There is no shortage of emotions when your child is sick. Especially in light of the recent statistics documenting the increased trend in this point of the pandemic of deaths of children from Swine Flu. Although the CDC has verified that the deaths were among children with serious chronic illnesses like diabetes, asthma and immune compromised patients, that is not comforting to parents of well children. Nonetheless, during this H1N1 Swine flu pandemic there are pre-existing conditions which the CDC has identified and publicized which must be considered when making medical care decisions for special groups, such as pregnant women, children and the elderly. These emotions and conditions may generate considerable questions which must be answered by the patient’s parents and doctor prior to initiating any treatment.That process is known as obtaining  informed consent.

A virus does not need consent to infect a child but a doctor must obtain the informed consent of the parent or guardian in order to vaccinate a child or initiate treatment for an infected child.

What constitutes informed consent?

According to the FDA, it is the process of obtaining a patient’s permission for a procedure after the patient and doctor have discussed the risks, benefits, and alternatives of the procedure and the patient understand them.

For example, as an anesthesiologist, the process of obtaining informed consent prior to surgery involves a discussion of both allopathic and integrative medical methods of administering an anesthetic. Intravenous medications such as propofol and inhaled anesthetic gases are administered to keep a patient asleep throughout surgery. A potential anesthetic complication often discussed before surgery is the patient’s fear of having nausea and vomiting while  recovering from anesthesia. I obtain consent to use essential oil of ginger as an integrative medicine technique as well as intravenous medications like ondansetron, to prevent and treat post-op nausea and vomiting (PONV).

The topics surrounding the  Swine flu pandemic are so complex and emotions are so high during this season of national debate on health care reform, that one would be  hard-pressed to say they are truly informed . Especially, when you are in line of people waiting to get immunized by a caregiver at a  minute clinic. Our government has spokespeople saying the flu vaccinations are necessary and safely tested. Some lawgivers have written into law that all health care providers must be vaccinated. There are numerous opponents making claims otherwise.

Say your doctor recommends the live, attenutated virus intranasal vaccine (LAIV),  for your child. Are you one of the 27% of parents who say they will not allow their child to be vaccinated?  Are you informed enough to ask the doctor if the vaccine will harm an unborn child if my child sheds virus for the next 21 days around me? Is the clinic where you are seeking treatment aware that your child has asthma and is therefore not a recommended candidate for FluMist? If your child gets a complications of the vaccine are you aware  that the manufacturer is protected from lawsuits. You can apply for government assistance to cover the added medical expenses if it is determined that the complications are indeed from the vaccine.

What is a person to do? Do your due diligence. Seek help using online digital triage.

Be as informed as you possibly can while adopting safe practices. Besides watching Sesame Street videos with your kids to teach them the proper techniques of sneezing and handwashing, one could adopt natural methods of boosting immunity. Using food as your medicine, consider that mangosteen, acai, garlic, olive, onion, ginger, echinacea, cat’s claw, shiitake & maitake & reishi mushrooms, lomatium dissectum, lemon balm, St John’s wart, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc and probiotics are known traditional remedies with anti-viral and immune boosting function.

Have you heard of Inhalational Therapy? Then stay tuned. Breathing the vapors of essential oils distilled from plants is wonderful.

Be proactive and stay informed.

The oilMD

James Tad Geiger MD

I prefer the term integrative medicine to complementary, alternative or holistic medicine  when considering various natural options for the health care of  families,#888888;"> #888888;">CEO’s and their businesses. There are some truly amazing discoveries of the 21st Century that take us way beyond the obvious 20th Century physical methods of antiviral protection: hand-washing, wearing a mask and allopathic vaccines, especially in light of  flu season and the Swine Flu (Novel H1N1 RNA Virus) Pandemic.

As far as vaccines are concerned, the squalene-containing adjuvants in the various influenza vaccinations, used to boost immunogenicity, dramatically reduce the amount of attenuated live virus needed for production purposes. This translates into more efficient production of desired vaccine quantities. That might not be a good thing for your body even though it gets the job done for manufacturers stock prices.

Are you in a vulnerable risk group for Swine Flu? Get really sick easily? Could you end  hospitalized requiring advanced respiratory life support and intravenous antiviral medications. Don’t want to end up there? Consider these essential natural plant substances, untested by the FDA, but  that could one day become integrated as complementary medicine approaches to wellness.

The following are few notables: vitamin C, supplements, nutraceuticals,  herbs, spices and plants like mushrooms, as well as eucalyptus and tea tree essential oils.

As for high doses of Vitamin C . How high  is high? Linus Pauling of orthomolecular medicine fame said, therapy with megadoses  of multiple grams per day  was claimed to be an effective antiviral.

Some studies suggests the mucolytic,  n-acetylcysteine and glutathione works against viral symptoms in general. A proper diet of fruits might provide adequate levels of glutathione without the risk of upsetting the delicate homeostatic balance and ratio of intracellular to extracellular glutathione caused by adding a supplement.

What actually boosts the immune system? The answer could be sitting in your cupboard or refrigerator: Food is your medicine and foods like apples, broccoli, tea and red onions are rich in the immune flavonoid called quercetin.

