medicine for children

MEDICINE FOR CHILDREN
Homeopathy and anthroposophic
medicine in paediatric use
EDITORIAL
2
EDITORIAL
The birth of a child completely changes the lives of the new
parents. Among the many questions and decisions facing
first-time parents, one of the most important is: how do I help
my child to become healthy and which therapeutic approach is
the right one? At this point, many parents decide in favour
of complementary, alternative medicine. Besides expecting
efficacy and safety, they also wish for a gentle and well
tolerated form of medicine offering therapeutic treatments
and remedies attuned to the specific physical and mental
requirements of their child.
Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, was already
searching as long ago as 1796 for a naturopathic remedy to
save his own children from an epidemic of scarlet fever, and
discovered that belladonna is effective against this childhood
disease. In the early 1850's, the first homeopathic paediatricians
became established, such as Foubustier in London, and were
joined by increasing numbers of paediatricians of the homeopathic and anthroposophic school of medicine throughout
Europe (e.g. Imhäuser, H. Michael Stellmann and von Linden).
At present, more than 50,000 homeopathic and anthroposophic
practitioners are active prescribers in the European Union.
More and more people are deciding in favour of alternative
medicine: a Dutch study dating from 2001, commissioned by
the Royal Association of Homeopathy of the Netherlands
(KVHN), shows that 41% of the parents surveyed prefer
homeopathic remedies for the medical treatment of their
children, while 43% favour allopathic medicines. Children
currently account for more than 40% of patients treated in
anthroposophic Practices in Germany.
3
Despite their high success rate, alternative therapies and
medicines have been viewed very critically by many allopathic
physicians. A large number of clinical and experimental studies
evaluating the efficacy of alternative medicine are now
available .
1
A study in the Netherlands in 175 children suffering from
recurrent infections of the airways has shown that fewer
recurrences are seen on homeopathic treatment and that the
consumption of antibiotics is lower than in the placebo group,
although the difference was not statistically significant .
2
Children also appear more receptive to homeopathy than
adults. A pilot study showed that homeopathic treatment was
most successful in children between 2 and 11 years old,
followed by children aged between 12 and 17 years. Treatment
outcome was less favourable in the corresponding conventional treatment group .
3
4
Parents not only wish to combat diseases, but also to enhance
their children's general health condition. This is why they are
more and more requesting a pluralism of methods, i.e. the
freedom to choose between different diagnostic and
therapeutic forms. Only when allopathic and alternative
medicine are accorded an equal status and can be applied
alongside each other child centred paediatrics will be able to
adjust to the special needs of these small patients.
Sabine Backes-Aghte (for the editorial team)
1
2
3
4
4
See e.g. several studies of Dr. Helmut Kiene
de Lange de Klerk, E.S.M., Blommers, J., Kuik, D.J., Bezemer, P.D., Feenstra, L Effect of homoeopathic
medicines on daily burden of symptoms in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections, 1994.
van Berckel Smit, J.A.C.M., A pilot study evaluating the efficacy of homeopathy in daily practice,
Brit. Hom.J. 82: 9-15 (1993)
Riley, D, Fischer, M, Singh, B, Haidvogel, M, Heger, M,: Homeopathy and conventional medicine: an
outcomes study comparing the effectiveness in a primary setting. J Alternative Compl Med. 7: 149 – 159 (2001)
PAEDIATRICS TODAY
When we consider the rate of infant and child mortality that still
existed in our grandparents' days, it is evident that paediatric
medicine has made enormous progress. The improvement
in hygienic conditions and the discovery of penicillin are
milestones along this road. From the moment the infant first
glimpses the light of day, its path is flanked through early
childhood and on into school age by a comprehensive system of
medical care and supervision. Conventional medicine offers a
rich programme of medicines and therapies. But changed living
conditions and the special health constitution of our children are
increasingly calling for this medicine to be supplemented by
complementary, alternative forms of therapy attuned to the
child's body. But what exactly is holistic paediatrics? Is it
concerned only with the cure and management of diseases? Or
do these ailments, and especially childhood diseases, rather
have to be viewed and interpreted in a broader way as they are
closely related to the individual child's development ? Fact is:
the maintenance of children's health therefore should be placed
at the centre of all paediatric endeavours with the aim of
preventing future illnesses ?
