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Seeking, it is not BAD to be a worry wart. Like Stepka said too though....don't go all out on constantly steriizing yourself or your home. Our immune systems are supposed to fight battles, unfortunately, our eating habits and over-cleanliness is wreaking havoc on humans. If you have antibacterial dish soap in the house, throw it away. If you have antibacterial handwash, throw it away.
Soap and water are more than ample for cleaning. The GB hand sanitizer is kept in the home and in my purse, so that I can use it when I'm going shopping or have dry skin or nicks and cuts on my hands. Our skin is a fabulous barrier. Unfortunately, if our immune system is compromised or weakend, we can even get infected hair follicles.
Stepka mentioned probiotics....but here's another one for you. Do not allow your child to eat pudding. My daughter was buying pudding snacks and other processed "fun" stuff for her son's lunches. Every time we turned around, that boy was getting sick. I badgered her into switching over to yogurt. Guess what? Not only does that little guy LOVE it, but he's not getting sick with everything the other kids are bringing to daycare and preschool! Also, his daily "candy" treats....they're actually vitamin C w/zinc lozenges. He doesn't know the difference and thinks he's actually getting candy.
Nice way of sneaking in the good stuff
I hear you on the antibacterial stuff, I keep them in my purse. I'll try to keep my dad from buying her pudding; she has basically grown up with pudding everywhere. And when she was home due to the boil, my dad came over and gave her a thing of pudding and jello. But I won't buy it
Beachmel's advice here is really good. I hope everybody is paying attention.
My FIRST thought, at the beginning of this thread, was that there is an underlying weakness in the child's immune system.
We can become immunosuppressed through sugar poisoning, through exhaustion/lack of sleep, through exposure to harmful substances, by thermal stress (too hot or too cold), through malnutrition, as a side-effect of medications, or as a result of extreme emotional stress.
Here, I think it was as simple as too much sugar at Paw Paw's house, plus being exposed to staph. No biggie. I hardly think that 'spiritual'/symbolic schmegegge about 'repressed rage' is relevant here.
Now is a great opportunity for a young mom to step back and evaluate the family's lifestyle, from a health standpoint. Locating your community's Organic Food Co-op is a good way to start. Here's one near you that looks legit: Anner?s Pantry: Tulsa?s Best Organic Food Co-op and Market A Co-op is important, because it's non-profit, and thus its end goal is not about money. Co-ops are centers for communities of gentle, enlightened people (ok, and assorted nuts & flakes... but that's part of the charm...). And the supplements/vitamins co-ops carry tend to be made in America and not in countries notorious for corruption and contaminated products. Too, the prices for bulk spices tend to be astonishingly low. The co-op will invariably have a resident expert on herbs/vitamins/supplements. If you'd been a regular, you would have already consulted that expert, who would have told you pretty-much what Beachmel has said, and taken you straight to the plant products mentioned.
Then, on to addressing possible problems in your diet/lifestyle:
Start with sugar, because this seems to be the culprit. I once read a breakdown of how much sugar equals how much compromise to the immune system. The damage adds up fast. I forget how many teaspoons was the threshold, but it was about the amount of sugar someone swilling 2-liter bottles of soda and eating pizza & candy would consume, one's immune system is essentially gone (at which point, you're in the same boat as chemotherapy patients and AIDS victims).
The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day, anyway. That amount has been shown to significantly suppress the immune system. Sugar is hidden in virtually all processed foods. Now is the time to learn all the code words for sugar on food labels (look it up... but most of them end in 'ose'... sucrose, maltose, dextrose...). Now is the time to go for the 'natural' peanut butter without sweeteners. Now is the time to start making your own pasta sauces from scratch (the kind you buy are dangerously laden with sugar...might as well be eating jelly).
And, I guess, the next issue would be possible malnutrition. I grew up malnourished, because we were poor. It made me dumpy and ugly. (luckily, I corrected that as soon as I got to college, at 17) But many affluent households are nutrient-deprived. A glance into the typical grocery cart loaded with expensive processed foods, and just hearing the totals people are paying... "That will be one hundred twenty nine Dollars, maam...", tells me some people pay a fortune to deprive themselves of good food.
