Natural remedies (and some more IgA info)

The reason I'm posting this is because I've noticed a number of people stopping by this site using "IgA deficient" or "immune deficiency" as search terms. So, I wanted to share a couple of naturopathic, homeopathic, and regular ol' home remedies that helped Cora weather this cold (and get through an inner ear infection without antibiotics). It's the kind of information I was searching for when Cora was diagnosed. This is in NO WAY intended to be advice that you should follow over and above the recommendations of your caring pediatrician, but I have enjoyed Cora's new doctor so much because he's been a practicing MD for over 30 years and gets rave reviews from all his patients and he and his colleagues at this office are also knowledgeable about natural modalities.

(Note: If you're reading this post and you or your child has IgA deficiency, you might be interested in reading this entry as well.)

One thing worth noting is that Cora's former doctor explained that we should start treating an infection much more quickly and aggressively due to her IgA deficiency--using higher spectrum antibiotics quickly and for longer periods of time, if necessary. I do understand this point of view. However, Cora's new doctor pointed out that, while he absolutely prescribes antibiotics when necessary, antibiotics can lower IgA. Which makes sense, because IgA lives on mucosa sites. Antibiotics can lower healthy antibody levels (like IgA) along with other healthy flora that can help a body fight infection. This is one reason why people are more susceptible to infection in the week(s) directly following a course of antibiotics.

So, without a lot of further ado, here are a few of the things that Cora's new doctor and his colleagues recommended. Again, I want to make it clear that I'm not saying these products will necessarily help you or your children--but if they do, wonderful!

The first two items are daily doses for Cora. Honestly, I don't think there's any reason why any healthy kid couldn't benefit from these, simply to help augment their general nutrition intake, or to help round out any deficiencies in their diet:

*Liquid kid's multivitamin (I use Schiff because it contains iron, but Cora likes ChildLife better--no iron, no yucky metal taste). I found this at Whole Foods.

*Kid's acidophilous. We use Primadophilus Children by Nature's Way, which we found at Whole Foods. Cora's doctor gave me a list of acidophilous products that have been proven to contain the levels of bifidobacteria and lacobacilli that can populate the system with healthy flora, particularly those lost during infection or during antibiotic treatment. A lot of products lose their potency once they hit the shelves; supposedly this product doesn't.

These items may have helped clear Cora's ear infection:

*Honey Gardens Apitherapy Honey Organic Elderberry Syrup, with Propolis (www.honeygardens.com). I also found this at Whole Foods. Elderberry and Propolis are considered powerful anti-viral supplements. The honey in this mixture is locally sourced and organic. We gave her a teaspoon of this every hour the first day of her infection, and a teaspoon every 1-3 hours the second and third days of her infection.

*Saline drops. We used generic stuff from Safeway, but there's probably better stuff out there. 2-3 drops in each side of the nose as many times a day as necessary to help clear out the sinuses. (We use a kid's safety syringe to suck out the junk.) This is Cora's least favorite therapy, but the saline solution helps clear sinus infections--which, in turn, drain into kids' immature eustachian tubes, causing a build-up of bacteria that leads to an ear infection. I remember going to my doctor when I had a sinus infection and instead of giving me antibiotics, he told me to snort salt water three times a day for three days. It sucked, but it worked.

*Ear Oil from The Herbalist (www.theherbalist.com). CAUTION: Seek the advice of a pediatrician prior to putting anything in your child's ear. Don't put anything in your child's ear if liquid or pus is draining out of her ear. If using ear oil, test the temperature on your wrist before administering it; it can get warm quite quickly, and can become way too hot to put in someone's ear. This tincture contains mullein flower, St. John's Wort flower, and organically grown calendula flower with garlic essential oil in a base of olive oil. Sound stinky? It is. But as completely crazy at it sounds, the combination of garlic (a powerful antiseptic) and warm oil can sometimes help clear (and prevent) an ear infection. I just set the bottle in a cup of warm water before putting a few drops of the oil in her ears, then place a portion of a clean cotton ball in each ear to help absorb excess oil and protect her ears from drafts. For nap and bedtime, I put her in bed with her bad ear facing up, allowing the oil to drain more effectively into her ear.

