Now Updated!
This original post was written before most of my kids got sick. We ended up purchasing even more herbs, etc, when the rubber met the road, and I decided that rather than write a whole new post about the new things, it would be more useful to have them all in this post. I also have some experience using these herbs now and wanted to update the information. I will also write another post with notes on our personal experiences, but have chosen to give some of the general details in this updated post.
Disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor. I'm also not a master herbalist, a homeopathic practitioner, nor do I have any formal training in any of the healing arts. I'm just a mom sharing what I found. This post does not contain medical advice and is for informational purposes only. I'm likely wrong about some things and right about some others- just sharing notes and my opinions. Herbs are powerful and may interact in negative ways with some medications, so I am obligated to recommend asking your professional care provider before taking any herbal remedies.
Introduction
When I learned that my daughter had been exposed to measles, we knew it was likely she would get it and I started researching natural remedies and pulling out all of my natural healing books to see what was offered. I also chatted online with a few very helpful mamas and found new resources and even bought a few books. I printed things out and made a shopping list of everything that looked useful and went to our local store in Vernal, The Chalet. I was pleasantly surprised that they had nearly everything, and certainly all of the most important ingredients. This post will be part of a series where I'll also talk about mitigating common complications, our personal experiences with measles, and some of the benefits of natural immunity. (I probably won't finish this series until early May.) I will try to steer clear of the vaccine debate for the sake of this being informative for actual measles, a childhood illness many of us know very little about and is causing a lot of fear on both sides of the aisle. Both sides are getting sick.
Having said that, I have had a lot of people request that I do talk about the vaccine, and I will do a seperate post in the series about why we chose not to vaccinate our own kids. There are other alternatives like homeoprophalaxis if you want to avoid getting sick. We have no regrets with our health choices, especially now that our children have lifelong natural immunity. Even though measles was challenging, I feel that I was able to manage the measles, but I wouldn't be able to manage a vaccine injury. There are serious ethical issues with the MMR vaccine as well, which would be enough alone to solidify our choice, even if the vaccine worked perfectly every time and there were no risks of complications.
Be the Rain Forest
Before I get into the herbs and supplements, there are two important things about measles I want to highlight that kept getting brought up. First- FEED THE FEVER. Don't suppress it. Fever-suppressing pills and things like cold baths can be very dangerous, especially during measles. Measles itself is relatively benign, it's the complications that can be scary. Work with your body, not against it. A fever is your body's way of building an environment to fight the virus.
Edit to add: The average fever temperature for the measles is 103.5. Some of my kids got into the upper 104s, but I didn't find it alarming in their case because they were sweating well and they were lucid. The exception was our toddler, who had struggled with drinking enough. His fever was different and we did take action to bring his fever down, and it was good that we did. More on his story later.
Stay hydrated! Dr. Christopher emphasizes that moisture during a fever means life. Both a rain forest and a desert can become very hot. However, one will thrive, beaming with life, while the other suffers, all due to one key difference- water. I have been telling the kids to be a rain forest.
That's right. The most important thing you can do to help your body during any illness is to stay hydrated. For young children, this can mean natural fruit juices if they won't touch water or herbal teas. Staying hydrated at any time is important, but during serious illnesses, the stakes are much higher. One thing I did to encourage them to drink was buy my toddler some fun sippy cups. For the older kids, I got colored silicone mason jar lids with straw holes, and bought some metal straws. They each have their own color, and they were delighted with these larger drinking receptacles that they can put their own batches of tea in. I've been making special teas, and they have liked them, but they also have their favorites and I told them to drink whatever they want so long as they're drinking enough. My kids also had Vitamin C drinks and electrolytes. Trace Minerals from the Great Salt Lake are my favorite. With all the sweating they'll be doing, electrolytes are an important consideration. Sometimes they just want water, and that's great! Just don't be the desert.
