Your Child and Ear Infections

Doc Rick says, "All too common are childhood ear infections. And when you consider how easy they are to prevent, it makes you wonder why all the medical treatments are necessary from antibiotics to ear tubes." Click on the link.

 Your Child and Ear Infections

I am moved to write this article as some people who are close to me can benefit from the information.  As I feel all new parents can benefit from this information, it is my intention to write this article so as to educate and help those who are new parents, or even return parents, make a more fully informed decision as to how to assist their new born child to health and freedom from chronic ear infections and potential ear tubes.  It will also serve them to prevent the basis for a series of trips to the pediatrician for repeated antibiotics which has been shown to suppress the immune system, impair normal immune development and lead to chronic allergies and upper respiratory symptoms.  This is not meant to be alarming, but simply an effort to make the reader aware of what potentially waits in your future if one continues down the path of traditional allopathic medical treatment for childhood ear infections.  It is my intention to get your attention, because the consequences of traditional treatments are never-ending and quite difficult for the parent and child, both financially and emotionally.

So why does one get middle ear infections?  This is pretty easy to explain.  We begin with the gestation of the baby within the mother.  If the mother has a digestive yeast/candidia imbalance while pregnant (craves sweets and eats lots of carbohydrates in the form of pasta, breads, etc.), the child will grow up in an environment that promotes the same imbalance within them.  Therefore, the child will have a tendency to develop a digestive yeast/candidia imbalance.  This means when the child begins feeding, formula or breast milk (always feed your child breast milk only for a minimum of the first 12 to 18 months) the child will begin to create mucus that leads to upper respiratory congestion and ear congestion.  The ear congestion will eventually lead to middle ear infections.

If we move to the birthing process, if a child is delivered vaginally, the amount of pressure on the newborn varies depending on the size and weight of the baby along with the ease or difficulty passing through the birth canal.  Appreciating that a 6 to 10 pound baby fitting through a hole the size of a quarter is stressful.  To both the mother and the baby.  And although the birth process is both normal and natural, having the mother lay on her back and do crunches to expel the baby is not the best way to support the delivery of the baby.  More natural would be to allow the mother to squat and allow the natural muscle contractions and gravity to assist in the process.  But because this makes it difficult for the doctor, it has been deemed necessary that the mother do these modified crunches for the ease of the delivering doctor.  Appreciate that all other mammals give birth standing up or squatting. 

Now, if the child is refusing to simply slide out and the "slow labor experience" occurs, this puts more pressure on the baby as it passes through the birth canal.  The longer it takes, the more pressure and the more potential for distortion in the baby's head, neck and back.  When the head first appears, many times the doctor will rotate the head (sometimes as much as 180 degrees) to get the shoulder to appear.  Once the first shoulder has cleared the vaginal opening, the body will then simply slide out.  A potential problem occurs when the rotation of the head to get the shoulder to clear puts abnormal stress on the attachment of the head on the spine.  This sets the child up for improper alignment of the head on the spine, creating the basis for middle ear infections, as the fluids of the middle ear will not drain properly due to the misalignment. 

Well what if the baby was delivered via C-section?  This too creates potential problems, as the contraction associated with passing through the birth canal and then the expansion after leaving the canal initiates the pumping mechanism of the bones in the skull with the sacral area of the pelvis promoting normal cerebrospinal fluid flow over the brain and spinal cord.  Since the baby didn't pass through the birth canal, they didn't experience the initiation of this pumping mechanism.  Failure to properly initiate this mechanism can also lead to improper fluid flow, and causes cranial faults within the bones of the skull, which can then lead to a back up of fluid in the middle ear.

Another possible contributor to middle ear infections are food sensitivities which may show up as reflux in the infant.  The reflux and spitting up of food usually will back up through the internal auditory meatus (a tube that connects the middle ear with the back of the throat and helps us equalize the pressure in the middle ear when we go on a plane and need to chew gum) and travel up into the middle ear creating the basis for an ear infection.  Feeding your child a bottle while they are laying with their head back, especially if they are already congested, will certainly contribute to this problem.  And how many parents unknowingly do this every feeding?