*Cora also had a mild viral form of pink eye. We treated it with Similasan Pink Eye Relief (www.similasanUSA.com), a homeopathic remedy that helps alleviate the symptoms of pink eye and deliver relief. I also found this at Whole Foods. It totally worked for her. I think I gave it to her about 4 times a day for the first two days, then three times a day the 3rd and 4th days, and now just at night.

These techniques helped ease her pain without Tylenol or Motrin:

*Warm, dry ear compresses. I used one of Brian's clean athletic socks and filled it with rice, then zapped it in the microwave for about 45-60 seconds. I placed this on her ear after adding the ear oil, then read her a book or nursed her. I also put it on her ear while she was sleeping.

*Ear massage. This is one of the most simple things to do, and aside from compresses, is perhaps the one therapy that makes the most sense physically. I massaged gently around her ear, pressing in and down along her outer cheek, and in and down behind her ear. (For a cheesy how-to video, check this out.)

Lastly, we kept Cora off sugar and fed her mainly warm foods and liquids, like chicken soup and chamomile tea.

For more detailed information on ear infections, here's a link to Dr. Sears's perspectives.

Hopefully some of this information is useful. If you have any other ideas you'd like to share, please do so.

The life of a child

So, Cora has an ear infection. She's miserable and I feel horrible for her. We're going to wait 48 hrs to see if it clears on its own. Right now she's asleep with ear oil in her ears and a warm compress on her bad ear. I feel discouraged and anxious about the future, but I have decided that she will be one of the strongest, most resilient little people because of her IgA deficiency. She'll develop a strong immune system and a great sense of humor. And she'll weather everything, even this nasty little thing going around called a pandemic.

I was in the doctor's office and this quote, tucked in a corner on a handmade plaque, caught my eye. I guess I'm feeling a bit emotional because it brought a few tears to my eyes:

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."

If I could tell you how much I think about Cora's life, I would. But I can't. Being her mom is the most humbling experience I've ever encountered.

Cooking Green

Cora has been healthy for three weeks. Her current spirited vitality has brushed away the cobwebs cast over our lives when we learned about her IgA deficiency. I like to imagine it's because she's been fixed, that the problem doesn't exist and the tests were wrong.

Regardless, I think we're out of the woods for awhile and it feels great.

I feel like myself again. For one thing, we've slept a lot more these past few weeks. Rather than thinking about sniffles and coughs and diarrhea (and tending to such ailments several times a night), I am thinking again about writing, and food, and fun things to do with a toddler during a rainy spring season in Seattle--more difficult to do than one might imagine considering that we've sworn off indoor play areas. No more public petri dishes like the Zoomazium or the Children's Museum or kid-friendly coffee shops filled with cute but dingy toys handed from one hand and mouth to another.

That is one big frustration of late: I never, ever wanted to be one of those moms that cleans things all the time, and now I carry hand sanitizer and wipes wherever I go.

I am also much more focused on food now than I ever thought possible. As a vegan macrobiotic, homeschooled child who grew up on an island alfalfa sprout farm while listening to my mom talk incessantly about yin and yang, and as a gluten-free person since the age of 12, I feel steeped in food lore to the point of ridiculousness. But there is always more to learn, and I am enjoying the independent process of discovery--searching food blogs, thumbing through books, seeking recommendations from friends, and tinkering around in our kitchen whenever Cora will allow.

My sister recently told me that I am a better cook now that I am a mom. She also told me, years ago, that I am a better person when I am with Brian.

I've always teased my sister that she has a way with words. She used to tell me that, no offense, but my hair really looked quite awful. Or a few months ago on our way to a therapeutic spa day together, she confided in serious tones that my streak of gray hair aged me at least 10 years and advised me to go to a professional to get it fixed.

Of course the cooking reference was a compliment, but I went to bed grumbling; why was it that just because I talk more about food these days I'm a better cook than I once was...because I was pretty okay before, wasn't I? Think of the tortellini salads, for goodness sake!

(Your guess is as good as mine as to why on earth I thought of tortellini salads. Was that really one of my most creative ventures? Surely not. I finally conjured up my years of invested shopping and cooking--chopping a million different ingredients into gigantic salads, grilling salmon and potatoes, rolling homemade sushi, baking baguettes and serving them hot with melted brie and sauteed mushrooms, frying kale in sesame oil and soy sauce.)