I found a very interesting publication from 1872 by Hiram Corson, who makes an appeal to doctors and families to give children cold water when they have the measles. There were many parents who were afraid to give them cold water, despite desperate pleas, parched mouths, and even hot summer days, because they had been told that cold water could be dangerous during a fever. Instead they offered hot and warm teas, often sheep dung tea (!!!!) which was prepared by drying sheep dung, baking it, and then seeping it. It was common in the country and even in the cities. Corson saw many cases of the measles and pleaded with people to hydrate their kids. Cases rapidly improved when children were allowed to drink freely, but conversely, many children died because they were not allowed to. Imagine thinking dung tea was good for your child, but cold water was dangerous! How heartbreaking. Measles was indeed dangerous in a time when it was widely mismanaged, there were many poor people with malnourished kids, and access to clean water and proper sanitation were big issues of the day. Deaths saw a huge free-fall in the 1900s in Europe and the United States. Education about proper hydration during illness was one of the things that turned high fatality rates around.
Measles with a Cleanse
This section has been heavily edited from my original post because I have to admit that I was initially confused when I read that measles comes with a cleanse of the body. I also knew that it is a virus and has been observed extensively under a microscope. I trusted the herbalists who had extensive successful experience treating children with measles, but I also knew that measles was far more complicated than nature initiating a cleanse. In the end, our experience to support the idea that a massive cleanse takes place during measles was supported by several individuals in our family, manifesting itself in different ways that would seem rather unusual but for this universal explanation we kept coming back to.
There is this explanation from the book "School of Natural Healing" by Dr. Christopher. On page 36:
"Cause: Measles is evidence that the body is loaded with toxic poison and is trying to expel it with the assistance of nature. Microorganisms are brought into activity by nature as the cleansing scavengers."
Also on page 93 of Herbal Home Health Care by the same author:
"Causes
According to Dr. Kloss, measles are merely the system's attempt to cleanse itself of impurities."
We treated measles like it was a cleanse with our kids, and it was very effective. The way we understand measles now is that one of the things that measles does is it causes the body to shed these toxins, and then expel them at the same time that the defeated virus is cleaned up. It makes sense when you look at all of the things that come with measles. Sometimes there's diarrhea and vomiting. There's extensive sweating and the rash. There's often major respiratory issues. Two of our kids reported a metallic taste in their mouth, which happens when the body is detoxing heavy metals. Often after people recover from the initial measles, there are issues with pneumonia or ear infections.
Our theory is that a lot of these issues come from the body needing to rid itself of all the toxins released in the body. In my own case, I initially got the measles, including a few koplik spots and sensitive eyes, which was followed by a prolonged period of unwellness which lasted even after I was tested for measles with a negative result. This was quite the mystery to us, but our theory is that the vaccines I received as a kid worked as intended, but with unintended consequences. I did start to get measles, but the antibodies I had stopped it before it could develop fully, so I never got the rash. The measles was gone, but before it was defeated, it was strong enough that it caused my body to dump toxins long dormant into my bloodstream. They didn't get flushed out the normal way they would have with measles, so my body was left to deal with them in other ways.
Our own experience with measles, and even a conversation with an herbalist really helped me understand this process better. The cleanse and the virus aren't mutually exclusive. The following is my own musings, not backed by any book or scientific data. Measles is a virus, yes. Full stop. I believe that the reason young children in particular struggle with measles is because it takes a lot of energy to produce a high fever and to hold it steady while the virus is defeated. If measles were only a sign that the body needing a cleanse, tiny children would have the easiest time with measles because they have the least amount of toxins built up in the body. Twice, when our children have had chicken pox through our family, the youngest children had it the easiest. With measles however, our toddler struggled the most. (Although, they might have had a mild case because I have natural immunity to chicken pox and they were still breastfeeding. I don't have natural immunity to measles.)
Having said that, there are anecdotal stories of very healthy children who do not come down with childhood illnesses at all, even when they have been fully and often exposed. Why do some children seem immune to these illnesses, especially when the thing setting them apart from their playmates is a very healthy diet and a clean home environment? Conversely, why do those who have been exposed to more toxins exhibit unusual symptoms after the initial measles has past? In exploring old medicinal texts, I often read about "something left after the measles."
The body's hardest work happens during the incubation period, where it learns to fight and beat the virus. Then the cleanse begins. The visual signs of the rash comes later, and the more spotted the child, the better the cleanse. Proper measles will show spots from head to toe, and this is beautiful- this is a sign that the body has won, and the cleanse is completing. Helping the body to sweat with hot baths and herbs like yarrow helps.
