-term effects of its own. Moreover, the resurgence of illnesses such as measles and whooping cough in populations that have been vaccinated do little in dispelling parental concerns about efficacy and safety.
Homeoprophylaxis is an alternative to vaccination through the use of homeopathically prepared disease-based remedies, known as nosodes. On a recent visit to Toronto, the guru of homeoprophylaxis, Dr. Isaac Golden, trained a group of Toronto homeopaths in his method of homeoprophylaxis. This program, which consists of nosode remedies taken over a series of four years, can represent a complete alternative to vaccination for parents looking for such an alternative. Selective homeoprophylaxis program for specific vaccines (including travel vaccinations) are also possible.
No vaccination program is 100% effective. By the most optimistic claims, conventional vaccination is 95% effective for preventing illness. Dr Golden’s exhaustive research and extensive use of prophylaxis suggests a 90% efficacy for preventing illness. In other words, all vaccination methods fail at times. However, what is clear is that the general state of health of children who have undergone homeoprophylaxis is not compromised. There has been long-standing concern on the part of alternative practitioners and parents, and more recently, some mainstream physicians, that the intensive protocol of vaccinations that most children undergo undermines their general health, resulting in the increase in disorders like asthma, eczema and chronic ear infections. Other disorders such as ADHD and autism are also implicated as vaccination-induced problems.
I clearly recall agonizing over the decision about vaccinating my own children many years ago. These are not easy choices for any parent to make. The stakes are high and the arguments tend to be virulent and compelling on both sides. I am fairly sure of one thing – doing nothing is not a choice I would recommend. I am not advocating one choice over another for families, but am here to offer an alternative to vaccination for those families who have made a decision against mainstream vaccination.
Contact me today to discuss homeoprophylaxis for your family.
The pressure is on! The annual push to get people to “roll up their sleeves” for the flu vaccine is making its seasonal reappearance.
I am not a fan of the flu vaccine, and discourage my clients from getting the vaccine. However, I do not believe that the alternative to getting the vaccine is to do nothing. Making the wise choice to avoid the unnecessary vaccine means making even wiser choices about your health.
Why I think the vaccine is a bad idea:
-
At best the vaccine is largely ineffective. Studies indicate that in children under 2 years old inactivated vaccines have the same efficacy as placebo, and in healthy people under the age of 65, the vaccine does not effect hospital stays, time off work, or death from influenza or its complications.
-
The fact that vaccines “wear off”, requiring annual re-vaccination, often with the exact same strain of flu serum, is admission that the vaccines do not actually work. Human immunity is life-long. Real immunity from the disease itself offers life-long immunity against that same strain of disease. It is questionable if the vaccine offers any true immunity at all.
-
Every vaccine (like any medicine) has risks associated with it. The neurological risks associated with the flu vaccine are severe. In 1976 there were more cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (a crippling neurological disorder) reported after vaccination than there were cases of the swine flu that the same vaccine was supposed to prevent.
-
In December 2010 the flu vaccine specifically designed for young children from age 6 months to 5 years was blamed for unusually high incidence of febrile seizures in the same age population immediately after vaccination. While the manufacturer of the vaccine admitted to the higher than normal incidents of febrile seizures, they were not willing to admit to a causative link to the vaccine.
-
I am concerned about a disease-prevention strategy that involves toxic chemicals and virus strains that are grown on living tissue and/or genetically modified in laboratories, then inserted into the human body.
-
Flu shots contain some or all of the following vaccine constituents, none of which I believe belong in a healthy human being: ethylene glycol (antifreeze), phenol (aka carbolic acid – a disinfectant, die), formaldehyde (known carcinogen), aluminum (associated with Alzheimer’s disease and seizures), thimerosal (an mercury based preservative that is associated with brain injury and autoimmune disease), neomycin and streptomycin (antibiotics). Vaccines are often grown and strained through animal or human tissue such as monkey tissue, chicken embryos, embryonic guinea pig cells, calf serum – another ethical and emotional quagmire to get over in thinking about vaccine.
Why the FluMist is an even worse idea:
-
This is an alternative flu vaccine that is supposed to be for those who resist the vaccine due to needle-anxiety. It is being widely touted as a good choice for children in particular.