5
6
5
6
Tautz Christoph, Kinderkrankheiten – Krankheiten im Kindesalter! Stuttgart 2000
Glöckler, Michaela, Kindsein heute. Stuttgart 2003
5
HOW TO COPE WITH DISEASES?
All parents are familiar with this stage in their child's development: at the latest when their child first walks through the kindergarten gate, infections and childhood diseases increasingly
find their way into the family home. Whether cold, cough,
middle ear inflammation or gastrointestinal catarrh, infections like
these may be expected to crop up on an almost monthly basis,
especially during the cold seasons. How helpful and reassuring is
the visit to the familiar children's doctor who provides the desired
relief by prescribing the necessary medications. And this is indeed
the most fundamental purpose of paediatrics: coping with and
warding off disease. Exactly at this point complementary
paediatrics take the child itself (and not just the disease) with all
its unique personal characteristics into the focus of medical
treatment. This holistic approach thus creates an overall picture of
the physical and mental-psychological situation and – in case of
of illness – identifies deficits and imbalances in the child . Based on
this, it offers an individualised treatment approach tailored to the
patient's own personal potentials, in which the child is always
perceived as an independently acting human being.
7
CHILDREN’S DISEASES AS A CHANCE TO
DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN THE CHILD’S BODY
In paediatric practices there are not only the above mentioned
infections, but also the usual childhood diseases. Complementary, alternative paediatrics view typical children's diseases from
a new perspective: Are these really childhood diseases and to be
equated with asthma, bronchitis or rheumatism? Or aren’t
childhood diseases rather experiences or stages along the child's
path of self-development? Aren’t they rather to be seen as a
further step towards the child developing immunocompetence,
in other words a strengthening and concentration of childhood
immunity ? In fact, children regularly emerge strengthened and
more mature from childhood diseases.
8
7
8
6
Tautz Christoph, Kinderkrankheiten als Weg zur Immunkompetenz in Der Merkurstab – Pädiatrie, Sonderheft IV
Tautz Christoph, Kinderkrankheiten
DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE
HEALTH OF CHILDREN
Classical paediatrics is mainly concerned – as already mentioned
above – with gaining control over of the disease and its etiologic
agents. However, paediatrics can go into action even before the
disease develops by investigating and preserving the child's
original health. What – on the other hand – makes children
"healthy children" and how can this health be maintained ? This
concept, named salutogenesis, was invented by the medical
sociologist Aaron Antonovsky (1923 – 1994) and attempts to
elicit a conclusive answer to the question "Why are people
healthy?". The WHO defines health as a state of complete
physical, mental and social well-being . Antonovsky goes even
further and speaks of a sense of coherence, the ability to
experience and perceive oneself as part of the world . In this
way, understanding and experiencing the deeper sense of one's
own actions and facing the world with self-confidence and a
sense of belonging become the fundamental pillars of health.
However, this also makes parents and physicians the
co-architects and custodians of children's health.
9
10
11
With an interplay of all three components, coping with and
warding off disease, perceiving disease as a developmental step
in the child's biography and a means of strengthening the
personality, paediatrics as an interaction of conventional and
alternative medicine can now point the way towards a new
approach.
9
10
11
Glöckler Michaela, Kindsein heute
Koch Ulrich, Impfen im Kindes- und Erwachsenenalter – Ein kritischer Ratgeber aus homöopathischer Sicht,
Nr. 16, Page 12
Gleide Corinna quoted according to Antonovsky Aaron: Salutogenese. Zur Entmytifizierung der Gesundheit,
Tübingen 1997 in die Drei 8/9 2004
7
PAEDIATRICS REQUIRES CHILD
CENTRED MEDICINE
In contrast to adults, the child's body is
not (yet) fully formed, certain organs only
reach maturity in adolescence or adulthood and many processes are still in the
process of completion. The entire body is
busy with its self-creation and maturation.
