Homeopathic Immune Support!

[stellarella]

I was wondering if anyone has used homeopathy or naturopathy to support bubs immune system before a vaccination??? What kind of remedies were given and how. I know I would need to see a homeopath of course but just wondering do you give them to bub or yourself??

[Duchessa]

I haven't used it, but I have spoken at length to the girls' homeopath about it... We see Rachael Gleeson: www.theorganicpharmacy.com.au (by phone).

If we did do any vax we would use homeopathic support - both of the girls have responded so well to the treatments they have had (including homeopathic support while/after taking antibiotics for tonsillitis).

[Duchessa]

Here is an interesting letter written to the BMJ about SBS. The highlights are mine. It is undeniable that there has been misdiagnosis of SBS, and that there are cases where vaccinations have been one of the contributors to the brain damage suffered by the children. Safer vaccination programs are better for everybody - this is what informed parents must work toward. We have the Andrew Wakefields of the world to thank for having thiomersal removed from our own vax schedule (although there are still trace amounts in the Hep B vax). It often takes fringe dwellers and radicals to postively alter the world for the rest of us.... Anyways...



Author: C. Alan B. Clemetson, M.D. Professor Emeritus Tulane University School of Medicine


“SHAKEN BABY”, OR BARLOW'S DISEASE VARIANT?
The editorial by Geddes and Plunkett (1) is timely and very much to the point. Retinal petechiae and subdural haemorrhages do not always indicate trauma or child abuse. Fung et al (2) even suggest that the prevailing pathognomonic association between unexplained subdural haematoma, retinal haemorrhages, and a diagnosis of child abuse may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It certainly seems to have become a self- propagating assumption.
It is my opinion that infantile scurvy, or a variant of it, still occurs today and can be mistakenly diagnosed as “shaken baby syndrome.” Most reports include a full panel of blood coagulation studies and full skeletal X-rays, etc.; but few, if any, discuss capillary fragility as a possible cause of retinal petechiae and the weakness of the bridging veins between the brain and the dura mater. Most physicians are probably unaware that there is a highly significant inverse relationship between plasma ascorbic acid and whole blood histamine levels in human adults. In a study of 437 outwardly normal men and women in Brooklyn NY in 1980, we found that three percent had markedly deficient plasma ascorbate levels (<0.2 mg/100 mL, or <11.4 µmol/L), associated with a four- to fivefold increase in the blood histamine concentration (3). The reason for this inverse relationship is that L-ascorbic acid is essential for the elimination of histamine by converting it to hydantoin-5-acetic acid and on to aspartic acid in vivo (4). Few physicians will be surprised to learn that blood histamine levels are increased by the injection of foreign proteins as inoculants and also during systemic infections (4). Both ascorbic acid depletion (5) and histamine excess (6) cause opening of the intercellular tight junction-gaps between the capillary and venular endothelial cells from which the bleeding of scurvy occurs.
No one wants to believe that infants today in the Western world could be vitamin C deficient; but dietary intake is only one of many causes of vitamin C depletion. Even the common cold can halve the leukocyte ascorbate content in the blood within 24 hours of its onset (7). Undoubtedly, the increased blood histamine concentration due to moderate ascorbate depletion can be elevated to a toxic level by inoculations or by infection.
Barlow’s disease, or infantile scurvy, was a well recognized disease among bottle-fed infants during the first 75 years of the 20th century, presenting as broken ribs, cerebral haemorrhages, retinal haemorrhages, and skin sores that would not heal. Today, the diagnosis of Barlow’s disease is rare. It seems that a variant of it still occurs and is diagnosed as “shaken-baby syndrome” -- a term which is becoming much too common. This new variant of Barlow’s disease should perhaps be called histaminaemia. It occurs earlier than classical scurvy, and often within two or three weeks following multiple inoculations, or following an infection.
We should all be cognizant of the seminal studies of Kalokerinos (8), who reported that deaths following inoculations in Australian aborigine infants could be prevented by the simple measure of providing a vitamin C supplement before their inoculations. Perhaps the aborigine children were unusually sensitive to the toxins, or toxoids, but they were also most probably ascorbate-depleted due to their chronic upper respiratory infections as reported. A review of the World literature (9) has shown a highly significant protective effect of vitamin C against morbidity and mortality following injection of a wide array of inoculants in animals. This beneficial effect was seen even in rats and mice, which make their own ascorbic acid in the liver. Clearly, they do not always make enough of it.
There was no suspicion of shaking among the nine infants with subdural haemorrhages and retinal petechiae reported by Fung et al (2002). We may therefore conclude that the haemorrhages may have been due to capillary fragility, which led to the delayed development, epilepsy, and four cases of spastic quadriplegia reported, -- i.e., very serious neurological damage.
It is of interest to recollect that retinal petechiae and incipient jaundice were indications for termination of pregnancy to prevent Wernicke’s haemorrhagic encephalopathy in women with excessive vomiting in pregnancy, until Lund and Kimble (10) of Madison WI, in 1943, reported, "Hyperemesis Gravidarum may lead to dangerously low levels of vitamin C. Clinical scurvy may appear. The retinal hemorrhages of severe hyperemesis gravidarum are a manifestation of vitamin C deficiency and are similar to petechial hemorrhages seen elsewhere. The hemorrhages cease after adequate therapy with vitamin C; henceforth they are not necessarily an indication for the use of therapeutic abortion."
Practical suggestions
1. No one should be indicted for “shaken-baby syndrome” unless there has been direct evidence of abuse. 2. Vaccinations or inoculations should be postponed for any infant who is premature, who has an upper respiratory infection, or who is ailing in any way. 3. We should ask ourselves whether it is wise to give as many as six inoculants, all at once, to infants at eight weeks of age. 4. Every infant should receive 500 mg of vitamin C powder or crystals, in fruit juice, to drink before inoculation. 5. Any infant showing severe reactions, such as convulsion or a high- pitched cry, should receive additional ascorbic acid by injection. 6. Plasma vitamin C and blood histamine analyses should become a routine part of the workup for severely ill infants.