One of the other potential causes is the parents need to have their child sit up and hold up their head sooner, rather than later.  If the child has a heavy head, a big head (compared to the rest of their body, which is quite normal) or hasn't developed the neck strength to hold up their head, this will create the basis for misalignments in the neck, especially between the base of the head and the top of the spine.  Can you see your child with their head bobbing from side to side, desperately trying to keep their head up?  How many times a day does that happen?  This creates spinal mis-alignments in the neck.  Can you see your child sleeping in their car seat or their baby transporter with their head always turned to one side?  How many times does this happen?  This is the basis and potentially the result of spinal mis-alignments in the neck.  This will lead to a blockage at the base of the skull and the top of the spine.  Unfortunately, this is the exact level associated with blocking the proper drainage of the middle ear into the back of the throat.  Therefore, if there is a misaligned first or second vertebrae that the head sits on, the fluid will now have difficulty draining in a normal fashion and will lead to pressure in the ear, potentially leading to a middle ear infection.

So What Should A New Parent (or returning parent) Do? Regardless of what occurs during the pregnancy and the potential for a digestive yeast/candidia imbalance within the mother and therefore the baby, the parents both should consider being open to restoring balance to the baby's spinal alignment.  The sooner, the better.  Considering this right after the birthing process is best, as addressing the imbalance sooner rather than later will only help to reduce and allow for the elimination of a potential problem.  The experts at restoring proper spinal alignment in adults, as well as babies, are chiropractors.  Now I can hear the natural question in many parents, "Is it safe for my new born to get a chiropractic adjustment?  I have seen that, and (possibly) even experienced it myself, and it seems a little "violent" and potentially harmful, like the new born may be hurt.  I've heard stories about people being hurt and even paralyzed by chiropractors.  I don't want that for my new born.  I'll wait until they are older and are more stable in their development."   I appreciate that position, and I'm not here to argue with you over what you have heard, nor am I here to say you've seen too many Hollywood movies of people having their necks broken while being involved in a fight scene.  We develop our belief systems in countless different ways.  What I am here to offer you is sound health care advise based on countless healthy babies who receive regular chiropractic care and do so without any incident.  And who go without developing middle ear infections and who never need to have surgery to have tubes put in their ears. 

But let’s address the fear of being hurt first.  Appreciate the amount of pressure and stress it takes to re-align a baby's head properly onto the spine is considerably less than the 150 lbs of pressure it takes to push a baby through the birth canal, or the 10 to 15 pounds of pressure it takes to rotate a new born's head as much as 180 degrees to get the shoulder to pop out during the natural delivery process.  It is also much less pressure used in extracting the baby out of the uterus of a mother going through a C-section, as the doctors are now more concerned with finishing the surgery on the mother, as the baby gets whisked away to be checked.  Assuming your child survived these traumas, I am absolutely certain your child could survive a simple spinal adjustment to restore proper fluid drainage.  If I personally use greater than 1 to 2 pounds of pressure to re-align a baby's neck, that is a lot.  And I don't use that much to adjust most of my adult patients.  Most babies adjust by simply turning their head while slightly extending their head backwards, and the mis-aligned bone slips right back into its natural place when contacting the proper vertebrae.  The only time it gets more difficult than that is when the child gets chronic, and the mis-alignment has been there for more than a month.  Then the child may need more than one adjustment to restore balance.  And the same amount of pressure will be needed, it would just involve more than one treatment.  The main point here is it doesn't take that much to help the child return to normal alignment and promote proper middle ear function. And I've seen middle ear infections clear within 24 hours without the whole allopathic antibiotic treatment.  And I've seen it take a couple, or possibly as many as 4 or 5 visits to completely resolve a more chronic problem, and to have it never return. 

But what about the Antibiotic Treatment?  Please appreciate that antibiotics have there place in treating infection. And many times the therapy is done before adequately understanding that the pain and pressure being experienced is actually a bacterial infection.  Perhaps it is just fluid back-up due to misalignment creating the pressure, and not a true infection.  The antibiotics are not needed at that point.  Insisting the doctor confirm the bacterial infection is vital at this point.  Don't just assume this is a bacterial infection and simply go along with the recommendation of antibiotics because you think it is normal for this to occur.  Because if given the antibiotic therapy, the child will result in having a digestive yeast/candidia imbalance and you are now the proud parents of a child who will likely develop upper respiratory problems, digestive problems, allergies and a deficient immune system.  And if the antibiotics don't get rid of the fluid buildup, or if the child develops repeated middle ear pressure or infection, you will then be asked to consider having surgery on your child to have tubes put in the ears to help the fluid drain unnaturally vs. simply restoring proper alignment in the upper cervical spine and allowing proper drainage of the fluid that was backing up in the middle ear. Doesn't that seem like a easier first line of treatment, before going to the more invasive antibiotic treatment and/or ear tube surgery?

Why Wouldn't You Try More Conservative First?  I do my best to appreciate different points of view and different perspectives, and I will always continue to allow people to make their own choices about their health and the health of their children.  And as a health care practitioner who cares to impart helpful advice to my practice members, if you have had any experience with chiropractic, at least through my office and through me, why wouldn't you consider consulting with me for any of your health related issues?  And I hope you can understand that I am not against medication as a sometimes necessary treatment.  It just concerns me that well educated and well intentioned parents make long-term choices for their health and the health of their family by taking short-term medical solutions designed to treat symptoms, without thinking of more natural and conservative measures first that don't create long-term negative health consequences as a result of that form of care.  Any time you have any question about any health related issue, even if after hearing the advise you choose not to take the advise offered, please contact me at my office (845)561-2225 or e-mail at docrick@spineboy.com.  It would be my pleasure and is my mission to help you and your family to better health by making better, more informed health decisions.

My Offer To You

If you are a parent who has a child who either has or has had ear infections, I invite you to bring your child(ren) into the office and have a FREE evaluation any time during the next 6 weeks.  That is until school lets out.  Simply call the office and ask us to put your child in for the Is My Head On Straight Evaluation.  Normally a $ 75.00 value, I will waive the evaluation cost in an effort to help you and your child live a healthy and sane life.  Simply call The Office at (845)561-BACK (2225).  And if you know of any other children or parents who could benefit from this service, ask them to call.  Lets help the whole community by making sure our children have their head's on straight.

 Also, in my new book, When Your Health Matters: Using Your Body's Natural Rhythms To Restore Your Health, available for sale through the office will give you all the information you need on Antibiotics and You.  To purchase your own copy of my new book, simply call the Office and I will write a personal dedication to you when you come pick it up.  Call (845)561-BACK or 561-2225 and I will put your copy aside.

May 10 Tuesday Evening FREE Health Care Class

"If you suffer with headaches, chronic knee pain, indigestion and an inability to eat rich tasting foods, you need to be at this FREE Class."

Suffering from Gall Bladder health issues is all too common.  After all, the Gall bladder is your chief decision maker and when life or people are asking you to do things you do not choose to do, but feel you have to do, this leads to resentment.  And as the resentment builds up within you, this will always lead to headaches, knee pain or indigestion.  If this is you, come to this next FREE Class and learn what you can do to take charge of your Gall bladder, your headaches and your decision maker.

And if you know of someone who has unexplained health issues,  ask them to go to www.spineboy.com, click on This Weeks FREE Health Care Class and have them call for reservations.  For a full list of classes, ask them to click on FREE Health Care Class Schedule and Topics.  Each are under the Main Menu of the Home Page.  You will be helping them to help themselves.  And that is always a good thing.

By attending a FREE Health Care Class, this entitles you to $50.00 off your Initial Consultation and Examination.  So come get educated on your health condition and receive a discount as a result.  What's better than that?

Call the Office for Reservations and come be my personal guest as I help you learn what it takes to be healthy in 2011.  Our phone number is (845)561-BACK or 561-2225.

Also, in my new book, When Your Health Matters: Using Your Body's Natural Rhythms To Restore Your Health, available for sale through the office will give you all the information you need on Gall bladder and its issues that affect you.  To purchase your own copy of my new book, simply call the Office and I will write a personal dedication to you when you come pick it up.  Call (845)561-BACK or 561-2225 and I will put your copy aside.