It concentrates its forces inwards and is
thus unable to respond in the same way as
the fully grown body to external influences. What could be more appropriate,
therefore, than to administer to the growing person gentle remedies containing
natural substances that are both effective
and well tolerated and are practically free
from adverse reactions.
A further important aspect is to promote
the body's intrinsic activity and involve the
sick child as an independently acting being
in the various therapeutic procedures.
Illness can then be overcome through the
individual's own resources by stimulating
the body's self-healing powers .
12
12
8
Soldner Georg und Tautz Christoph in Der Merkurstab, Pädiatrie, Sonderheft IV
COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE IN PAEDIATRICS
The efficacy and only slight side effects of homeopathic and
anthroposophic medicines can be traced back and verified over
many centuries. Today they are subject – like allopathic
medicines – to complex and strict rules of testing. Effectiveness,
safety and quality are evaluated very rigorously.
Complementary medicines are compositions of purely plant
derived substances, but also include components of plant,
mineral and animal origin. Particularly their effectiveness and
low rate of side effects are persuading increasing numbers of
parents to provide health care for their children using alternative
medicines. For example, homeopathy and anthroposophic
medicine often achieves remarkable positive results in children
with asthma, allergies and neurodermatitis where allopathic
medicine has reached the limits of its effectiveness.
The child's active participation in the therapy as well as healthy
food and lifestyle are accompanying the therapy in a positive
way.
Conventional medicine still views alternative medicine as
placebo medicine. Yet especially in paediatrics, this claim is
untenable. How otherwise to explain that infants and children
are cured when in their case the thesis "Homeopathy is
only effective because people believe in it" is completely
inapplicable . And this claim is disproved not least by the fact
that an increasing number of physicians trained in conventional
general medicine are embracing homeopathy as a supplementary specialisation and are publishing credible reports of
successful homeopathic cures .
13
14
13
14
Dellmour, Friedrich: Homöopathische Arzneiwirkung oder Placebo? Wirknachweise in der Homöopathie
Dellmour, Friedrich: Homöopathische Arzneiwirkung oder Placebo?
9
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH CONVENTIONAL
MEDICINE AND COMPLEMENTARY PAEDIATRICS
It is becoming increasingly apparent that an excess of
conventional medicine can also be harmful. A growing number
of chronically ill children and the enormous increase in allergies
are now being seen as linked to the increasingly widespread
use of antibiotics and interpreted as reactions to multiple
vaccinations . Nevertheless, conventional medicine is indispensable and confers many benefits. It is here that complementary paediatric medicine takes up the challenge and, as a
supplementary discipline with a holistic approach perceives
the child as an independently acting being. With its veritable
richness and variety of gently acting, well proven natural
remedies, it offers a well tolerated and child oriented medicine
with a much lower rate of side effects. Awareness of this fact
also relieves parents of some of their worries and anxieties.
And together with their child and the treating physician they
can take an acceptable course of action which never loses sight
of the fact that the patient is a child.
15
15
10
Soldner Georg in Der Merkurstab, Pädiatrie, Sonderheft IV
Georg Soldner is a paediatrician
in Munich, Germany.
He published several books and
numerous articles in international
medicinal journals on paediatrics
and complementary medicine.
ECHAMP How can complementary paediatrics broaden the
scope of conventional paediatrics?
Soldner “Complementary paediatrics sees the child primarily
as a developing organism, capable of learning and with its own
independent spirit. Providing it with external stimulation can
place it in a position where it can overcome diseases by its own
resources. As an acting person, it passes through and develops
learning processes during the illness which can cure it and also
protect it against future diseases (e.g. immunity): every disease
overcome by the organism itself thus permanently strengthens
the health of the body.
On the one hand, modern paediatrics needs conventional
medicine, for example to gain control of severe bacterial
infections and keep them at bay through external interventions
and treatments. On the other hand, it also needs complementary medicine to stimulate the body's own healing forces from
within, promote detoxication processes and support the child in
its endeavours to recover its health by its own efforts.”
