Something we should always be trying to do is to work with our body, not against it. This is what we help so many kiddos conquer so they can avoid that long term medication use. 

At our practice, we do a workshop about this, and every time we put on that workshop, parents are nodding their heads because we are all in agreement – we don’t want our kids to have to rely on long-term medication use. We want our kiddo’s bodies to be self-healing and self-regulating like they absolutely were meant to be. 

3 MAJOR MEDICATED SYSTEMS 

Oftentimes, as parents, we feel we have to use medications for three main systems. The first is the immune system, for things like ear infections, congestion, drainage struggles, etc. When the fluid gets stuck, that can bring on bacteria. 

Our digestive system can also get stuck. If things are not moving, if your kiddo’s plumbing isn’t working well and they get constipated, then we tend to turn to medications for that.

The third area a lot of kids tend to struggle with is if they get stuck in a cycle with the neuro, behavioral, and emotional systems. We call it the gas versus brake pedal. That’s where kiddos get stuck and struggle with focus or can’t sit still and oftentimes it affects behavior and emotions. 

For all of these challenges, there are always alternatives. I’m going to get into some of them individually, but also as a whole. Because when we use medication or add something into the body, it doesn’t work with the body and actually slows down a lot of the body’s processes. 

The incredible thing about kicking the sick without medication is that the body is going to learn and be able to respond better in the future. 

AREN’T GERMS AND BACTERIA INHERENTLY BAD? 

We tend to look at certain things as “bad” or “good” within the body. But it’s not that simple – they’re not all bad or good. Germs and bacteria are not all inherently bad. They actually work with the body to make the body stronger. So a lot of times when we use a medication like an antibiotic, Miralax, or an ADHD drug, it’s actually helping our body to become more dependent on that and puts the neuroimmune system into suppression mode. When that goes into suppression mode, then the body can’t learn how to fight long term. This is why we have to take a step back and ask what the cause is so we can help the body and we don’t have to rely on those meds further down the line. 

As a parent, when I learned about this next point, it really blew my mind. A fever most of the time is an overall beneficial process, so we don’t want to suppress that fever. A cough is an important defense reflex, so we don’t want to stop the cough. That’s the body naturally expressing, getting things out, and helping the bodywork. 

The same is true with neuro-emotional struggles. When kids get energetic, they have to move, run, or just cannot sit still, that’s their body saying – I’ve got to get all this energy out of my system. I want to jump out of this chair right now and not do my homework because I’m in that protective space.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING TO THE ROOT CAUSE 

What we do as pediatric chiropractors is go beneath the surface, looking past the symptoms and past those surface-level struggles that a lot of times we’re just masking. We want to ask, what is the true cause of this? What is the cause of the congestion and inability to drain that results in ear infections? What are the cause of that constipation and that digestive motility and elimination process? What is the true root cause of all that energy in their body that’s sitting on their brain causing them to go a hundred miles an hour? We look at the cause because that’s going to eliminate the backend of having to use these things for the long term. 

Every kiddo’s case story is completely unique. So whether you’re struggling with the immune side and feel in a constant cycle of kicking the sick, dealing with fevers, coughs, drainage that leads to ear infections, sore throat down into the lungs, maybe even pneumonia – that’s when we’ve got to look at that neuroimmune system and ask what we can do to make it respond better. How can a kiddo that’s getting stuck and chronically on Miralax be able to get off of that so that they can adjust on their own? The same is true for the kiddo that struggles neurobehaviorally. How do they settle down? 

Pediatric chiropractors are going to look at each of those cases by digging into the story. Then we measure what matters. We want to see what their body’s doing from an immune system, a digestive system, and a busy brain system. We look at all those things using INSiGHT scans in our office because that tells us specifically how we can get in there and help by figuring out the cause and then providing parents with answers and options. 

Sometimes when we’re struggling, we end up turning to something in that medicine cabinet that we didn’t want to use… but don’t beat yourself up about that. That’s okay, we’ve all been there, we’ve all done that. But if you’re in this constant cycle where it feels like that’s the only thing that can help, we want to help you. That’s where we want to dig in and help you more than ever be able to conquer, get to the bottom of it, and find the root cause.

If we do that, then we won’t get stuck in that cycle of sickness in all of those different systems. You will be able to work with the body, not against it, and the nervous system will be more self-healing and self-regulating. We would love to help you and your kiddo with their unique challenges because that’s what we do.