Your Stress Hormones

Doc Rick says, "With so many people being stressed by our economy, it would be important to learn what you can about maintaining a healthy hormonal system related to stress and your Adrenal Glands." Click on the link for more information

Normalizing Your Hormone Levels: Part I

Having attended a four-day Nutritional Lyceum in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, I was treated to quite a spectacular four days with the top nutritional experts delivering the most up-to-date information on restoring health through high quality nutrition.  And of all the information that was presented within the seminars, the information about balancing your hormonal levels, and how to determine most accurately where the imbalance is coming from, seemed to be the most helpful.  Having asked some of the other practitioners which speaker they enjoyed the most and what information did they consider the most valuable, everyone had the same answer... "The information about balancing hormones."  Since there were two different speakers, Angela Hywood, ND from Australia and Dr. Janet Lang, from the mid-west, I will be pulling from both of their information to help you understand the basis for fully balancing your hormones and what the best way to evaluate where your hormones are out of balance.  For this newsletter, I will be discussing Dr. Hywood's information entitled "Stress Management: Strategies to Support Adrenal Vitality," and our next newsletter will focus on Dr. Lang's information "Functional Endocrinology: Balancing Female Hormones."

Understanding the Stress Response

When dealing with stress, the glands associated with the body's response to it are the Adrenal Glands.  These are paired glands that sit just above your Kidneys.  It should be noted that Sex Hormone Balance cannot be achieved without healthy Adrenal function.  Because of that, I am discussing Adrenal function first and we will visit the Sex hormone portion in my next newsletter. 

Back in the 1930's a doctor by the name of Hans Selye determined that stress is a state of threatened homeostasis, and a stressor is anything that threatens this balance within the body.  The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) associated with the body's reaction to stress is as follows.  There are three phases the body will go through when trying to maintain balance within, and these are Phase 1 The Alarm Phase where the body produces the hormones Cortisol and DHEA in response to the fight or flight response.  The normal release of these hormones occurs during these stressful times in our day (getting our normal routine handled in an efficient manner) and the body is usually asymptomatic, as the stress is mostly short lived in duration.  Everyone experiences this type of response with the resulting normal adaptation and resistance.  As stress begins to accumulate and become more of a challenge, Phase 2 known as The Resistance Stress Phase kicks in.  This is the early stage of Adrenal exhaustion.  The person has become what is termed Sympathetic Dominant.  Cortisol increases in response to the stress, but the DHEA begins to decline.  The person who is Sympathetic Dominant feels "stressed" as this is associated with anxiety attacks, mood swings, and problems falling asleep.  Does any of this sound familiar?  Phase 3 The Exhaustion Phase has both Cortisol and DHEA in decreased amounts.  This is associated with the symptoms of problems staying asleep, feeling down or depressed, along with fatigue or physical exhaustion.   Maybe this sounds like you.  Your nervous system is now  Parasympathetic Dominant.

So what are these two hormones, and why are they important?  Both of these hormones are derived from cholesterol, which then gets converted to a second hormone called Pregnenalone.  The Pregnenalone then gets converted to Cortisol and DHEA.  Cortisol influences the activity of Insulin, Thyroid Hormones and DHEA.  Insulin release is directly tied to Cortisol production, while Thyroid Hormones and DHEA are suppressed and lowered upon Cortisol release.  Cortisol is directly involved in Balancing Blood Glucose, the Immune System Response, Bone turnover rate, Mood and thought, REM sleep and Tissue breakdown.  Under prolonged stress, Cortisol will increase initially, followed by a decrease over time due to the constancy of the stress.  This results in declines within the Immune System function leading to Natural Killer Cell cytotoxicity, problems with Secretory IgA levels and the disruption of gastrointestinal microflora balance.  In laymen’s terms, you can't fight off infection, as well as, your digestion and food breakdown become poor, leading to food allergies and poor health. Some foods which stress out the body and create increases in Cortisol release are your Hydrogenated and Trans Fats.  Take the time to read your food labels and realize every time you consume those types of foods, you will be decreasing your body's ability to fighting off infection, in addition to increasing your chance for developing food allergies. 

What To Consider

Everyone suffers the effects of stress.  A great place to start improving your health is to improve your body's ability to handle the stress you experience.  From the seminar, I was taught how to evaluate a person’s response to their stress by ordering a Saliva Test that can be done within your own home.  The test kit is taken home and saliva samples are collected by you at four times during the day.  Each sample is placed within the test kit and then it is mailed to the company in a postage paid package.  The results are then sent to my office where we then have you come in and go over the results.  Based on what the test shows, it tells us exactly what the protocol is for balancing your Adrenal response to stress, and what it will take to keep you healthy.  The technology behind it is great and the protocols are fantastic. 

