Vaccinations and Mind Body Medicine
This past Sunday, I worked in our office seeing sick patients. There is a lot of illness out there: mostly flu, stomach bugs, and prolonged respiratory illness—usually not Covid. But especially the flu.
I saw one 3-year old who had been to the ER the previous day because of influenza and dehydration. They had given him two bags of IV fluids and sent him home. He had a temperature of 105 for 5 days. He was still very sick. There was little I could do except encourage his mother to give him as much juice, soup, water and Pedialyte as he would take, medicine for nausea, and acetaminophen and ibuprofen for fever.
The boy had not been vaccinated against influenza. His mom is skeptical of vaccines. I explained as empathically as I could that—thought the flu shot is only 50% effective this year, kids and adults who get the shot almost always have milder cases. They get less sick. It’s the same thing for the Covid vaccine.
His mother is very much into natural methods of building the immune system: organic foods, an anti-inflammatory diet, and natural herbs.
So am I. I explained that I encourage garlic, in soups and food, as well as extra vitamin C, which may shorten the course of viral infections. Rather than give cold and cough medicines produced by drug companies, I prefer herbal teas for older children, and for her son - warm apple juice, honey, and perhaps, elderberry syrup. I do like some of the Zarbee preparations, because they are made with all natural ingredients. I find Zarbee’s with agave nectar especially effective for nighttime cough. I prefer the Ricola brand of cough drops because they are made exclusively of herbs and natural flavorings and colorings. And of course, that old standard Vicks Vapo rub is one of the oldest herbal medicine around; the active ingredient is Eucalyptus. (I suggest applying it to the feet of little ones, but not to the chest, nor in vaporizers: It is too strong when used this way, and may cause irritation and increased cough.)
What about vaccines? They are not “natural” because they are produced by extracting DNA or RNA or a specific protein from a virus, and treating them so they induce an immune response when injected into the skin or muscle. But, as I have explained to thousands of parents and patients by now, they work to strengthen our own natural immune systems. They are like friends or trainers who show us how to build muscle, or like foods or herbs which help us build up resistance to disease.
Getting a vaccine, against Covid or Influenza, is good holistic, integrative medical practice because vaccines strengthen our body’s natural immune defenses so we do not end up sick, or as sick, and do not need drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies to fight the fever, pain, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, cough, respiratory distress, dehydration, and secondary bacterial infections that are caused by Covid, the flu, and other infectious diseases.
Do vaccines have side effects? Yes, they may. I was fine after my first two Moderna Covid vaccines, but felt like I had been hit by a truck after my two boosters with the Pfizer vaccine. But these designer vaccines, made with purified messenger RNA, produce far fewer side effects then the original ones, which were basically weakened forms of the actual virus, or bacteria, like smallpox or pertussis, injected directly into patients. They were actually more “natural” but could cause much more serious side effects.
Despite the side effects I had from the Covid vaccines, am I glad I had these shots? You bet! I know that if I get Covid, I will almost certainly have a milder case. I will have very little chance of needing hospitalization. And there will be just about zero chance of developing that new awful chronic illness— long haul Covid, or of dying.
In the meantime, as I explained to the mom I saw yesterday, I advocate eating a healthy, mostly vegetarian, mostly organic, local-if-possible-diet. We should all get enough sleep, get out in Nature, and get fresh air and exercise every day. Kids should have plenty of time to play, away from screens. Adults should have a daily breathing practice—slow nasal diaphragmatic breathing is best. Yoga is great. Practice mindfulness.
But please, have your kids, get their Covid shots, flu shots, and other vaccines they need to stay healthy. And get them yourself!