Cutting to the chase, I'd get in the habit of going to Tulsa's Farmer's Market(s). Here's one: Our History « Cherry Street Farmers Market | Authentic Oklahoma Products & Produce Looks like a good one. If it's anything like the world-class farmer's market on the old Courthouse Square in nearby Fayetteville, Arkansas, you'll be astonished by the quality and variety. And obviously, such places are wonderful for going to as a family. I also notice that the health foods co-op I linked to sells bags of mixed produce. These sources (or, if finances are tight, the produce section of the big box grocery) need to be the primary source for what goes onto your table.
Fresh fruits & vegetables, steamed, poached, blanched, or raw, are the way to go. We raised three gorgeous kids that way, and used nutrition to take our own bodies from 'hideous' to 'fit'. And really, it's so easy. I don't see any difference in level of effort or difficulty between the way health food types cook and the way 'normal' people do. Please forgive, if I'm assuming you don't eat this way, but you already do. Virtually nobody does.
And learning to cook whole grains is an economical way to get nutrients into the diet. Even when we were rolling pennies to buy food (making the payments on our first few apartment buildings was a challenge, some months), we could afford Rolled Oats, Raw Buckwheat, Millet, Lentils... (bought in bulk at our local co-op) We'd have a big stockpot on the stove, filled with a mixture of legumes & grains, whatever vegetables we could afford, and herbs/spices. (Actually, we still do) And we'd have toast made from multi-grain breads. Whole grains, properly prepared, have a vitamin/nutrient/phytochemical profile which actually equals that of most fresh fruits and vegetables. Again, please forgive me, if I'm preaching to the choir.
And on to harmful substances: I'm not talking about booze, tobacco, and drugs, here (although those definitely do cause enormous harm to those affected by them). Something as simple as 'conventional' air fresheners can adversely affect health. Artificial fragrances mimic hormones and do all sorts of mischief. Enzymes in detergents can reprogram the immune system. Solvents in paints, and outgassing by synthetic substances can knock out the immune system (in a tightly-sealed modern home). It's pretty easy to eliminate the air fresheners, the enzyme detergents, etc. Harder to do is to avoid having kids play on grass recently treated with the now-common chemical soups dispensed from those pretty trucks - soups containing herbicides and pesticides. Pesticides in the home are possible immunosuppressants, too. Going natural in this area is a bit more effort.
As to the specific emergency here (and a boil definitely IS an emergency...because it's the tip of a scary iceberg lurking beneath the surface), I'd personally go to whoever could prescribe antibiotics, IMMEDIATELY. Every hour counts. You did right, seeking conventional medications, ASAP. And I'm impressed that you know that there is a systemic component to the problem, which conventional medicine would not address: that's why you're asking about Holistic remedies.
Our kids started a landscape service when in their teens. They love heat and sunshine. But one son got heat-stressed, and developed a boil. I ordered him into bed, and started peeling navel oranges for him, juicing carrots, Ginger, garlic, and parsley... At the same time, he was taking Vitamin C, Beta Carotene, Vitamin E, zinc losenges & Bioflavonoids. The idea was to flood the body with the building blocks for its own defense against the invading staph infection. We also got him a 'conventional' antibiotic within hours of 'discovery', and took him to have the thing lanced, at the appropriate time. The scar is nearly invisible.
Thank you, and I'm in Fort Worth, TX not in Tulsa but thank you; I currently am included in a co-op and get half a share every two weeks. I keep soda out of my house unless it's ginger ale or sprite when someone has an upset stomach. Also, we hardly touch "white" sugar or "white" food at all. I'm trying to get back to being vegan but I'm a vegetarian, and my daughter is still able to eat meat. Although I tell my dad and my mother not to feed her red meat though, sometimes they call themselves forgetting and I find out she has a hamburger, or has eaten way more meat than she is supposed to eat. I won't buy meat in my house, I try to sweeten with Agave nectar, I'm trying to get her to like Green Smoothies, and dabbling with different reciepes that include veggies she has yet to taste and fruit. It's only been a year since I've changed my eating habits, I'm trying to change her's too. I don't want to keep her from her grandparents' house but it seems like I might have to, but she goes with her pa pa when I'm at work, and of course I cannot be around her 24/7
If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of detergent do you use? Do you get that at the co-op stores? I'm trying to find a co-op place around me; currently I am without transportation, and rely on public transportation, but it's not great, and it does not go to certain places, and it stops at certain times. I'll find it though!
