When your child is sick with a complex illness, all you care about is figuring out how to help them get better. Unfortunately, complex illnesses typically have complex causes — and complex solutions.
If you’re here, you’ve likely done everything your doctor told you to help your PANS/PANDAS affected child get better. Sometimes the treatments your doctor prescribes work, and sometimes they don’t.
It comes down to bio-individuality. Every body is different. Some children recover more quickly than others. Some respond immediately to pharmaceutical medications. But many don’t.
PANS/PANDAS are not simple illnesses. They are multifactorial diseases, which means there isn’t just one cause. They are autoimmune disorders, which means your child’s body is working against itself. And they affect the brain, which means you’re dealing with brain inflammation.
If your child has been diagnosed with one of these conditions (or you think they should be), the problem goes deeper than a strep infection or some other triggering event. As much as you’d like it to be simple, a simple solution isn’t likely.
You’ve seen the doctor and it hasn’t solved the problem. You know there’s more that can be done. It’s time to think outside of the box.
Germ Theory vs. Terrain Theory
Have you ever wondered why modern medicine is structured the way it is? It’s a pretty standard formula.
Step 1:
When you get sick, you go to the doctor.
Step 2:
The doctor examines you and determines the direct cause of your symptoms — often a specific bacteria or virus.
Step 3:
They prescribe a medication intended to address that specific issue.
It’s no accident that modern medicine is structured this way. But it didn’t have to be. There are a variety of paradigms that could have evolved. But the one that took off was germ theory. And we have Louis Pasteur to thank.
Louis Pasteur, the French chemist, developed and popularized the idea of germ theory back in the 1860’s. He believed that the way to keep people healthy was to address the microorganisms that cause most diseases.
That’s why we have things like immunizations and antibiotics today. These treatments are designed to address specific pathogens and keep our bodies from being affected by them.
But there was another theory floating around when Pastuer was talking about germ theory, called terrain theory.
Terrain theory takes a different approach. Physiologist Claude Bernard (a friend of Pasteur), taught that the “terrain” was the most important thing. He believed that the overall health of the body — the terrain — was the most important factor in preventing and fighting disease.
Germ theory won out at the time. But it doesn’t explain everything. Why can two people be exposed to the same pathogen in the same amounts at the same time, and only one get sick? Why do certain people tend to get sick often, while other people are consistently healthy?
Pathogens are a factor to be sure. You aren’t going to get strep throat if you aren’t exposed to the group A Streptococcus bacteria. But over time, we’ve learned more about the importance of what’s going on in the body as a whole.
In my practice, I focus primarily on the terrain. When I use methods of gentle detoxification, diet, and supplementation to bring my clients’ bodies into balance, they are much better able to recover from illness and enjoy better health overall.
I don’t use pharmaceuticals in my practice. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for them in modern medicine. But when you work with the body as a whole, it’s possible to bring everything into balance. This approach allows you to work with your body, instead of against it. And one of my favorite tools in this approach is botanical medicine.
What is botanical medicine?
Botanical medicine is simply the use of plants to prevent or treat disease. You may have heard of herbal medicine — which focuses on herbs. But botanical medicine can also include parts of the plant that are not strictly herbs — including seeds, stems, roots, and even bark.
Botanical medicine is nothing new. It’s been utilized by indigenous cultures for centuries. And it even has its place in modern medicine. In fact, most of the “modern” pharmaceuticals have their foundation in botanical medicine. For example, aspirin is derived from the bark of the willow tree. And the powerful pain medicine morphine is derived from the poppy plant.
In the creation of these medications, specific properties of the plant are extracted and amplified to create powerful remedies. Although often the natural synergy of the plant’s phytochemicals are lost when processed for pharmaceutical use.
But in botanical medicine, the energetic properties of the plant are maintained along with the medicinal properties.
Are there advantages to using botanicals?
Plant medicine doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. But botanicals can be powerful antimicrobial, anti fungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic agents. Not only can they help keep the body healthy as a whole, they can also fight off specific microorganisms.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, medicinal plants have evolved over tens of thousands of years to work in concert with the body — supporting the body in multifaceted ways as they do the work of killing off pathogens and supporting the terrain.
Botanicals have a number of advantages that pharmaceuticals often lack:
✔ Plants protect themselves with the use of metabolites and phytochemicals. These natural chemicals demonstrate both antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. When you take botanicals, you benefit from these as well.
✔ Botanicals do not contribute to antibiotic resistance so they don’t need to be limited.
✔ Botanicals do not kill indiscriminately. Medications like antibiotics do kill off the bad bacteria, but they also attack the good bacteria that make up the all-important microbiome. But botanicals will not harm the gut bacteria.
✔ Botanicals work to strengthen the immune system — as such they are empowering and strengthening to the body.
If you’re ready to think outside the standard medical practice box and look at what nature has to offer, let’s talk. I’ll explain exactly what I do and how the techniques I use work with the body to bring things back in balance.
Book Your Consultation
Even if you’re not ready to bring your child to me for personalized help, I have resources that can help get you headed in the right direction. You can sign-up for my email newsletter and get emails that will further support your journey. You’ll also receive a free copy of my brand new resource 5 Essential Ways to reduce Brain Inflammation in your child with PAN/PANDAS and Autoimmune Encephalitis. You can sign-up here.
I also invite you to join my private Facebook group of parents with PANS/PANDAS affected children. Find support, suggestions, and understanding from parents who know what you’re going through. You can sign up here.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342039/
https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/botanical-medicine
https://www.prestigewellnessinstitute.com/blog/its-the-terrain