Why it is important to evaluate your hormones this way instead of using a blood test?  Blood tests are not as diagnostically significant in determining abnormal hormone levels.  Blood tests are also more expensive then the saliva tests, and because of the various hormones effecting each other,  blood tests can come back normal even though hormonal imbalances exist.  Advantages of Saliva testing are the free hormone levels are more diagnostically significant, and the validity and accuracy of saliva testing is well established through research.

My Offer To You

For ALL Current Practice Members and Prospective New Practice Members:  If you suffer from a stressful life, either minimally or maximally, you would benefit from having one of these tests done.  It will help you see which of the three phases you are currently in, and help us to determine how to eliminate the effects of that stress.  Some other conditions associated with too much Adrenal stress would be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, PMS, menopausal symptoms such as Hot Flashes, Night Sweats, Insomnia, along with a decreased libido.  If any of these sound like you or a loved one, call the office today at (845) 561-2225 and tell us you need to get the Stress Evaluation.  During the Month of May, I offer you this as part of Our Mother's Day Give Away.  Make an appointment during the Month of May and during your visit I will do a simple test to evaluate the need for the Saliva Test.  If you qualify, we will give you a test-kit to take home and when we get the results, the two of us can then make the necessary changes to your system and allow for your body to begin managing your stress in a much better way.  Why wait any longer, Call The Office Now at (845) 561-2225 and schedule your appointment Today! 

And men be mindful, this is not just a woman's health issue.  Men too suffer from Adrenal burn-out which creates Impotence/Erectile Dysfunction, and a condition known as Andropause or Male-menopause, which includes a decreased libido.  So you too need to call The Office at (845) 561-2225 and tell us you want to evaluate your stress response.  Why wait, call NOW while I have your attention.

And for those of you who live out of town, the Saliva Test can be mailed to you and we can consult over the phone, or through e-mail when dealing with the results.  You don't even have to live in the Hudson Valley in order for me to help you.  So you too can get the help you need by calling the office at (845) 561-2225.  I welcome the opportunity.  Give us a call and get a handle on how your body manages your stress Today!

For more complete information on this and all hormone related concerns, consider purchasing my new book entitled When Your Health Matters: Using Your Body's Natural Rhythms To Restore Your Health, available by calling my office at (845)561-BACK or 561-2225.  Call me and I will be happy to set one aside, or you can call me and I will mail you an autographed copy.

May 3 Tuesday Evening FREE Health Care Class

"If you'd like me to check you for parasites to help you rule in or rule out a very common cause of many unexplained symptoms and disease, come to this week's FREE Health Care Class and have the evaluation."  

Parasites are all too common.  In fact, a patient of mine who just finished a class in college on Parasitology says the latest research indicates that everyone has at least one parasite within their system.  Knowing that parasites cause a myriad of health symptoms that the Medical profession does not consider, it would be important to have the Bug Check.  I will be offering this FREE Bug Check this Tuesday evening at my FREE Health Care Class.  You do not want to miss this one folks.

 

And if you know of someone who has unexplained health issues, ask them to go to www.spineboy.com, click on This Weeks FREE Health Care Class and have them call for reservations.  For a full list of classes, ask them to click on FREE Health Care Class Schedule and Topics.  Each are under the Main Menu of the Home Page.  You will be helping them to help themselves.  And that is always a good thing.

By attending a FREE Health Care Class, this entitles you to $50.00 off your Initial Consultation and Examination.  So come get educated on your health condition and receive a discount as a result.  What's better than that?

 

Call the Office for Reservations and come be my personal guest as I help you learn what it takes to be healthy in 2011.  Our phone number is (845)561-BACK or 561-2225.

Also, in my new book, When Your Health Matters: Using Your Body's Natural Rhythms To Restore Your Health, available for sale through the office will give you all the information you need on Parasites and their underlying cause.  To purchase your own copy of my new book, simply call the Office and I will write a personal dedication to you when you come pick it up.  Call (845)561-BACK or 561-2225 and I will put your copy aside.