But as with many of the things my sister says, the meaning lingers and I have to pause and consider. Has my hair ever really resembled a little dog atop my head? (She really did say that once.) Before she convinced me to get layers, is it possible that I did, in fact, look like a lampshade and a pair of legs wandering down the street? (She actually said that, too.) Does the grey really age me beyond an age I am comfortable representing in my early thirties?

I can agree that I have had a few more bad hair days than the average lady. And as far as being a better person because of Brian, I have to agree. One thing I know for sure is that it is useful to feel so much love, and to feel so loved. It feeds a nice cycle of give and take, making me more likely to smile magnanimously at the grocery clerk than if I were stuck in my head thinking about my latest thwarted attempt at something.

I have to admit that my sister has done the sisterly duty of helping me look a little bit more presentable--no more lampshade 'do, no more little dogs, no more college fare of parmesan cheese quesadillas heated up in the microwave.

So maybe she's right; I can certainly credit my daughter for being a more conscious cook. But am I a better cook because of that?

Several meals I made this week would pretty much convince anyone I was clearly on crack if I thought I was versed in the art of culinary adventures.

After having Cora, I suppose I did have a bit of a coming-out party about my love of food, and I certainly read more recipes these days than I ever have. Before Cora, I felt uncomfortable trumpeting my interest in the food-health connection. Now, because there is a small person's health at stake, I seem to feel more invested in discussing what I am sure is an intrinsic link. Still, I'm not really a better cook, I'm just more aware of food in general. I think about it differently, and I am more focused on whether it's useful--good for our bodies, good for our planet, good for Cora's future.

And lately, I have become far more interested in the iron and vitamin B content of foods than ever before. But I also have to be conscious of how to serve foods in such a way as to convince Cora to love them. And, of course, I want the food to taste good, too.

For example, I want her to eat more green things. Green vegetables are high in vitamin C, iron, B vitamins, and the simple component of chlorophyll, which helps speed oxygen through the bloodstream. She loves broccoli and green beans, and she likes peas because they are so fun to pick up and pop into her mouth. We've tried kale and nori seaweed with some success. Other green stuff? Not so much.

So, what I guess I'm trying to say, as I sit here writing after trying to entice Cora to eat a kale and broccoli grilled cheese sandwich with omega 3 mayonnaise (ha, not a success), is that I plan to adventure into the world of green food a great deal in the coming weeks. And I can't guarantee it'll be a delicious journey, but I'm hopeful that at least it will be an educational one.

And I'll have to convince my sister to come over for dinner so I can try out some of my new wares on her exacting taste. I know she'll let me know what she thinks. :)

IgA and ABCs

As much as I've missed writing here, I've been feeling lost about where to begin.

I'll start with the fact that Cora's test results came back over a week ago. She was diagnosed with an immunodeficiency called Selective IgA Deficiency. According to our doctor, about 1 in 700 people have immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency, making it the most common immunodeficiency. Her tests weren't able to detect IgA, the antibody produced by B cells to ward off infection at mucousal sites throughout the body. Basically it means that Cora's nose, eyes, ears, throat, GI and urogenital systems are more susceptible to disease than in people with normal levels of IgA. IgA plays an important role in fighting infection because it is the first antibody to "rise to the occasion" and start battling an invader. It reaches peak levels before IgM and IgG (blood components) take over. Cora's IgG and IgM counts appear to be normal.

(Note: If you're reading this entry, you might be interested in reading this post as well.)

Research shows that 25-50% of IgA deficient people develop an autoimmune disorder (I've read 40% as the average in other sources). Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other immune disorders seem to be more common in IgA deficient people over time. They are also more susceptible to pneumonia and HIV, can't receive live viral immunizations because they could actually contract the disease, might not produce appropriate antibodies to "take" a vaccination properly, and are susceptible to anaphylactic death from blood transfusions due to a violent reaction to IgA in donor blood. (If necessary, they are often able to receive "cleaned" blood from which IgA has been removed.) Although many people spend most of their lives asymptomatic, they generally just get a lot more runny noses, colds, sinus infections, ear infections, etc., than the common person. Currently, there is no treatment for this deficiency. Antibiotics have been shown to reduce IgA levels.