ECHAMP What specific successes can be achieved with
complementary medicine in paediatrics?
Soldner “A study from 1999 (Lancet. 1999 May 1;353
(9163):1457-8) published in the internationally respected
medical journal The Lancet has shown that if children are
consistently treated with complementary medicine from the
beginning, the rate of allergies is much lower during school age
11
or later childhood. The frequency of neurodermatitis, asthma
and hay fever in this comparative study was up to 70% lower
on a complementary medical regimen combined with
biological-dynamic diet than when the children received
conventional treatment and nutrition.”
ECHAMP For which therapeutic indication complementary
treatment is most suited?
Soldner “Neurodermatitis and acute infections heal much
more quickly with homeopathic and anthroposophic preparations. Also, there a fewer side effects and the patient remains
sustainable healthy.”
ECHAMP What experience have you gathered as regards the
well-being and satisfaction of patients and their parents during
the therapy?
Soldner “At the start of an alternative therapy, quite heavy
demands are placed on both children and parents; often it
is necessary to endure 1-2 days of high fever. Since it is not
immediately suppressed by antipyretics or similar medications,
but rather the body overcomes the illness by drawing on its own
resources, this "threshold" first has to be crossed. After a few
days the patient feels much better. Late complications are also
much more rare. Parents are happy to accept this situation; only
few decide to terminate the therapy.”
12
ECHAMP Why do parents decide in favour of complementary
therapy?
Soldner “Parents often have a strong aversion to toxic
medicinal products and wish to avoid their children being
chronically exposed to these agents. This is why they prefer a
gentle, well tolerated medicine with few side effects.
Experiences such as permanent skin damage during the
long-term use of cortisone ointment in neurodermatitis have
shown that the use of allopathic medications can involve risks.
In my 19 years as a paediatrician I have not observed a single
threatening adverse reaction for children due to the intolerability or side effects of an alternative medicine.”
ECHAMP Does the continuous administration of allopathic
medicines encourage chronic diseases?
Soldner “Especially in the prosperous industrialised countries
in which a vast range of conventional medications is continuously available and industrially processed foods are often
served up on a daily basis, the rate of childhood asthma has
doubled. Lifelong diabetes (Type 1) in children under 4 years of
age is increasing by 6% annually: in the period from 2000 to
2020 the number of diabetic children will have doubled. And
this although it is now proven that this is not for genetic reasons
but is exclusively attributable to changed environmental
conditions, particularly diet and medical treatments including
vaccinations. The use of antibiotics is leading to an increase in
the number of children with allergic diseases. This development
is not observed in children treated exclusively by complementary medicine.”
13
ECHAMP Is today's paediatrician tomorrow's geriatrician?
Soldner “There are studies which show that the risk of
arteriosclerosis, and most likely also the risk of developing
cancer, differs during adulthood depending on nutrition and
medical treatment during childhood: for instance, prolonged
breast feeding protects against vascular calcification in the
second half of life.
Unfortunately the suppression of fever is still given first priority
among standard therapeutic interventions in paediatrics;
however, the presumed benefits of this approach are not
substantiated by any scientific research. On the contrary: viral
infections, for example, remit faster and better during high
fever, and even the incidence of febrile seizures is not influenced
by antipyretic therapy! This puts the paediatrician's activity in a
completely new light. The scope of modern paediatrics must be
broadened by integrating this holistic view and acknowledging
its true status as the cornerstone of the human biography.”
14
ECHAMP What development do you see in paediatrics?
Soldner “At present I see the situation in paediatrics as
resembling the "national debt". The more we use conventional
medicine during childhood – including for non-life-threatening
diseases – and the less children learn to overcome acute diseases
themselves with the aid of complementary medicine and their
parents' care , the more chronic diseases will manifest among
children and later on in adulthood.
The costs of treating these diseases will rise to dizzying heights.
