Holding on to the Science of Nutritional Immunology when illnesses are unexplainable

Last Sunday 11/09, my little 6 year old boy had a mild fever of 37.5-37.8c for a day. As his temperature went back to normal the next day, I wasn't so concerned thinking it was just one of those casual bug attacks. He didn't go to school as I wanted to monitor him for a day. Interestingly, things took a turn which I did not expect.

Sometime in the morning, he told me his left forearm was itchy. I didn't take it seriously as nothing was apparent that time. His little itch became slightly red in the evening whereby I applied some natural ointment. Since it was mid-autumn festival, we wanted him to have some fun and took him out for a walk with our Angry Bird and lady bird lanterns.

It was not really a good idea at that time considering his one day recovery and on that particular day, there was a really bad haze in Singapore. My hubby insisted, I said ok with a little hesitance. We made it a really quick one. When we came home, I was in shock that his itch expanded to 2x4 inch in size. I got worried as it was "hard" and swollen too. Soon, plenty of little red dots appeared on his little fingers, back of his hands, neck and both his feet and toes.

We immediately took him to KK Hospital and returned by 1am in the morning. The doctor diagnosed him with allergic reaction to something which we had no idea what it could be at that time. The prescription was an anti-histamine and an allergy medication which he had to consume for 3 weeks, and a steroid cream to apply when he itch. He is a healthy little boy with a strong E Excel products foundation, he takes a lot more healthy foods than an average kid and hence, there was a lot of resistance when I saw those medications.

I know medications work by suppressing symptoms, the cure still has to come from his immune system. From my past experience with a sick kid, there isn't much we can do yet on the first day. It is always too soon to conclude what is happening. What was most important was he didn't have a fever at that time and I constantly kept watch for new symptoms.

Next morning, my hubby complained of something biting him the whole night (my boy & I slept in a separate room). He slept in the master room and showed little red itchy bumps on his feet and hands - somewhat similar to my boy's condition. I then started observing very closely to my boy's whole body. It seemed more like he was bitten than having an allergic reaction to something consumed. His little red dots were all elevated.

Thank goodness my hubby took a work leave that day. Our first hypothesis was mites as the culprit, and called for a massive spring clean for the bedrooms and lounge area. We junked our 4.5 year old ‘non anti-mites’ pillows and bolsters (oh yea, we are a shocking lot! LOL!) It made a little sense in some way. The day my kid had a fever, he was sleeping in the master room possibly infested by millions of these critters. Just a week before, we saved a little stray kitten from the streets (found it a new home the same day :)). We were not sure if that had to do with it too. We just cleaned our hearts out.

While we were cleaning, the poor kid was itching a lot. I kept taking his temperature to make sure he was clear, and it was a good thing he was. I thought of alternative remedies to minimize his suffering. Every time when anyone in the family falls ill, my biggest faith is turning to the Science of Nutritional Immunology. Going back to basics and applying common sense.

The following was what I did:

• I hypothesized the source as mites, so we cleaned our home thoroughly with an antiseptic germicide.

• I strengthened his immunity by giving him a higher dosage of EExcel’s cactus beverage and multi-nutrition beverage.

• I restricted his diet. No chicken, eggs, prawns, crab, dairy products, nuts, chocolates, fried and oily foods as Chinese believe these are ‘toxic’ foods. The doctor told me to avoid strawberries and peaches for him for the time being. This was a surprise to me as I never knew people can be allergic to strawberries and peaches.

• To alleviate his itching, I used an ayurvedic scrub when he had discomfort. Thereafter I applied EExcel’s balm to relieve his itch. Coincidentally, I bought the scrub a few months back and recall it having some healing properties. Surprisingly, after each gentle scrub, his redness and itch reduced tremendously.

• I made him drink plenty of water and made him juices.

And so, I continued doing all the above for 3 days.

The results improved each day, and as I write today after 3 days he is close to completely healed. I have left all medications untouched.

I have learnt that being a parent for over 6 years, I have become more inquisitive and learnt to take all initiative to hypothesize all possible reasons whenever my child falls ill. I am sure we have come across many parents with kids constantly falling sick and just left it to the doctors with plenty of medication and antibiotics. This is not the only solution. It actually does more harm to our bodies in the longer term when we become too reliant on medications.

I am not saying we should avoid medications completely, instead we need to apply judgement (backed by investigation) while not endangering a life when we attend to a sick child. I have found that it is very difficult to find a ‘sound’ paediatrician or doctor these days, and very often human illnesses are wrongly diagnosed too. And the shortest way for them is always antibiotics. Doctors attend to hundreds of patients a day, so we cannot blame them.

