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VFNW Spring2014 Transcript Lesson91
VFNW Spring2014 Transcript Lesson91
VFNW Spring2014 Transcript Lesson91
Now What?
HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE B
Call #9 Transcript
By Donna Powers
Donna Powers: Welcome to the Vaccine Free: Now What? 12-week teleseminar
course. This is class nine, where we will continue talking about the infectious illnesses
that are of most concern in the second year of life and beyond. These illnesses are the
ones where conventional vaccines are used as prevention in childhood, school-age
children, teens and adults.
DP: Today's illness being discussed is Haemophilus influenzae, which is also known as
HiB, and meningitis. Interestingly, with this particular infectious illness, it isn't like all the
other illnesses we've been studying up to this point. With mumps, with measles, with
rubella, there is a virus and there is a contagiousness to it. With diptheria, pertussis,
tetanus and polio, we have bacterial infections, and there is a whole course that the
disease takes.
DP: Now interestingly, with Haemophilus influenzae B, this is not the case. This is not
an infectious illness, per se, but what it is, is meningitis. So we're going to follow
through, today, where I'm going to introduce to you what Haemophilus influenzae B is,
and what it isn't. And how it came to be that there was a vaccination or a vaccine
developed for HiB. And I am part of the history of that simply because my boys were
born in the '80s and the HiB vaccine came out... Was approved, I believe, in 1985 and
they started vaccinating in Canada, for HiB, in 1988, 1987-1988. My oldest son
received the vaccine and my youngest did not. At that time, that was probably the
vaccine that really sort of stopped me in my tracks and I thought, "Okay, something is
not working for me, anymore."
DP: So please feel free at any point to press one, if you have something to share with
the group, if you would like clarifications or if you have a question about anything that
we're talking about with this Haemophilus influenzae B and meningitis. We have
touched on meningitis, the bacterial version and the viral version at little bit. We're
going to go into it a little bit more, this particular week.
DP: So, from my clinical microbiology book, which I love, made simple, so these are
what are called "opportunistic pathogens". And a pathogen is, just simply, anything
virus, bacteria, fungus, that is in us and it doesn't really belong there if there gets to be
too many of them. An opportunistic is like what we've talked about with our immune
system. It's there anyway, and if our cellular debris gets out of hand, then there's an
imbalance and some of these virus and bacteria, parasites, fungus that are in our
whole microbiome or microbial flora, anyway, they start feeding on our excess of
cellular debris, when our immune system just can't keep up with it on a day to day
basis, and that can be caused by anything.
DP: So, it's not that the virus or bacteria is making us sick. We get the symptoms of
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DP: So, what I wanted to... So the possible complication... We'll talk a little bit more
later on as well, is the possibility of neurological problems after HiB meningitis. So,
some of them include brain damage, possible epilepsy, hearing loss, a partial blindness
and possible learning disabilities. So again, it's the same thing, whatever the disease
can create, the vaccine can also create these things. So, yeah, we'll talk more about
that, and if you've got anything to add to that, that would be great.
DP: Now, just a little bit about the vaccine. One of the things that's been noted is that
there's an increased susceptibility to HiB meningitis in the first weeks following
vaccination. And what has happened, and it relates to what we've learned about the
immune system and how things get upset is that while the vaccine has diminished the
incidence of HiB meningitis, it appears to have caused a shift in the flora of nasal
pharynx, so your nose and throat and upper respiratory track allowing Neisseria and
streptococcus species to proliferate. And this might explain the higher relative
frequency of pneumococcal, which is streptococcus, and meningococcal, which is
Neisseria infections in children since the introduction of mass HiB vaccination.
DP: So, there's a Finnish study from Finland following the disappearance of invasive
HiB disease in children factoring pneumococcal infections have increased suggesting
that the increase in invasive pneumococcal infections is causally related to the
disappearance of HiB diseases. And it is known that HiB vaccinations have reduced
the carriage of H influenzae and pneumococci may have found a niche in colonizing
children. So in fact, that is what has happened historically. After my kids received DPT
and MMR, then the HiB vaccine was introduced. And it was simply because there were
more and more children having meningitis from Haemophilus influenzae B, so they
introduced the HiB vaccine. Shortly after that, they introduced the pneumococcal
vaccine and the meningococcal vaccine and that started happening in the 1990s and
2000, year 2000. So that's a very, very brief history of what has been happening with
that.
DP: Okay, I'm just going to check and see if Prima is trying to get on here. I don't see
anything. I actually think I'm having trouble with my email right now.