Yet this situation is not inevitable, particularly not in childhood!
But it can only be reversed if we all take upon ourselves more
mental and physical activity. We should accept acute illness as a
challenge on which it is worth concentrating on our strength in
order to overcome it with our own resources. And we must also
expect children to embrace this process, naturally only to the
extent where it involves no risk.
Complementary medical paediatrics, and especially anthroposophic medicine and homeopathy, offer many ways for children
to engage in this independent healing process. Conventional
medicine based paediatrics has so far proved helpless in the face
of the growing incidence of bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus
and eating disorders. In view of these major challenges to
paediatric prophylaxis, medicine will no longer be able to
manage without complementary approaches. Combating
disease has to be backed up by a conscious promotion of health;
this is the message with which we should enlarge conventional
paediatric medicine.”
The interview was done by Sabine Backes, Munich, March 2005.
15
CHILDREN DISEASE
CHILDHOOD DISEASES
AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
A sick child often plunges the parents into a maelstrom of
worries and questions. This is where paediatrics has to provide
support for parents and children, point out methods of
treatment and create a basis of trust in order to overcome the
disease.
CHILDHOOD DISEASES
At all times, children's growth and development have been
accompanied by diseases. Although a cause of concern to
parents, illnesses when overcome are seen to have brought
about a change in the child. Suddenly it has acquired new
abilities, its personality has matured, and it has gained a new,
more intense quality of perception. Furthermore, the child
usually also acquires lifelong immunity by having overcome
the illness . Childhood diseases thus also confer added health
benefits and at the same time provide new impetus for the
child's development .
16
17
16
17
16
Tautz Christoph, Kinderkrankheiten als Weg zur Immunkompetenz
Tautz Christoph, Kinderkrankheiten – Krankheiten im Kindesalter
ES
FEVER
The way in which fever is perceived has changed fundamentally
during mankind's history: while Hippocrates still saw fever as the
body's attempt at self-preservation and Paracelsus as an intrinsic
activity of the body for combating disease, fever is now
regarded mainly as a health hazard to be countered by giving
medications . The multiplicity of antipyretic agents of the kind
now to be found in almost every home bears testimony to this
view. Clinical observations have shown that children given
antipyretics recover slower from ailments like smallpox than
non-medicated children. The same observations have been
made for viral diseases: children overcame the illness faster
without antifebrile drugs. Fever can therefore be seen as an
intrinsic activity and an expression of the body standing up for
itself, and not solely as a pathological disorder that can lead to
severe health impairments. However, temperature has to be
observed carefully and if necessary, lowered by simple physical
methods (e.g. cold leg compresses)
18
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Infections like common colds, middle ear inflammation or
diarrhoea are constant companions throughout childhood.
Very often, antibiotics and antipyretics are already prescribed at
the first signs of illness. And yet by giving gentle medications,
the immune defence processes taking place in the child's body
can be stimulated and supported. The frequent occurrence of
infectious diseases requires a natural, gentle therapy which
strengthens the body and immune system in the long-term.
18
Tautz Christoph: Kinderkrankheiten als Weg zur Immunkompetenz
17
18
WHAT PARENTS SAY...
I discovered complementary medicine for myself and for my
family from that moment on when we had children.
(Ceilith Rowe, Bristol, United Kingdom)
I feel good giving homeopathy to my children because
I experienced those remedies as very effective, easy to apply
and the children love their “beadlets”! (globules)
(Bettina Appel, Brussels, Belgium)
Since I treated my children with homeopathy they are
stronger and their constitution is more resistant to infections.
(Edwige Burkart-Nourrichard, Strasbourg, France)
On holidays I always take for my family the homeopathic
travel case with us.
(Joana Matos, Lisbon, Portugal)
In our family Arnica and Calendula are the most frequently
used first aid treatments. We couldn't do without it!
(Mary Stoorvogel, Bergen, The Netherlands)
Parents are nowadays fully empowered and active partners of
the physician. Increasing transparency both in medical and
pharmaceutical / pharmacological respects, has created this
situation. But also a close analysis of disease and the requirements of the child's body which is different from that of adults.
