Chickenpox Parties & A Pox On My House

Chickenpox parties and, “Can I watch TV now?”

We brought our kids to a chickenpox party.

This is how it works: someone’s child has chickenpox and they invite people to bring their kids. So, off we went with our children, Seth, then 11, and Shayna, then 7, to the party.

Why would we do such a thing? For a very good reason. The children get chickenpox now, at an age when they are supposed to get it, instead of when they’re older, when chickenpox can be much more uncomfortable and far more dangerous.

We dropped off the children at the party house and they had a great time. Meanwhile some of us adults went out to a nice restaurant, played together and had a great time too, at least until the check arrived.

For the next couple of days Shayna was asking, “When am I getting tdhe chickens?”

I didn’t know. The first time we tried this I took the kids to visit with a family whose kids had just gotten through chickenpox and were covered with scabs but, sadly, were no longer infectious. By the way this family lived across the street from Merck & Co. (pharmaceuticals) and hated vaccines. But I digress.

“What if we give you the pajamas the kids wore when they had it?” they asked.

“We’ll try it,” I said. They gave me the bed clothes in plastic bags.

In the car, Seth and Shayna opened the bags (I made sure to keep the windows closed) and engaged in typical behavior – they started hitting each other with the pajamas. All in the interest of health. But it didn’t work. No chickens appeared.

A few days after the party, she got a “chicken.”

The first night she was a little itchy and showed us a small, reddish, slightly raised spot behind her shoulder. The next morning, she showed us a couple more. “Not much of a problem,” I thought.

The next day a few more appeared here and there. She was in pretty good spirits. A little fever, and more pox showed up on her chest and back. I called a friend who has six children and is also a chiropractor and asked how their family handled it. “My daughter had maybe a few pox marks. It was nothing for her,” she said.

“This’ll be a breeze,” I thought.

Then came the 3rd day.

Shayna’s trunk was covered and then it spread to her arms and legs and scalp. But the pox can also surface on mucous membranes and be in your mouth and some other private places that can be very uncomfortable. It did. Shayna was not happy; she was miserable and whiny. This was one unhappy girl. Her parents weren’t too thrilled either.

The homeopathic remedies people suggested seemed to help, as did the oatmeal baths.

I told Shayna that kids often have growth spurts after they’ve been through a childhood disease.

It’s true. Childhood diseases challenge and strengthen the neuroimmune system, releasing toxins they absorbed in the womb. Studies show that the more infectious diseases and fevers a child has, the healthier they are as an adult – including lower risk of cancer and heart disease.

That may be the reason why it’s not unusual for parents to report physical and psychological developmental leaps after a bout of measles, mumps, chickenpox, etc. That’s why in India measles is referred to as the “visitation of a goddess.”

“I’m having a growth spurt, Daddy,” she announced later that day. “Look, my arm is already longer.”

By the next day, she was still miserable but getting a little better. Not all the pox formed little blisters with pus. Those coming in later just appeared as reddish blotches and slowly disappeared. It can be pretty dramatic at times and if I didn’t have experienced people in my circle who knew about how benign chickenpox is, I would have been scared.

That reminds me of one of Robert Mendelsohn, MD’s famous sayings, “One grandmother is worth two pediatricians.”

Dr. Mendelsohn was a pediatrician whose books on medicine and health should be read by all parents. Sadly, my grandmothers are no longer with us and neither 

is Dr. Mendelsohn. I did take advice from his book, How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, and that of others with more experience than me. As a result, Shayna will be healthier the rest of her life because she had the chickenpox naturally.

Apart from feeling lousy, chickenpox is a mild disease; it’s part of growing up. No big deal. The chances of a child actually dying from chickenpox are about the same as someone winning the lottery. A review of studies of some children who died during chickenpox revealed it wasn’t the chickenpox they died from, but the medical suppressive therapies they were prescribed: fever reducers, antibiotics, steroids and other drugs that can turn a benign condition into a fatal complication.

I don’t remember ever getting the mumps or German measles as a kid. Who knows, maybe one day when I had a fever and stayed home from school were those, or other named conditions. But I do remember having chickenpox and measles. With my height, I don’t know if it caused any growth spurt. Maybe I need to get sick again?

The chickenpox vaccine

However, those benefits don’t occur when children are vaccinated. Childhood vaccinations bypass the nasopharynx (nose and throat) and other mucous membranes that help combat and remove germs and toxins so natural immunity is not developed. The viri, bacteria, DNA, adjuvants, preservatives, antibiotics and other chemicals in shots are injected deep into the body where they are not easily, if ever, externalized, and may have access to all the internal organs.

But today letting your child get sick naturally, with permanent immunity and all its benefits, has become a political and philosophical statement.

The science is not settled – it is unknown. Doctors don’t know what they are doing when they give a vaccine. What happens to the foreign proteins and various chemicals that are injected into the child? No one knows. Is the child full of measles, mumps, chickenpox, etc. for life? No one knows. It is believed that the chickenpox shot is why more and more adults are coming down with herpes infections (related to chickenpox).

Our vaccine information resource package is essential whether or not you are considering childhood vaccination; it’s always good to be informed!

The unwritten law about sibling bedtime

Shayna is sitting in the big chair watching TV. Her older brother Seth knows that it’s an unwritten law that older siblings STAY UP LATER than younger ones. We’re violating that law tonight.

“Why does she get to stay up?”

“She’s sick and doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow.”

“That’s not fair.”

That’s his motto. I think he was born saying it. It’s his view of life. He is right, life isn’t fair. But he’s not staying up just the same.

“You’ve got school tomorrow.”

“Well, once when I was sick you made me go to bed early. It’s not fair.”

“Not everyone is sick the same way each time. Sometimes you have to go to bed when you’re sick and your body needs to fight it. Shayna is past the healing crisis, and now she just needs to relax.”

OK, I didn’t tell him that. That was the last thing he wanted to hear. He just wanted to watch TV. It was getting late and I was tired of arguing. I said, “Go to bed.”

“It’s not fair. You treat me like a baby. I’m the only one in my class who has to go to bed so early. Everyone else’s parents let them stay up all night and do all kinds of things; you don’t let me do anything….

Who are these parents? I’m convinced they’re some amalgamation he made up, a concoction of kids bragging in the school yard. One kid brags that his parents let him stay up later, another says his parents let him play video games all night, another gets all the toys he wants, another eats junk food, another lets him kill his younger sister, etc.

Seth is angry and stomps off to bed. “It’s not fair.”

Fifteen minutes later he jumps downstairs overjoyed. He discovered what appears to be a small chickenpox bump.

“Can I watch TV now?”

 

 

 

Click here to find out more info on the dangers of childhood vaccinations.