Hi
to all you ladies, this is something different, if this is ok? My great niece, was rushed to the Children's Hospital in L.A. for emergency brain surgery. I don't know anything yet. She had an infection, and it went to her brain. Please say a prayer!
Thank you all!
shecat
Oh I pray she is alright! Sending positive energy and prayers her way!
@Seeking....... I could not be a vegetarian! Hats off to you. We are all big meat eaters and nothing gets my taste buds excited, quite as much as a beatiful, med-rare steak. LOL We live on the ocean too though and consume a very large amount of fresh and home-canned seafood as well.
@Seeking....... I could not be a vegetarian! Hats off to you. We are all big meat eaters and nothing gets my taste buds excited, quite as much as a beatiful, med-rare steak. LOL We live on the ocean too though and consume a very large amount of fresh and home-canned seafood as well.
LOL I was one of those meat eaters that thought I could not give up my meat, but it has been great. My allergies have not been as bad as it used to be, my asthma has gotten better, I'm losing crazy weight, I'm feeling more energetic. I was a vegan for a short time, but when I had to become a waitress again, I fell in love with dairy again, and that's holding me back right now; love cheese and ice cream! And my daughter is sad when I tell her she can't eat meat, but over her grandparents' house she can consume an exorbiant amount. Guess I'm the buffer; or they are?
And my daughter is sad when I tell her she can't eat meat, but over her grandparents' house she can consume an exorbiant amount. Guess I'm the buffer; or they are?
Are you sure she's getting enough complete-protein at your house since you don't provide meat? A protein deficiency can be very harmful for a growing child. Why force your beliefs and interests on her?
Are you sure she's getting enough complete-protein at your house since you don't provide meat? A protein deficiency can be very harmful for a growing child. Why force your beliefs and interests on her?
Protein is in so many vegetables so yes she gets enough protein. Protein is also fluent in legumes, seeds, beans, and nuts. You don't have to eat meat in order to obtain the necessary protein for your body.
As a parent you force your child to eat as you from day one. If your child ask just for cake and ice cream all day every day, will you allow them to eat it because that is what they want and think everything is yucky?
I don't believe you would. After reading and doing research of what goes into our bodies, how meat causes our bodies to decay faster, takes from our bodies, I decided it's not good for either of us. I'm not telling you what to feed your child(ren), so please. I won't buy meat in my home because I already know she will be getting it at school, and at her pa pa's house, so there is no need for me to add on to that.
OP, I seem to recall that there was a thread on here about eating a special diet for MRSA--the OP of that one swore that it worked for her and her family. You may want to do a search and if you find it feel free to revive it. I can't for the life of me remember what was different about it b/c my dd had stopped getting boils by then but I'm sure you'll want to check it out.
Also, for a staph infection (boils), I researched it and found that while Zinc is usally great for your immune system. Staph LOVES Zinc but HATES Copper. Which is interesting because Zinc depletes your copper stores. Which may explain why I got a boild shortly after taking zinc after long hiatis.
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Like Stepka said too though....don't go all out on constantly steriizing yourself or your home. Our immune systems are supposed to fight battles, unfortunately, our eating habits and over-cleanliness is wreaking havoc on humans. If you have antibacterial dish soap in the house, throw it away. If you have antibacterial handwash, throw it away. 
but thank you; I currently am included in a co-op and get half a share every two weeks. I keep soda out of my house unless it's ginger ale or sprite when someone has an upset stomach. Also, we hardly touch "white" sugar or "white" food at all. I'm trying to get back to being vegan but I'm a vegetarian, and my daughter is still able to eat meat. Although I tell my dad and my mother not to feed her red meat though, sometimes they call themselves forgetting and I find out she has a hamburger, or has eaten way more meat than she is supposed to eat. I won't buy meat in my house, I try to sweeten with Agave nectar, I'm trying to get her to like Green Smoothies, and dabbling with different reciepes that include veggies she has yet to taste and fruit. It's only been a year since I've changed my eating habits, I'm trying to change her's too. I don't want to keep her from her grandparents' house but it seems like I might have to, but she goes with her pa pa when I'm at work, and of course I cannot be around her 24/7
Hi