While these complications are perhaps the greatest danger of measles, they can also be the greatest blessing. I personally believe, not without evidence, that conquering measles builds a robust immune system which is now better able to reject and dispel toxins and foreign waste. This will bless children who have had it their entire lives. This will be the subject of another blog post I'll do in this series.
Enemas, or Clysters
There is another way the body rids itself of toxins that is often overlooked, and I've already highlighted it with the video I shared. Three different natural remedy sources I found talked about not only getting an enema as possible treatment, but about the IMPORTANCE of using an enema. I'm NOT talking about the Fleet enemas you can buy at Wal-mart that use saline- those can dehydrate you and are pretty worthless. We had to buy an enema bottle (along with extra nozzles so everyone can have their own, because otherwise, eww). I remembered this video Cara made that I had seen a few years ago, and re-watching helped to demystify the process.
And it isn't half as bad as it looks. In fact, they are so wonderful that they can become addicting, which isn't healthy for long term use because the muscles involved become weak if they don't have to work, and it treats the symptom instead of addressing other problems such as diet. But we're not talking about long term bowel apathy here. We're talking about the body's immediate and very important need to eliminate toxins. During measles, this happens with flem, the quintessential rash, and the bowels. We got the enema bag for $20 off Amazon, and spent another $10 for a bunch of extra tips since we have a big family. The enema kit came with 5. So worth it. So worth it.
Again, I'm not giving medical advice, only sharing what worked for us. One consideration when giving an herbal enema is how it can deplete the body of electrolytes and probiotics, so if they are given, attention to their balance should be given afterwards.
Dr Christopher recommends a tea enema made with a ratio of 1 quart of water to 4 tablespoons of either catnip, sage, or red raspberry leaf. In another section of the book where he addresses bronchitis, he says that when the body is constipated, the body is desperate to rid itself of toxins that get backed up in places like the lungs. Relieving constipation is so important during an illness. Furthermore, Dr. Christopher mentioned that a catnip tea enema can quickly and safely bring down a fever.
Dr. Samual Thomson, famous herbalist from the 19th century, and father of a movement called "Thomsonian medicine" which was very popular in certain groups of people such as the Shakers and the Mormons. Before quoting, I wish to call attention to the word "injection" as used by herbalists. This essentially means giving the body fluids via syringe, either by mouth, nose, ears, or anus. Injections were not given by needle until more recently, and in time, we came to understand injections as something exclusively done by needle. In Dr. Christopher's books, he stresses the importance of calling it an "herbal injection" in order to avoid confusion. However, as I searched this term on the internet, I found only articles written about a Chinese practice of injecting tiny amounts of herbs under the skin with a needle in the spirit of accupuncture. I think the best term for today's use is "herbal enema".
From Dr. Thomson's book "New Guide to Health; or Botanic Family Physician", 1934 edition, pages 80-81;
"This manner of administering medicine is of the greatest importance to the sick; it will frequently give relief when all other applications fail. It is supposed that the use of them is of great antiquity; whether this be true or not, the using them to relieve the sick, was certainly a very valuable discovery; and no doubt thousands of lives have been saved by it. The doctors have long been in the practice of directing injections to be given to their patients, but they seem to have no other object in administering them, than to cause a movement in the bowels; therefore it was immaterial what they were made of…
"Whatever is good to cure disease if taken into the stomach, is likewise good for the same purpose if given by injection, as the grand object is to warm the bowels, and remove the canker. In all casese of dysentrery, cholic, piles and other complaints where the bowels are badly affected, injections should never be dispensed with. They are perfectly safe in all cases, and better that they be used ten times when not needed, than once neglected when they are. In many violent cases, particularly where there is danger of mortification, patients may be relieved by administering medicine in this way, when there would be no chance in any other. I do, therefore, most seriously advise that these considerations be always borne in mind; and that this important way of giving relief, be never neglected where there is any chance for it to do good.”