• Queen of fruit, mangosteen when combined with essential minerals, vitamins  and aloe raises human ORAC, interlukin, CD cell counts and complement while decreasing the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein.
  
• Cordyceps Mushroom, contains essential sugars, the polysaccharides d-galactose, L-arabinose, D-xylose, L-rhamnose, when intranasally administered decreased virus titers in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and the lung of mice infected with influenza A virus and increased survival rate.
• Your Spice Rack contains bottles of condiments  used in laboratory experiments  to kill many types of viruses such as lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), peppermint (Mentha x piperita), prunella (Prunella vulgaris), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), sage (Salvia officinalis) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris).
• Basil, Ocimum basilicum has undergone successfull antiviral invitro testing of a few it’s essential components, namely apigenin, linalool and ursolic acid against (herpes viruses (HSV), adenoviruses (ADV) and hepatitis B virus) and RNA viruses (coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1) and enterovirus 71 (EV71).
• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis): this herb’s anti-viral activities has direct activity on the respiratory tract, the coughing reflex and the airflow in the nasal tract.
• Thyme (Thymus vulgaris):  both essential oil and the extracted monoterpenes exhibited high anti-HSV-1 activity by direct inactivation of free virus particles.
• Curcumin (diferuloylmethane): a yellow pigment in the spice turmeric (also called curry powder) possess potent antiviral activities against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus.
• Clove (Eugenia caryophyllata), main constituents of the essential oil are phenylpropanoids such as carvacrol, thymol, eugenol and cinnamaldehyde. Topical application relieves pain and promotes healing. The biological activities of clove have been investigated on microorganisms and parasites, and antiviral activity against Herpes simplex and hepatitis C viruses. Clove also has antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal and  antiinflammatory, insect repellent and anaesthetic properties.
• Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis):  this oil was characterized by the presence of beta-ocimene, 1,8-cineole, alpha-pinene, and beta-pinene as the main constituents exerting an interesting activity against SARS-CoV.

I share these non-FDA approved and invitro (in glass petri dishes) non-human spice studies because everybody ought to know the current state of research and potential for future discoveries in the field of integrative medicine for personal preventative health care. No health care claims are made for their use as antiviral treatments. Don’t you agree they are interesting and wish the FDA would study them.

Swine Flu Vaccines To Vary–Majority Using Thimerosal

Curious me took a poll of my 500 plus friends on Facebook and 1600 plus followers on Twitter.

The Poll asked…The Swine Flu vaccination.  Will you get it?

Preliminary Results of my poll.

75% said they will definitely not get the vaccine when it becomes available.

25% said, “Maybe.”

Why is that? Perhaps you have read many online reports of side effects and complications caused by vaccinations.

• Overwhelmed and confused by back-to-school Vaccination recommendations for Hepatitis,Tentanus-Diptheria-Pertussis(Td/Tdap),Varicella,Measles-Mumps-Rubella(MMR),Human papillomavirus(HPV), Meningococcal, Shingles,plus Flu and Swine Flu.
• Concern that the vaccine contains adjuvants may cause chronic inflammation.
• Concern that Preservatives (mercury) may cause brain and immune dysfunction diseases .e.g. Autism .
• Concern that chicken eggs, monkey organs and Live Avian Virus were used to make the vaccine.

What is known about the Swine Flu and the Vaccine.

• The vaccine will become available starting late Sept./Oct.
• Thousands of people have died worldwide from Swine Flu.
• Five manufacturers are producing vaccine for the U.S.: Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis, GSK, Medimmune,CSL and possibly Baxter.
• Formulation will vary by provider. For Novartis, vaccine may be preformulated with adjuvant (oil in water to stimulate the immune system). For CSL, GSK and Sanofi Pasteur, mixing of vaccine and adjuvant at the site of administration will be necessary. Medimmune vaccine will not be adjuvanted.
• The majority of vaccine will be in multi-dose vials with the preservative Thimerosal(mercury). The aim is to have enough vaccine in nasal inhalers and single dose syringes Thimerosal(mercury) preservative free for young children and pregnant women.
• The committee recommended that vaccination efforts initially focus on 5 target groups: vaccination for pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, healthcare and emergency medical services personnel, persons between the ages of 6 months through 24 years, and people ages 25 through 64 years who are at higher risk for novel H1N1 because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.

TBA: Things yet to be determined about the vaccine.

• To be determined if a booster shot taken 21-28 days after the first shot will be necessary.
• To be determined if you should get the combination Swine Flu and regular flu vaccine at the same time.
• To be determined is how significant the Swine Flu resistance to Tamiflu will become.
• To be determined if Guillain-Barre Syndrome will become a significant side effect of the vaccine.  

Influenza and Swine Flu Preparedness  for Novel H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Pandemic.

Take steps to protect yourself from getting ill and spreading germs.

• Develop a family preparedness plan.

• Stock up on supplies.
  

• Stay calm to enhance your immune system.

As for me, I still have two months to decide.

James Tad Geiger MD

[polldaddy poll=1868781]

Will you get the new Swine Flu Vaccine when it becomes available?