DP: So, what happens with Haemophilus influenzae B usually is that the mother
throughout her lifetime will have passive immunity, and have antibodies. And these
antibodies then cross the placenta and for a breastfeeding mother, she is able to
transmit those antibodies through a vaginal birth and through breast feeding to that
very young child. And that's because between six months and three years of age,
these antibodies to the capsule are lacking in infants and children. So, this is normally
what happens is that it's passed through the placenta and into the breast milk and it
lasts for about six months. So... But since the vaccine schedule was introduced, and
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DP: And this is why I say to you, if you use a homeopathic remedy at the very
beginning where it just sort of seems a little bit flu-ish, a little bit fever, a little bit runny
nose or maybe even a higher fever, but lots of discharges, you will not know if you've
given a good homeopathic remedy, you may never ever know what you've headed off
because you've supported your child and or infants or your partner or any extended
family member, you've been able to support their body's ability to help heal itself by
simply giving a homeopathic remedy.
DP: If the symptoms continue to get severe after homeopathic remedy, it simply means
that the remedy is not right and you can change it. So in an acute illness, don't worry
about changing your remedies fairly often. That will be okay. Just go with the symptom
picture that's there and if the remedy is not right, you'll find out right away. If your child
falls asleep, you know it's a good remedy or if there's an increase in discharges, but
overall they feel better, you're also on the right track. So let's keep going with the
symptoms of it. So they can both... You won't know if you're dealing with viral
meningitis or bacterial meningitis for the first part, so go with the symptoms with
what's present there.
DP: So they can both come on quickly or come on after a few days of a cold and runny
nose. So already you can be thinking of... And although I encourage, especially with
homeopathic students not to routinely prescribe belladonna, aconite, and ferrum phos
for fever, but those are the three remedies that really, they're like arnica, you can do a
lot of good work with it. So if they come on suddenly and violently, the fever or any of
these symptoms, you can think of belladonna. And we'll go through the remedies
shortly. So what would present itself is fever, and we've talked lots about fever. You can
take the temperature, but what we're watching for are homeopathic symptoms that you
can use.
DP: It's a nice idea to keep track of the fever simply because if it's needed to go to the
hospital or emergency, you will have a record of it to be able to share with the admitting
nurse or doctor. The only thing you want to watch for is the fever that spikes very
quickly and it goes very high very quickly. And these are sometimes when you run into
what are called febrile or fever seizures. And for the most part, your child will still be
okay. It's a terrible thing to watch, I've not had to watch with my own children, but I
knew... I do know patients who have had to watch their child go through that. Typically,
most children and adults go through a febrile seizure without any complications long
term. It's a very small number of people who are actually affected by those fevers
where they've had a seizure.
DP: Watch for lethargy, which is just a weakness or decreased consciousness. There's
a going in and out of consciousness. So again on Downton Abbey, we got to watch
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DP: Hyoscyamus, it's in the same family as belladonna, and this is so where arnica and
chamomilla are in the daisy family. Belladonna and hyoscyamus are in the solanaceae
family, and this is the potato family. This is the night shade family. So foods you can
think of like potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. And the belladonna, we've talked
about, is used by eye doctors, ophthalmologists, to dilate the pupil. So the black part
of the eye gets very, very big, almost covers the whole coloured part, and this is one of
the key notes for the homeopathic remedy when you need it for fever and you would
be considering belladonna.
DP: So Hyoscyamus is very similar to belladonna, but has some slightly different
keynotes to it. So one of the ones that homeopath's often think about with
hyoscyamus is this desire to be naked. So even running around naked might help
distinguish it between belladonna. Chances are good you're not going to have
hyoscyamus in your kit, it's not really one that is going to be useful for you in too many
other situations.
DP: So, I want to go into details with the remedies but first, just common sense, hand
washing, especially if it's enclosed areas, and hopefully in daycares, the hygiene will be
up. Increase your vitamin C. And the possibility of the meningitis from strep pneumonia
or pneumococcal meningitis, I stumbled on some reading with B6, vitamin B6,
Pyridoxine. And then I did start looking up the connection with brain damage. It just
sounded like so many symptoms that can happen with the brain inflammation when
children are diagnosed with autism, this chronic brain inflammation. So I just looked
that up and I will send you the links to some of the research that I did very briefly.
DP: But vitamin B6 helps in the production of neuro transmitters in the brain and helps
communicate with one another. And so I started to think, "Okay, alright, maybe even if
this is, if you do opt to get the DPT and that includes the HiB, or you do have
meningitis, that you will want to ramp up some vitamin B6 as well. And then, I did have
somebody do some research and she would have what she called these flip outs, and
they diagnosed them as schizophrenic breaks. But what she discovered on her own
through her research was she was B6 deficient, plus she had too much copper in her
blood. And there was a name to it, Pyroluria. And zinc was involved as well.
