A Dr. of TCM please assist...

[Zi Zheng]

My wife, 10.5 month old son and myself are in N.Y. and are currently sick. We are supposed to have already left for China, but can't until we feel better. I'm feeling better because Qi Gong cures almost everything, except the raspiness of the cough I got, but my wife is still really achy with a cough and my son is now coughing. He is who I am really worried about. I'm new to this parenting thing and I don't want to be a hypochondriac. He coughs for roughly 5-6 seconds when it is worst and he has had a continuous runny nose throughout the day. For 2 days now. Is there any herbal remedy I can give him to clear out this cough and end the runny nose? I was also wondering if the runny nose was just because it is cold as well and that plays a role too.

Any help would be appreciated...

Chances are my Dad and Uncle who I'm visiting will want him to be taken to a Western Dr. I would prefer to go herbal first and then antibiotics if there is no resolve.

[GLW]

When you are dealing with adults and the flu, and the adult is not in a high risk group like the elderly, compromised immune system, etc... You can do the natural TCM thing.

In dealing with high risk groups, it may not be wise.

With infants, there are unique risks. For example, FEVER is a big one and the infection going into something worse like inflamation of the brain area...strep throat (and it can go brainward)

A small child - say under the age of 5 or 6 can have a fever spike up in virtually no time. This can lead to fever seizures - which typically have no long term effects... but they CAN be the start of very bad things.

My 20 month old daughter was with the flu...like this. She was running a slight 100 to 101 deg. F fever (that is slight for kids). She was playing around..and then just sort of laid down.

Her fever spiked up and she had a seizure. Scariest thing I ever experienced. Trip to the ER in an ambulance scary. The seizure is either a way of breaking the fever...or of things going badly fast.

At the ER, she was fine but a little disoriented. The next day, with Tylenol and Motrin, she was fine ...and the antibiotics for the bacterial part of the infection kicked in.

Her Dr. later said "50% of all kids who have fever seizures never have another...and the danger of them typically ends between ages 5 and 6"

But that means that 50% DO have another. So, we spent the next 4 years watching every fever she had VERY closely.

With a 10.5 month old, a fever seizure can be just the body getting a fever down...OR IT CAN BE BAD...as in something that changes the child's brain, personality, intelligence, etc... forever.

My niece was a bit older...had strep throat...it went to the point of a seizure. She had a lot of memory loss, and 2 years later is still trying to catch up with herself intellectually. She WILL make a full recovery but it is slow and takes a lot of work and patience.

Don't mess with it with small ones. It may prove to be a poor and life changing decision.

[taai gihk yahn]

My wife, 10.5 month old son and myself are in N.Y. and are currently sick. We are supposed to have already left for China, but can't until we feel better. I'm feeling better because Qi Gong cures almost everything, except the raspiness of the cough I got, but my wife is still really achy with a cough and my son is now coughing. He is who I am really worried about. I'm new to this parenting thing and I don't want to be a hypochondriac. He coughs for roughly 5-6 seconds when it is worst and he has had a continuous runny nose throughout the day. For 2 days now. Is there any herbal remedy I can give him to clear out this cough and end the runny nose? I was also wondering if the runny nose was just because it is cold as well and that plays a role too.

Any help would be appreciated...

Chances are my Dad and Uncle who I'm visiting will want him to be taken to a Western Dr. I would prefer to go herbal first and then antibiotics if there is no resolve.
take your son to a pediatrician; don't mess around; you don't know what he's got, really - it could be just a cold, or it could be more serious (e.g. - pneumonia); if it's not something serious, you can try the "natural" route; if you decide to do that, I would do it under the guidance of a licensed practitioner as well (e.g. - if you want to go TCM, find a licensed acupuncturist / herbalist who does peds)

[Zi Zheng]

We got everything taken care of now and the boy is better...