For their children, who are in a phase of both physical and
mental development, parents desire safe, reliable medicines
which expedite recovery but which also and above all must be
well tolerated. For acute and chronic diseases, the risk of side
effects for the child should be excluded to the greatest possible
extent.
19
Aware of their responsibility and obligation of care, parents
demand a free choice of therapeutic approach for their child.
Neither governmental nor ideological constraints must be
allowed to interfere in these choices. The medical treatment
should always have first priority in the interest of the child's
well-being.
Both cooperation with physicians and disclosure of the individual therapeutic measures is a major concern of parents.
However, this also means not to regard illness only as a threat.
Rather, parents should place trust in the therapeutic methods
employed by the paediatrician and in the abilities and strengths
of their child.
20
"NICE FOLKS"
Based on an interview with
Tosia Kossakowski, homeopathic
paediatrician based in Amsterdam
" Children, nice folks" that’s how Tosia Kossakowski
characterised her patient clientele. Although initially reluctant to
choose paediatrics, this medical specialisation became her daily
profession, rather than psychiatry or surgery which were
originally her first choices.
Dr. Kossakowski studied medicine at Nijmegen University.
She has now been a medical doctor and registered paediatrician
for 20 years. She is a down-to-earth doctor, a practical "doing"
person. The interview took place in her Amsterdam office.
A cosy working room, with the usual doctors’ gadgets, large
chairs, a little stool, dolls and a Donald Duck on the desk.
She first made contact with homeopathy during her clinical
rotations in a Lelystad hospital, where she witnessed the swift
recovery of a child suffering from high fever following an insect
bite after being treated with the homeopathic medicine Apis.
This experience and the lectures of Alphons Geukens, a
prominent Belgian homeopathic physician, stimulated her
interest and decided her to enrol in a post graduate training
course in homeopathic medicine. The impressive, fully
documented case of how a child suffering from severe
Osteogenesis imperfecta (an extremely fragile bone structure)
was brought to a state of cure and well-being convinced her to
concentrate on homeopathy.
21
THE CHILD AS A PA
The child as a young human being often presents a clearer case
to the doctor than an adult. This is probably because it is less
constrained by conventions and expectations and is able to
express its primary reactions more directly.
Usually the parents take the initiative in seeking homeopathic
advice, although some of Dr. Kossakowski's patients also come
on referral from other colleagues and specialists.
Parents usually decide to see a homeopath when regular
treatment fails to deliver the expected results or simply because
they consider it to be the best possible option for their child.
The first consultation usually takes an hour to an hour and a
half. Besides taking a detailed homeopathic history, the doctor
also performs a normal physical examination. A prescription is
given for the pharmacist and the case is documented in the
required manner. "A lot of paperwork!"
"It's often amazing what comes out during these interviews and
what children remember from their early childhood. Not only
about their own situation but also the general family situation.
Frequently, parents are astounded to hear their child describing
its situation and its observations". Evidently events during the
first few years of life play a significant role in everyone's health
history. Many illnesses seem to have their roots in events during
these primary years.
22
ATIENT
The data are also recorded for pooling in outcome studies.
Dr. Kossakowski is a member of the HARP project, in which a
large number of Dutch homeopathic physicians participate and
which aims to propagate and publicise the effectiveness of
homeopathy.
The growing size of the practice is an indicator of patients'
satisfaction. There is good contact between doctor and patient.
When therapy was successful, patients don't return. Sometimes
patients return after ten years just to mention they recovered
after the first homeopathic treatment and so there was no
reason to come back earlier.
TYPICAL CHILDREN’S AILMENTS
Besides the typical children’s illnesses, the conditions most
commonly encountered by paediatricians are eczema,
respiratory tract diseases, behavioural and developmental
disorders, as well as digestive complaints and allergies.
Homeopathy has a good track record in treating anxiety, fear
and depression, although these are mainly the domain of child
psychiatrists. Since great restraint should be exercised in
prescribing antidepressants to children, homeopathic remedies
can be an excellent solution in such cases.