Concurrent with Cora's test results, we were pretty affected by the H1N1 flu headlines during its initial outbreak. Some people have commented that they didn't pay any attention to the news because it just seemed like a bunch of hype about the typical flu, but I think that if they had read any of the articles they might have felt differently. Avian flu, which is one of the viruses in this strain, has a 60% mortality rate, and the WHO currently predicts that if the H1N1 virus continues to mutate, we might see two billion people get sick, and a number of them die.

These scary statistics unravelled me for a few days. I worried intensely about Cora on several levels; not just about her health, but about her development and childhood happiness, too. It doesn't seem fair to be relegated to a life of careful hand washing and hand sanitizer, to a stream of colds and flus or missed school days, sled days, or sunny adventures.

After a tense week of trying to hold myself together, I took a cue from my daughter: I had a good, long cry. I felt so much better afterward. After it's all out there, it's easier to turn to a more reasonable perspective, to see how tiny our diagnosis is in comparison to what it could have been.

The good news is that Cora is only 16 months old, and the immune system isn't fully developed until age 2, which means there's a chance her body will still develop IgA. Every night as we put Cora to bed, we imagine her whole body lit up with B cells busily creating IgA. We are hoping that she will have a dramatic turnaround and will produce IgA in beautiful amounts in time to retest her after her 2nd birthday.

(If you'd like to imagine Cora's immune system totally intact, feel free to send your wonderfully positive thoughts her way.)

This news has left me frankly bewildered about a few things. I was not familiar with the components of an immune system until I began researching it and talking with Cora's doctor. One major question is why don't doctors regularly test immune system components at an earlier age? If Cora can't tolerate a live vaccine, then why is every child instructed to have the MMR vaccine at 12 months? Or the live polio virus at an even younger age? Or even the live flu vaccine? Why is it OK to proceed with one set protocol when all children are not created equal? I am thankful that we took a slower approach to vaccinations and weren't planning to vaccinate with MMR until 5 years or even older, and chose not to immunize against polio yet, but it's not a universally-accepted approach. Even though vaccinations in general have certainly gained a lot more attention in the past few years, it's a lot easier to feel fine about the whole thing if your kid gets through their vaccinations without any issues, but if you take a good hard look at the possible complications, the vaccine injury hotline, and the potential that your child might have an immune disorder (or, according to some sources, might develop one after an immunization), it starts to feel very clearly like something that should generally be approached with more caution that it currently is.

Update: The US Dept of Health and Human Services's Vaccine Injury Table lists polio and measles infection due to administration of certain vaccinations to an immune-compromised person. See 5B and 6A and 6B. I asked Cora's former doctor to look into the effects of MMR on an immune-compromised (in this case, IgA deficient) child. She followed up with a top immunologist at Seattle Children's Hospital who said that while there isn't any data to show that an IgA deficient person shouldn't receive the MMR vaccine, he said to 'proceed with great caution'. I said to Cora's doctor, "So don't get it." She responded, "right."

I don't care if it's costly, or even unnecessary to test 699 kids, it's the 700th one that I worry about. (Some sources say IgA deficiency is as common as 1 in every 400, making it even more alarming to consider the number of kids who shouldn't receive a live vaccine.)

I am a huge proponent of public health initiatives that protect vulnerable populations, reduce deadly diseases, and result in a healthier population over time. I understand the herd mentality of vaccinations, and in general I believe in their stated benefits. What I have a hard time with is learning about the fact that my child can't tolerate live vaccines, or viral vaccines very well in general, after the age when she normally would have received such an injection. We got lucky. I feel that there is a lot more study and thought that should go into the administration of vaccinations. Who should receive them? Who shouldn't?

How on earth do parents deal with a diagnosis of leukemia? Brain cancer? AIDS? It must feel as if the earth comes to a complete halt, that you are fighting through fog, that all you want to do is run to the highest mountain and hide your child away in a meadow feeding her nothing but the purest air and water and whole foods while searching for the absolute best medical care in the world. I send those parents my heart.

Cora is doing really well, she hasn't been sick for over two weeks and she runs (never walks) full-tilt through the hallways, pitter-pattering her way laughingly through her days. She is obsessed with a big ABC book that we read everyday, and she points to labels now and says "ABCs" in recognition of the words there. She's back to her animated, lively little self.

The summer is ahead of us. We can't wait. We're looking forward to beach combing, swimming in outdoor saltwater pools, having picnics, going hiking, running through the sprinkler, and exploring other classic summer joys.