Children and Natural Medicine with Dr. Arianna Staruch, ND

Natural medicine works with the body's ability to heal itself, according to Dr. Arianna Staruch, ND, who spoke about using natural medicine with children at the American College of Healthcare Sciences on June 8. Natural medicine, Dr. Staruch further explained, helps removed obstacles to health, such as an unhealthy diet or stress, and then supports the body's ability to return to balance.

So, why use natural medicine with children? Teaching children to use natural medicine at a young age helps to establish healthy lifestyle choices through adulthood. In addition, natural medicine remedies are safe, natural supports for everyday problems like the common cold, ear infections, and bumps and bruises.

According to Dr. Staruch, a kid's job is to get sick. Infection is how the immune system learns what is good and bad, and how to respond. Natural medicine works with the body's natural processes to help build a strong immune system.

What does natural medicine include? When working with children, some of the primary natural medicine remedies include use of mild herbs, which can be made into teas, and homeopathic remedies.

Homeopathy is based on the principle of "like cures like." A homeopathic remedy is an "extremely dilute form; normally one part of the remedy to around 1,000,000,000,000 parts of water" (http://abchomeopathy.com/homeopathy.htm). For kids, homeopathics are easy to administer, safe, effective, and non-toxic, Dr. Staruch says. Here are some common homeopathics and their associated uses:

Arnica > for falls, bumps, and bruises
Aconite > First onset of cold
Arsenicum > Digestive upset and diarrhea; chilly; restless
Belladonna > Ear aches and fevers that come on suddenly

Recipe for Calming Tea for Kids
Cat Straw--4 tbs
Chamomile--2 tbs
Peppermint--1 tbs
Catnip--1 tbs

Cover the herbs with 2 cups of boiling water and steep for 15 minutes. Give one or more tablespoons as needed.

Click here to see a complete list of the American College's upcoming community workshops.

Homeopathy for food allergies: Treatment for Peanut Allergies Shows Promise

A March 15 article in the New York Times, " Treatment for Peanut Allergies Shows Promise," talks about the practical applications of homeopathy. Although the article does not use the term homeopathy specifically, it does describe a study in which the treatment for a peanut allergy "uses doses of peanuts that start as small as one-thousandth of a peanut and eventually increase to about 15 peanuts a day."

The article then goes on to describe how in a pilot study at Duke University and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, "33 children with documented peanut allergy have received the daily therapy, which is given as a powder sprinkled on food. Most of the children are tolerating the therapy without developing allergic reactions, and five stopped the treatment after two and a half years because they could now tolerate peanuts in their regular diet. But four children dropped out because they could not tolerate the treatment."

The article cautions that this specific treatment for peanut (and other food-related allergies) is not ready for home use, yet homeopathics have been in the U.S. since the 19th century, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Homeopathy is based on the principle of "like cures like," and involves, "giving extremely small doses of substances that produce characteristic symptoms of illness in healthy people when given in larger doses," (NCCAM).

Three main concepts of homeopathy include:

1. Homeopathy stimulates the body's defense mechanisms and processes to prevent/treat illness.

2. Treatment involves giving very small doses of substances called remedies that, according to homeopathy, would produce the same or similar symptoms of illness in healthy people if they were given in larger doses.

3. Treatment in homeopathy is individualized (tailored to each person). Homeopathic practitioners select remedies according to a total picture of the patient, including not only symptoms but lifestyle, emotional and mental states, and other factors.

Homeopathy training is often completed as part of a naturopathic training, and individual courses can be taken to adjunct to another holistic health practice, such as holistic health practitioner or nutritionist. In addition, with accredited holistic health training, there is growing opportunity to work in the complementary alternative medicine field, to provide whole person care.

For more information about homeopathy training, go to: http://www.achs.edu/course-desc.aspx?pid=24&id=4

For more information about studies involving peanut treatments for peanut food allergies, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/health/16peanuts.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=peanut&st=cse

To read more about homeopathy, visit the NCCAM website at: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy/