Lew Harper Level: Basic PLUS
Dr. Lewis D. Harper has been in his chiropractic practice for over 12 years and is currently practicing in Layton, Utah. He specializes in Chiropractic ...
I don't know why but I have been thinking a lot about immunity lately and how our body fights foreign invaders. Then the other morning I was watching Good Morning America and a doctor from the American Pediatric Council was on and she said something that was pretty amazing in my eyes. She said, "Fevers are a normal part of the immune system and you should not suppress them and try to control them. Nothing should be done until your child's temperature reaches 103 and then you can try to control it. They shouldn't be brought to your doctor until it is above 104."
Wow talk about something new. Well I guess it isn't that new I have been saying that for years but I don't know as much as a Medical Doctor! (At least that's what a lot of my family and friends tell me) When I was working with Dr. X (we'll call him Dr. X to protect his identity) doing my externship after Chiropractic College, a lady brought in her son to see Dr. X. She said that her son was getting fevers on a daily basis at about the same time every day. She would give him Tylenol and he would sweat like crazy and his fever would come down. She told us that she had been doing this same regimen for the past 2 months and decided to see Dr. X because her MD didn't know what to do.
So Dr. X checked him out and found some things out in his neck. He treated him and immediately his fever started to go up. We watched it go to 101 then 102 and mom got in her purse for the medication, but Dr. X said let's wait. The temperature went up to 103 and then the most amazing thing happened. His entire body broke out in measles. Did you know that the body needs to reach a certain temperature before measles will present? Well this well caring mom was really just suppressing the measles from coming out and keeping her son ill. Once the measles came out the boy was sick for about 2 weeks and then everything was back to normal. Wow, mom doing what she thought was right was actually keeping him sick. Good for you American Pediatric Council for finally seeing the light.
Well this leads me into my next topic of immunity. Sometimes you need to get the disease to build up an immunity to it and others that are similar to it. I remember as a kid my mom sending me to homes of my friend's who had chicken pox, mumps, whooping cough or measles. I would catch the disease suffer for a couple of weeks and then I was fine. Because of this I developed life long immunity to these conditions and other problems that were similar to them. Did you know that if you get an immunization for the before mentioned diseases that you have to get booster shots every 10 years?
You don't develop an immunity to the condition but a resistance to the specific strain that they immunized you with. What about the different strains of the same disease? So in reality, some instances it is better to catch the disease and suffer for a few weeks and gain life long immunity to all the different strains that can or will exist in the future, than it is to just suppress and prevent a certain strain for a few years with an immunization. I recently found a book written by 3 doctors from Dartmouth University called Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick In Pursuit of Health. They to agree that you need to let the body do what it is suppose to do and not search out every little problem and try to treat it. Let the body heal on its own and you will be happier for it. Chiropractic care for over 100 years has always stated, "The body can and will heal itself if given the opportunity to do so." Too many times we try to help to soon and get in our body's way as it tries to fix things on its own.
This article has been viewed 21 time(s).Article Submitted On: March 03, 2011
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