-
This nasal spray is more expensive than the conventional vaccination and is not covered by most provincial health providers here in Canada.
-
The nasal flu mist is a live vaccine, and those who have been “immunized” in this way are carriers of live virus for up to 3 weeks after the “vaccination”, making them likely transmitters of disease.
-
The list of people contraindicated for this option is long and quite concerning:
-
Anyone with asthma or reactive airways
-
People over the age of 60 (the same population we are told are most at risk from complications of influenza
-
Anyone with history of bronchial allergic reactions
-
Anyone with suspected immune deficiency diseases
-
Pregnant and nursing mothers
-
Anyone with chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, metabolic disease (including diabetes), kidney dysfunction, neurological disease
-
Health care workers who work with any of the above
-
Surely this list makes one reconsider the intelligence of getting such a vaccine at all.
Why?
-
I am not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but I do have to ask why these vaccines are so vigorously pushed onto the public.
-
$$$$$$: Sorry to be so predictable, but someone is making a lot of money off this business
-
FEAR: Mainstream medicine does not have a suitable model for addressing influenza outside the vaccination program. Witness films like the new blockbuster “Contagion” as an expression of the collective anxiety about a pandemic of influenza or some other infectious disease that mainstream medicine is ill-equipped for treating.
So, What’s the Alternative?
Optimal health, of course!
Infectious disorders affect the weak and the susceptible. Susceptibility is reduced not through a vaccination that weakens the immune system, but through healthy living – nutritious eating, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, supplementation that optimizes essential vitamins and minerals, stress reduction, and good hygiene. Pretty simple!!
You know most of this – but here’s a quick review of some of the essentials:
Nutritious Eating
-
Eat lots of plants in a range of colors –12-15 portions of fruit and veg daily, use fresh herbs and spices liberally
-
Eliminate refined carbohydrates – NO WHITE SUGARS OR CARBS!
-
Sugar dramatically reduces immune function
-
Eat at least 3 portions of wild, cold-water, mercury free fish weekly, or supplement with a fish based Omega 3 fatty acid.
-
Eat organic food whenever possible
-
Make sure all your meat is from grass-fed animal
-
Drink red wine in moderation
-
Limit caffeine
-
Avoid all artificial food flavors, colors, preservatives, additives
Supplementation:
-
Vitamin D—the sunshine vitamin! Necessary for all of us who live in northern climates. Get your 25HydroxyD levels checked next time you get blood work done. In the meantime – supplement throughout the winter – 4000-6000 IU daily for adults, 2000 for children, 800 for toddlers and infants.
-
Probiotic – an excellent way to keep your immune system operating optimally is to take a daily probiotic, especially through the winter months. You will find that you will have many fewer viral infections if you take regular probiotics.
-
Multi-Vitamin and Mineral supplement – get one from a reputable manufacturer, preferably one that is food-based. Do not buy inexpensive synthetic vitamins from big box stores – they are probably worse than taking nothing.
-
Vitamin C – increase your vitamin C intake through-out the winter. 2000 mg daily (taken in 4-500 mg doses) is a good maintenance regime, but you can increase that 3-4 fold if you are feeling under the weather. Vitamin C works miracles when it comes to keeping you virus-free.
Common Sense:
-
Allow yourself lots of sleep. Excessive tiredness is often your body’s way of alerting you to the fact that – big surprise – you need more sleep!! Tired bodies get sick more easily. Moreover, you need more sleep during the cold winter months – the weather acts as a physiological stressor and sleep is your time for recovery. Allow yourself a gentler, kinder schedule!
-
Wash your hands frequently.
-
Stay home if you don’t feel well. This alone could change the entire conversation around vaccination. Sick people belong at home – not at school, not in the work place, not on the subways and streetcars. Do this for yourself, and for those around you.
And if you should start to feel sick:
There are a number of natural health protocols for addressing acute illnesses such as the flu. Rather than repeat myself here I refer you to my blog on natural support and homeopathic remedies for the flu. However, if you take good care of yourself, chances are you will not need this advice, and certainly do not need the flu vaccine!
