Hi Parents,
We often hear of “seasons” ???? for certain immune issues, the truth is that for many families their kids seem to battle recurring ear infections, non-stop sinus congestion, and chronic coughs almost all year round. They just can’t seem to “Kick it” for good.
It all adds up to way too many trips to the pediatrician or even urgent care and let’s be honest, those aren’t the easiest of trips. Missing days of school and work for a very similar prescription. You’ve tried the antibiotics, have the nebulizers, got rid of gluten and dairy, and have supplements and essential oils spilling out of your cabinets!
But, your child still struggles and can’t “kick it” no matter what you try.
If that’s you, we want to offer y’all a different approach! One that you’ve maybe not heard of before, but one that has helped so many kids finally “Kick the Sick” and restore their health and well-being naturally!
Let’s dig in and look at the immune system a bit deeper, and see how the body really is designed to deal with bacteria, viruses, and germs on a daily basis.
Here’s a regular day with kids – they constantly are touching, hugging, and eating everything they can get their hands on! You’re pushing them in the cart down the aisle at Target ????, and while you’re looking ???? at the latest Cat & Jack graphic tee… you look back down and they are licking the shopping cart ???? or chewing on your purse straps! ????
While this happens on the outside and us germophobic parents freak out, on the inside their brain ????, nervous system, and immune system simply go to work doing what they were designed to do with germs ???? – recognize them and remove them.
Did you know that germs, viruses, and pathogens far outnumber us by the trillions? I know, not always the most fun thought… but it’s important we know what we’re up against so that we can build up our children’s defense instead of break it down.
Here’s the beautiful thing, the body is intelligent and no matter what it’s up against, it knows to respond in 2️ different ways, according to its programming.
The first option is what’s called the fight-or-flight sympathetic response ????. This is when the system is busy and overwhelmed. Busy in life, busy with stress, just plain busy! And when the body is busy, it doesn’t have time to focus on what’s coming at it, especially with germs ????!
So instead, it makes a decision to suppress it and ignore it.
A child whose nervous system is under a constant state of this sympathetic stress literally doesn’t have the time and energy to “deal with” the immune response required… so it stuffs it down and suppresses it. Think of this as similar to when you tell your child to clean their room, and they simply stuff all the clothes and toys ???? into their closet or under their bed! It “looks clean” but it’s anything but.
The second option your child’s body has is a parasympathetic response. Often called the “rest and digest” side of the nervous system. What we now know about this side of the nervous system is it also controls and regulates the body’s immune defense in an intelligent, coordinated, and mindful way.
It wants to find out what’s wrong, study it, build a defense and attack it. This side also then “expresses” it… meaning, it “kicks out” what’s not supposed to be in there!!! Exactly what we want!
Here’s the counter-intuitive nature of these two sides. The side that coordinates the better long-term response (the parasympathetic) is more expressive and therefore more symptoms follow. With an expressive response you often see the stuffy nose, ????, cough, or fever ???? in the short term…but that’s the key. The short term!
The body fights, kicks it out, and now has learned what to do for the next exposure when your kid licks the cart ???? again (ok last time using that analogy)! This side of the immune system must be in perfect balance and function, so it can help BUILD long-term health as well as handle the short-term response.
Unfortunately, you may have been trained to suppress and shut down that “expression” as soon as you can! It’s the first thing the pediatrician ???? and TV commercials ???? tell us to do. *Cue anti-bacterial hand sanitizer*
Eventually, if we turn to this first, we often “short circuit” the body’s natural defense systems and leave the congestion, cough, and symptoms more deeply rooted and “stuck” in the body. This leads to that chronic, repetitive cycle ???? of illness and infections… in time, this contributes to chronic immune challenges such as allergies and asthma in kids.
Antibiotic use in babies linked to allergies, asthma and other conditions, study finds.
Enough science! Here’s the main takeaway… so much of what we do to “kick the sick” in our everyday life just pushes us more to that suppressive side! We intend to help, but often we hurt the body’s immune response instead. The cough suppressant, fever ???? reducer, and steroid inhaler or nebulizer end up “doing the job” for our child’s body… so that it never learns, builds strength, and figures it out on its own.
We get “stuck” trying to reduce symptoms instead of going after the cause of the imbalance within the body, and seeking to restore that to build up strength!
It’s never fun to watch your child struggle through teething, fever ????, cold, cough, congestion, or anything… but when you really dig in and learn how the body works, and boost and support it’s ability to do so by making sure it stays in balance at all times… you get to see your child overcome that illness naturally, and come out stronger ????, healthier, and more vibrant on the other side!
When you let the body’s natural immune system do its job, so often you’ll see huge “growth spurts” of social, emotional, and cognitive well-being on the other side – it’s so rad!
Keep that neuro-immune system in balance ⚖️, and let the body do just as it was designed to do – kick butt and take names!
Kicking the sick for good,
The Isdale Chiropractic Team