My poor little Asha was so sick last week, poor thing had croup and was barking (coughing) like a seal, it was terrible. Honestly this blog title doesn’t lie, it was scary – Friday night around midnight (technically Saturday), she was choking for air and vomiting all over herself and getting into a panic because she was trying so hard to catch her breath… poor darling.
As the days rolled on, the virus manifested itself into lethargy, more vomiting (from coughing so hard), paleness, no appetite, glassy eyed, sleeping as much as she could before waking from coughing. Scary stuff.
Thankfully by Monday afternoon she started to turn around and came back to her usual self, however still a cough. Since Asha had not eaten much for almost 3 days, I made her a homemade pizza – her favorite (pumpkin, spinach, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, cheese – yum!!) and she devoured it! I was giving thanks and was thrilled to clean up that massive mess that night, I missed the mess 🙂
mmmm pizza!
Since this was her first real sickness (she had a congested head at 6 months of age, but that is about all) and my god was it a bad one. And then there comes the issues of how to deal with it, what to give her, etc.
I am really against any narcotic for my daughter and myself as well – I worked with her symptoms and gave homeopathics, lots of steam, eucalyptus oil on her feet, lots of breastfeeding and reminded myself constantly that the human body is quite special in its healing abilities.
Sadly the time the body needs to best heal itself is ignored and instead we are pumping it full of ‘stuff’ which ultimately covers up the symptoms temporarily and does not go to the source – just masks the nasty bits. I am not knocking anyone for what they do, (however, it reads like that I am sure) I am just saddened by how we have lost so much faith in our bodies and the incredible powers they hold…
Having said that on Saturday evening I gave Asha her very first dose of Panadol (Tylenol), well half dose as I was so scared of how she would react. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place with the decision, my little girl was in excruciating pain and I could not tell where it was coming from (could have been a headache from coughing, a sore throat, ribs/chest…). I had to put my pride aside and made an informed decision to give her the medicine, even knowing it was not going to make her better, rather help her get the rest she so desperately needed. I however, did not sleep! I didn’t take my eyes off of her… I gave her the medicine for the pain she was in, not for fever – fever gets a really bad wrap! Read this article (thanks Danielle!) – some really good info here about the fever and what is really going on with the body… healing & fighting!
I do not regret my decision, it was informed and at that moment the best for my daughter. But the next morning, I put that bottle in the bottom of my cupboard – far away!
I am sure there may be those that cruise past my blog and think, what the hell is the big deal with giving a kid Tylenol – it is a BIG deal! I am thankful we have this stuff in cases of emergency, but we are a pill-popping nation and it is time we started letting our bodies do the work they were meant to do, not suppress it! Alright I am finished… for now.
Best of Health to all!
Jenn 🙂
Abundance Awaits 