Supplements for Measles
I wasn't trying to save money, and we actually spent $500 on supplements. This may have been overkill, but we've got a big family I don't expect each kids experience to be identical. I wanted to be prepared for everything. For some of the herbs, I didn't care what form I got them in and purchased based on availability. You don't have to go all out like I did! We've had such great results though, that I'm very glad that I did. (Edit: In the end we spent closer to $1,000 and didn't feel like it was overkill, we used all of it and went back for other things. Now we have lots of leftover herbs, a healthy collection of homeopathics, and a growing interest in developing our own home apothecary. I don't think it was all necessary, but it absolutely was beneficial. And far cheaper than allopathic medicine would have been!) See other posts in this series for more information on these supplements and how we used them.
If there is any takeaway from this post, it is far simpler than running out and buying a ton of supplements:
- Feed the fever, don't fight it.
- Cleanse the body and stay hydrated.
- Get plenty of rest.
- Boost Vitamin A- this is the most important supplement for measles.
Vitamin A
This is the big one. When I took my daughter to get tested for measles, the doctor told us that there isn't a treatment for measles, except for maybe a Vitamin A supplement. There are PLENTY of folk remedies and treatments for measles, the mainstream just doesn't acknowledge them! Which is unfortunate, because we can learn so much from those who came before us and actually had a lot of experience dealing with the measles. Many pediatricians today have never even seen it.
Regardless, Vitamin A is so important for measles. This infection depletes the natural stores, and often needs more besides. Many of my holistic friends are recommending eating lots of foods rich in vitamin A, such as liver, yams, and carrots. This is very beneficial for our health anyway, but especially during measles. I don't like liver and avoid it (gives cheesy smile to my own detriment). But we have been juicing a lot of carrots lately- tastes great with apples. The extra quantities of vitamin A that are needed to really be useful during measles are very hard to get from diet alone, so I ordered supplements. The suggestion I read is to take it as soon as symptoms manifest, though there's some inconsistency on the internet.
Vitamin Supplements
Christopher's Herbal Calcium- I read that detoxing the bloodstream uses a lot of calcium, so the kids have been taking this, even the ones who aren't sick yet.
Christopher's Lower Bowel- This formula is very effective for cleansing the bowels. We take it any time we're constipated, and I tell people it's so effective, they shouldn't be taking it the day before they've got a big day because they'll want to be able to give time to the toilet.
Standard Process's "Ferrofood"- This is one I was already taking as a nursing mother- great for pregnancy too. It "promotes normal blood production". I am having all of the kids take it now too.
Diet and other considerations
It is common for people to loose their appetite during measles. This is normal when the body is focusing on fighting a virus- energy is used that end instead of digestion. Allow them to go without food if they wish, but keep them hydrated. Fresh fruit and veggetable juices are a good diet. A favorite from Dr Christopher is carrot, celery, and parsley to taste. We like to add apples- the kids more readily eat it, and since apples are so juicy, it helps us make the quantities our large family can enjoy. Measles is also a time to cut back on sugary foods and heavy foods like cheese that will slow digestion.
Aromatherapy- if you distill oils in the air, eucalyptus is an excellent one that I saw come up in a few places- it helps the immune system. Other infusions from various essential oil companies designed to help the immune system are great considerations.
We allow our home to get extra warm during the time our children have fevers to help their bodies not have to work so hard, and to help with chills. Heat packs were given when requested.
The eyes are tired during the acute part of measles, so we darkened the room. We've also cut way back on screen time, in spite of protests. Now is the time for activites that don't fatigue the eyes, even when they are feeling relatively well. The eyes likely won't be itchy, but will feel tired and heavy.
If they're tired, let them sleep. They need plenty of rest. The herbal supplements are helpful and all that, but we need to remember that the bulk of the work is being done by the amazing human body and its incredible immune system. Let the body take the driver's seat.
For myself, we have switched to a lax homeschooling schedule and I've been reading a fun book for myself, which has really helped with the stress. I've needed the escape- I've done plenty of obsessive research, and this has helped and been my switch-off. I'd like to thank my brother and sister-in-law for the book "A Discovery of Witches". The kids have been playing a lot of board games, which is educational in its own right. They've also been crafting, playing the piano and other musical instruments, pulling out forgotten science kits, and playing with toys. It's amazing what kids will do with free time and the computers off and a break from heavier reading.