I tried alternative remedies as my child has been brought up by a strong foundation based on nutritional immunology, a healthy lifestyle and diet, and hence I have faith his immune system is able to take the ‘minor’ hits.

In the past 4 days, I have no idea what really happened to my boy. Sometimes when we have no answers, we look forward and go back to basics in helping ourselves to build a strong immune system to fight foreign invaders. That is more logical. Opting for healthier diets is a starting point. I have touched on this from an earlier post: Harmful and healing foods

My plan was to try alternative methods for a day, and if that did not work, I will give him the prescribed medication whether I liked it or not. I am glad that did not happen.

My hubby went to a doctor regarding his itchy bumpy red spots. His doctor said it was due to the bad haze as many of his patients had similar conditions. Similarly he was prescribed an anti-histamine and a steroid cream. I found the explanation a little hard to swallow. I was like, errr…. where is the link?

If I can put a link to it... from a science of nutritional immunology viewpoint, I can only guess that when he had the fever, the haze was like a double whammy somewhat reducing my little boy’s immunity. And mites were likely constantly biting him all along. Only this time, the toxic symptoms showed up as his immune system was under more stress from an additional external factor. It’s just a guess. I don’t want to conclude nor follow up on the reasons as I see no point in doing that. I just look forward and hold on to my health knowledge to protect him from future harm.

Day 2 - Sorry about the poor quality pic. Forgot about Day 1 pic, it was worse and was really 'hard' and swollen. Not sure if you can spot little red dots further up his arm and lower part of forearm. Both hands and feet had hundreds of them.  

Day 3 - Strange 'scarring' and on the way to recovery

Day 4 - Today, as I write this post. Almost full recovery. Both hands and feet left no traces of small little red dots.

These 3 combo from EExcel does wonders to accelerate a body's recovery process.

1. Noco: He consumed this in view of the bad haze. It helps to nourish his respiratory system & protect him from catching a cold. This product went out of stock in Malaysia a few times when the avian flu and SARS struck this part of the world at one stage. It is a highly recommended product for people constantly prone to respiratory allergies and diseases. Read: A holistic remedy for recurrent cough & cold 

2. Nutrifresh: Contains only plant foods and is power packed with phytochemicals and antioxidants. Over 15 types of plant foods in here which there is no way we can even possibly consume in any day. This was given to him to aid his recovery process.

3. Millennium: Possibly the only 'award winning' and safest cactus beverage manufactured in the world by EExcel. Extensive research discovered that cactus is possibly the only plant that contains more than 10,000 phytonutrients on its own, making it a highly precious plant when it comes to repairing our weakened cells. It always live up to my expectations especially bringing down fever, both in children and adults. Millennium is blended with royal jelly and honey. Word of caution: Do not simply consume raw cactus as some could be toxic.

1. Ayuherba's Miraculous Black Seed Scrub: I bought this ayuverdic product a while back. I took a chance on using it on his arm & whole body since I read it has healing properties. True enough it worked. More of the product info can be read here: Ayuherba miraculous black seed scrub

2. EExcel's Gwei-Hua balm: 100% natural balm, containing only natural oils and plant essences. I used it as a second layer to relief his itch. I have discovered Gwei-Hua balm to be an excellent ointment particularly for mosquito bites. Immediate application after a mosquito bite can almost prevent a child from creating it into a huge swollen bump. I've tried it many times, but a parent still has to constantly monitor a bite as some bites are more vicious that require more applications.

My kid's prescribed allergy medications. All unopened.

Just to prove a point on how detrimental haze can be in Asia. Taken from my corridor on Sept 12, on Mid-Autumn festival - the same day my little boy took his latern out for a walk and returned with a more swollen forearm. If you don't think it is a big deal. Look again at the photo below.

This was taken back in February 2011. This is what I would call a perfect day. :) 

My family lives on the 12th floor and we constantly have open doors and windows. I have in fact, underestimated my own immunity the past 2 weeks and came down with a really bad sore upper respiratory tract today. I have always been quite resilient to cough, colds and flu in the past without any sore throats. Looks like not this time. Definitely a sign that my cells are degenerating faster with age too. Crikey! lol.


A press release from the Singapore MOH back in 1997: Health Effects Of Haze 


Let us be really thankful for being healthy. Cheers!


Read related post: Science of Nutritional Immunology