DP: So I'm offering this information for those of you who want a bit more and some of
these links I can absolutely share that with you. But what she would... What happened
is when she would be deficient, too much copper, not enough zinc and not enough B6,
she would have these schizophrenic breaks. And they found this so similar to this sort
of zoning out, and she wrote about these and what would happen to her. And her world
was very real even though to those looking in on it, it would like she had really totally
lost it. So vitamin B6, I will send you some information on that.
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DP: So apis. Apis is going to be a remedy you have in your kit anyway. It's a great one
for insect bites, you just simply think this is bee stings. So if you've ever had a bee
sting, you know that there is a lot of swelling. There's a lot of redness, there's a lot of
heat, a lot of inflammation, you don't want anything hot near you, it's very sore to the
touch. And so, my youngest son even had a bee sting on his face and his whole face
swelled up. So this is the picture of apis. And it will look quite shiny as well. They'll be
almost a shiny glossiness to the skin.
DP: And typically, the children or people needing apis for meningitis will be very, very
weepy for no reason at all. They can be quite thirst-less and want fresh air or open air.
So it can look like pulsatilla a little bit but if you've given pulsatilla and it doesn't work,
it's not doing anything, you can always try apis. Apis also can be a great... If you've
had an adverse reaction to a vaccine or an anaphylactic shock or even an insect bite,
it's possible that apis will be the homeopathic remedy that will help settle everything
down, so it has a real affinity for the brain.
DP: Same with belladonna, we've talked about belladonna before. With fever, this will
be suddenness, a lot of redness, a lot of inflammation, throbbing, and pulsating. So,
that's what might be missing with apis. You might think, "Oh, is this belladonna? Is this
belladonna?" So with belladonna, you'll look for the black part of the eye, is it fully
dilated? And you'll be looking for pulsating. If that's not there, chances are good it's
likely apis that will be needed.
DP: The other remedy I would highly recommend having on hand is gelsemium.
Gelsemium is a huge flu remedy, it will serve you well in many, many occasions.
There's a heaviness to it, your child will want to sit upright. They'll look very droopy and
almost flushed as well like the apis or belladonna. But what you'll find in gelsemium
that's different from apis and belladonna is that the gelsemium, despite the heat, may
have chills running up and down the spine and they'll be maybe a lot of trembling and
shakiness. And it's very hard for them to get up because they just feel so, so heavy,
and with this trembling and the shaking, there's a great deal of weakness. This plant
remedy happens to be a vine. So if you think of a vine that needs something to hang on
to, that will give you an idea of the weakness that is in gelsemium.
DP: So we've talked about gelsemium before, I believe, with the polio, if there's a polio
virus so again this weakness, this shakiness, trembling. This is a remedy that will be
great in the flu but this is also a remedy if any of you have, and most people do, it's the
number one fear, public speaking or anxiety before an exam. So again, you think about
the state that somebody is in going into an exam or having to give a presentation.
You're dreading it, it feels like an ordeal, like, "Why did I decide I would do this? I don't
wanna do this."
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DP: You're having to run and pee a lot, you get diarrhea, your head is maybe aching
and the specific place for the headache for gelsemium is the back of the head and it's
pounding, it's throbbing, it does, it just feels like your whole brain is swollen. This is the
idea of gelsemium. So, whether it's public speaking or meningitis or a polio or if it is
sun stroke, if you have all of those symptoms, this is the gelsemium picture, does not
matter what the name of the disease is. So again, interestingly enough, you have three
remedies here for this brain inflammation and meningitis, gelsemium, belladonna, and
apis, that can also be used for ailments from heat stroke or sun stroke.
DP: So, for your ear infections, again, check out powersofhomeopathy.com and one of
the newsletters. If you go to the newsletter tab, drag down box, just click on
newsletters there, it will take you to a page -- I actually think my website's down right
now -- and you'll be able to do a search for ear infections. So, your top remedies,
pulsatilla, we've talked about that before, magnesium phosphoricum, this is where they
like a lot of pressure and a lot of heat on the sore ear. And you can even use the tissue
salt of magnesium phos for that. Merc Sol is best if there's smelliness, pus, blood,
discharge from the ear, that will be a good option as well. And another one, Kali Sulph
or Calc Sulph in tissue salts for ear infections, especially if it's started to become
chronic, with certain kids that's what happens. So, those are a few homeopathic
remedies for ear infections, you can hit off a lot of illnesses with that as well.
DP: So that's it for today. I'm gonna put everybody on speaker. Now, are there any
questions? Are there any comments? Anything at all?
DP: Okay, we'll see you all again next week. It will be class 10, we've just got three
classes left. We'll be covering pneumococcus, meningococcal, and hepatitis A, B, and
C and possibly add in some flu before we sign off. So take care, have a really good
week and I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye-bye.
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