23
24
REGULAR MEDICINE
Dr. Kossakowski takes a pragmatic view of conventional
medicines. "We should be grateful for the existence of
antibiotics". Nevertheless they should be prescribed and taken
with common sense. "When a child is receiving allopathic and
homeopathic medicines concurrently, I will always make sure
that the conventional medicine is taken as it should be – for
example by providing a prescription for penicillin".
And she adds with confidence: "Moreover, when the right
homeopathic remedy has been chosen, it will have its beneficial
effects anyway."
VACCINATION
As regards vaccination, different areas of responsibility need to
be distinguished. Governments clearly have a different type of
responsibility than an individual doctor. Depending on the
individual child's constitution, it might be wise in some cases to
adapt the vaccination procedure to suit the child's personal
needs. Homeopathic physicians are by no means hostile to
vaccination. On the contrary, homeopathy offers good
resources for alleviating the adverse effects of vaccination.
REWARDING
Homeopathy is a very rewarding therapy. "It is good to see that
after a homeopathic treatment, the child has acquired a better
balance. It has become more mature. What used to be a
behavioural problem in the past is now suddenly no longer a
problem". Spectacular results are sometimes also achieved in
more severe cases. She is not discouraged by the fact that
opponents of homeopathy dismiss her successes as "serendipitous". "Body follows mind" – more basic research needs to
be done, since the solution to the homeopathic enigma is to
be found in physics and not in chemistry. Apparently
Dr. Kossakowski is not alone in her opinion, although at present
it is still controversial.
The interview was done by Frank Bech, Amsterdam, March 2005.
25
CONCLUSION
In a time of rapidly changing circumstances and habits, but also
of new developments in health policy, modern paediatrics can
point the way in a new, groundbreaking direction. Although
children – especially in Europe – live under the most advanced
conditions, a widespread lack of physical and mental-emotional
exercise, dietary deficits and an excess of allopathic medicines
can be deleterious to children's health.
Illness also needs to be redefined and not merely accepted as an
adverse situation. Illness offers the child a chance to become
healthy by using its inherent abilities, exercising its own
initiative and developing its personality. The child thus becomes
the exclusive focus of all medical endeavours. Its individuality
must be the physician's starting point for finding the appropriate form of therapy. Perceiving the child as an independently
acting person, and not merely as a patient to whom medicine is
administered from outside and who is treated from outside,
must be the initial point of approach to all therapy.
This paediatric medicine must continue to be based on the use
of child-appropriate medicines of a potency suited to the needs
of the child's body and which support conventional medicine at
the critical points.
Paediatrics must also increasingly be understood as a health
promoting discipline: wherever health exists, it must be
maintained and should be seen as the basis of the child's further
development.
When it takes all these aspects into account, paediatrics can
fulfil all the requirements both of medicine and of parents
themselves.
26
27
ECHAMP
European Coalition on Homeopathic and
Anthroposophic Medicinal Products E.E.I.G.
Avenue Livingstone 33
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Phone
+32-2-235 09 81
Fax
+32-2-235 09 82
Email
[email protected]
http
www.echamp.org
ECHAMP gratefully acknowledges the achievements of the editing team (Sabine Backes-Aghte with Frank Bech and Christine Wild).
1st edition, April 2005
Illustrations: Our sincere thanks to Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, Dr. Peithner KG nunmehr GmbH & Co, VSM Geneesmiddelen BV,
WALA Heilmittel GmbH and Weleda AG for the pictures used in this brochure, as well as the private pictures and drawings received from the families
Appel, Backes-Aghte, Bech, De Decker and Zupan.
Layout: International Graphics & Productions
Copyright 2005 by ECHAMP E.E.I.G., Brussels, Belgium. All rights reserved. Except for the explicitely by law mentioned exceptions, nothing from this
brochure may be duplicated, saved or published on any way, without the explicitely preceding and written confirmation from ECHAMP E.E.I.G.