Since the birth of my kids, my husband and my pediatrician have numerous times put into question my use of alternate medicine to treat my sensitive children. But 8 years into the lives of my children, both have learned to respect that choice. While both still indicate they do not understand how such treatments could possibly be effective, watching my kids react to these treatments much more effectively than modern medicine drugs has changed their minds.
There are different kinds of alternate medicines, so far I have learned about four that I use on a regular basis. But one thing I learned is that each person’s needs are very unique and it is very important to understand how to treat ourselves. Health professionals can help understand and access treatments but they often misdiagnose and can not (due to time and lack of knowledge) understand the needs of HSP.
I am lucky that our pediatrician is married to a researcher in ADHD and slowly has realized, as more kids enter her practice with ailments she does not know how to treat, to trust parents. She has helped us tremendously with access to blood test etc, but she has stopped making decisions on treatment without my input. She now works with me to decide on a path to healing….
My point is that we all need to learn to listen to our bodies, recognize the triggers in ailment and test different modes of healing. Eventually, we become experts about our own bodies and minds…. This requires a very different type of listening and analysis but boy is it every worth it. I find that after eight years of studying these alternate methods, we are really becoming expert at how to deal with ourselves.
Anyway, my family relies on the following for ailment treatments:
1- Listening to my children: I have learned (still learning) to trust my children and I often give them rest days from school when they get overwhelmed and saturated with social stimulus. We are very fortunate to have our children in an alternate school rich with teachers who know how to listen to families and who are very empathic. Slowly we are getting better at listening and reacting in positive ways and not out of frustrations when faced with a NO I won’t. Learning to get to the why in a gentle, empathic and aware way, trying to tern these moments into learning opportunities, goes so much further then forcing a child to do something he/she knows is desperately trying to tell you is hurting them. The psychology of the sensitive is very different and again my husband and I had to learn to fix our relationship and modes of communication to reduce the stress on our children.
The needs of sensitive people are really different from regular people. And if we can help children learn to respect their sensitivities not ignore them, I believe that they will be much less apt to dysfunction as adults such as addictions, or overeating. Many of these things are ways for sensitives to blur their signals and not feel the pain or compensate for being overwhelmed…. But boy, it is hard to re-learn how to prioritize this way. it means being willing to keep a child at home often…. .And put up with the criticism of people who assume your children are controlling me…. my husband being one of these people….. we now have a mutual respect situation where he will articulate such thoughts but not really expecting me to listen to him… He understand our kids need a different approach, so he respects my choices….
2- Detoxes: I have learned that our moods turn to negative and that we get much more overwhelmed when we are overburdened by the chemical reactions to food or other sensitivities. This usually means we need to clean our organs and boost our immune system. Boy what a difference a simple detox can make. I do not detox my children the same way I detox myself. Adults can handle things children can’t. But you can detox a child using simple foods and teas. Milk thistle herbal tea, sea salt (and low amount of Epsom salt) baths, sea salt potatoes chips, home made chicken stalk, all can be used very effectively to detox the body and feel a lot better very quickly. One of my children need kidney and liver detox periodically while the other one needs a lymphatic detox often. Simple creams can clean the lymphatic systems…. completely different needs…. and different solutions. I have found an amazing food supplement that we use in case of extreme immune deprivation, Vega carries a food supplement that rebuilds very quickly.
3- Natural medicines: Herbs, foods and plants are very helpful in healing with external ills such as rashes, etc. My kids and I are so sensitive to chemicals that a simple herbal teas with the appropriate properties for what ever the symptoms often work very well….
4- Chinese medicine: One of the most ancient form of healing practice, Chinese medicine seem to be designed for highly sensitive people. For instance, one of my kids and I get sick from too much wind. Most people laugh at me when I say things like this as it seems absurd. But when I looked at that system I immediately connected to how my own body and that of one of my sons react to the environment. And their treatments work on us like a charm. The nice thing is that it uses very small dosages in terms of drugs and is a holistic practice that incorporate physical/mental/sensorial/spirital into how to treat a person. It is focused on the specificity of individuals and while using very simple symbols is really very powerful.
5- Naturopathic Medicine works with the wisdom of healing practices based in Chinese Medicine, Clinical Nutrition, Homeopathy and Herbal Medicine. Practitioners view health as a delicate interplay between the mind, body, soul and the environment, considering all aspects of the self to be intimately involved in an individual’s current state of health and disease.
6- Homeopathy remedies: One of my children can not handle antibiotics, they make him sick but he will react to one dose of homeopathy in very positive ways. For instance today I am trying to help him with very painful canker sores and a rash on his face that has been persistent for two weeks. We have tried a few remedies, I can attenuate the rash with olive oil and honey but so far, the rash has been coming back quickly. Yesterday, I decided to try Borax, and finally today, after an aggravation in symptom, a good sign that the remedy is working, I increased the dosage. Within two hours, the rash and pain went away….
8- Aromatherapy: I have been using essential oils with my kis for quite a while. A nd slowly I have come up with recipes that work for them. It is incredible how kuch can be accomplished via the sense of smell.
Now, it is important to understand that it took years for me to come up with appropriate solutions for my family but my point is that we all can. Listening to our needs and responding to them in unique ways is so important. I am slowly learning to listen to my inner voice and ignore the noise such as criticism, fear, worry and need for others to approve… My kids have forced this issue. I am glad 🙂
The Highly Sensitive Family 
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