References
1 Geddes JF, Plunkett J. Evidence base for shaken baby syndrome. BMJ 2004;328:719-20. 2 Fung ELW, Sung RYT, Nelson EAS, Poon WS. Unexplained subdural hematoma in young chi ldren. Is it always child abuse? Pediat Internat 2002;44:37-42. 3 Clemetson CAB. Histamine and ascorbic acid in human blood. J Nutr 1980;110:662-8. 4 Chatterjee IB, Majumder AK, Nandi BK, Subramanian N. Synthesis and some major functions of vitamin C in animals. Ann NY Acad Sci 1975;258:24- 47. 5 Gore I, Fujinami T, Shirahama T. Endothelial changes produced by ascorbic acid deficiency in guinea-pigs. Arch Pathol 1965;80:371-6. 6 Majno G, Palade GE. Studies on inflammation. 1. The effect of histamine and serotonin on vascular permeability. An electron microscopic study. J Biophys Biochem Cytol 1961;11:571-605. 7 Hume R, Weyers E. Changes in leukocyte ascorbic acid during the common cold. Scott Med J 1973;18:3-7. 8 Kalokerinos A. Every Second Child. Sydney: Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd, 1974. 9 Clemetson CAB. Vaccinations, inoculations and ascorbic acid. J Orthomol Med 1999;14:137-42. 10 Lund CJ, Kimble MS. Some determinants of maternal plasma vitamin C levels. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1943 46:635-47.
Competing interests: None declared

[Duchessa]

Stellarella, I just posted a letter in the vax info thread about vit C and vax. Thought you might be interested...

[Duchessa]

Eur J Nutr. 2005 Oct;44(7):406-13. Epub 2004 Dec 1.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=pubmed_Abstract&db=pubmed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=15578195)[/URL]
Probiotic bacteria stimulate virus-specific neutralizing antibodies following a booster polio vaccination.

[URL="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22de+Vrese+M%22%5BAuthor%5D"]de Vrese M (javascript:PopUpMenu2_Set(Menu15578195);), Rautenberg P (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22Rautenberg+P%22%5BAuthor%5D), Laue C (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22Laue+C%22%5BAuthor%5D), Koopmans M (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22Koopmans+M%22%5BAuthor%5D), Herremans T (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22Herremans+T%22%5BAuthor%5D), Schrezenmeir J (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_Abstract&term=%22Schrezenmeir+J%22%5BAuthor%5D).

Federal Research Centre of Nutrition and Food, Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Hermann-Weigmann-Strasse 1, 24103 Kiel, Germany. devrese@bafm.de

BACKGROUND: Orally ingested probiotic bacteria may modulate the immune response and increase antibody titers against enteric infections by bacteria or viruses. Even though positive effects of probiotics on respiratory tract infections have been reported, overall only few studies have examined effects on virus infections concerning organs other than the gastrointestinal tract. AIM OF THE STUDY: It was the aim of the study to investigate whether and how probiotics affect the immune response to a standardized enterovirus challenge (polio) and infections not limited to the gastrointestinal tract in healthy adults. METHODS: In a randomized, controlled and double-blind study 64 volunteers consumed for 5 weeks chemically acidified clotted milk without bacteria or with 10(10)/serving (Lactobacillus rhamnosus ) GG or Lactobacillus acidophilus CRL431 added. In the second week subjects were vaccinated orally against polio 1, 2 and 3. Polio virus neutralizing serum activity, the primary parameter, was determined by the standard neutralization test (WHO) before and three times after vaccination. Polio-specific IgA, IgG and IgM were detected by ELISAs. RESULTS: Probiotics increased poliovirus neutralizing antibody titers (NT) and affected the formation of poliovirus-specific IgA and IgG in serum. The maximum increase after immunization was about 2, 2.2, or 4-fold higher, respectively, for NT, IgG or, IgA, in volunteers consuming probiotics instead of placebo. No consistent difference was noted between bacterial strains. CONCLUSIONS: Probiotics induce an immunologic response that may provide enhanced systemic protection of cells from virus infections by increasing production of virus neutralizing antibodies.

[Duchessa]

Interestingly, they are using probiotics more and more in conjunction with vaccination in animals, but it is taking longer to filter through to the human population. IMO it is unethical to not recommend support like VitC & probiotics once there is evidence that it is beneficial and reduces the risks associated with vax...

[stellarella]

I think I should really find myself a homeopathic practitioner or naturopath for DS. I wonder how much they would know about this also???

[Duchessa]

That depends a lot on the practioner... The homeopath I mentioned above is very informed about vaccine choices and support through vaccination if you choose to.

I have a background in naturopathy, and during my study vaccination was covered quite a bit, though we were not told to go one way or the other, just to keep reading reading reading, which I do (especially now that I have kids!) - so I suspect that most naturopaths would have a level of knowledge - the nature of naturopathic philosophy supports disease as a part of immunity maturation and works to support the bodies systems to heal themselves during times of illness and to promote wellness, immune potential etc while well... the aim kind of being optimum wellness rather than merely freedom from disease, ramble ramble - I'm sure you know the idea :D