Snip-Its

Vaccines

Every year, numerous parents are shocked to learn their child’s immunizations are not up to date. With so many new diseases, not to mention some throwbacks from yesteryear, and numerous trips to the pediatrician for another round of inoculations, it’s tough to know exactly what shots your child needs or has had. Unfortunately, the rules change all the time. What was current last year is so 2006. To help you keep track of your child’s health, here is a list of diseases and their necessary inoculations that every parent should know about.

Baby Shots • Diphtheria (the “D” of DTaP) causes a thick coating on the tonsils and serious breathing problems.

• Tetanus (or lockjaw) lives in the soil and infects through a cut, like a rusty nail or poison ivy.

• Pertussis is a miserable whooping cough lasting for months.

• Polio (IPV) is a virus that causes permanent paralysis.

• Prevnar protects against pneumococcus which causes very serious pneumonia and blood infections.

• Measles and Rubella are highly contagious viruses causing fever and rash. Rubella can cause mental retardation and deafness in unborn babies. Mumps causes swelling of the saliva glands and infertility in adult males.

• Hemophilus influenza B (HIB) causes meningitis (an infection of the brain lining) and breathing illnesses like pneumonia.

• Hepatitis B is an incurable virus of the liver, passed through body fluids, blood and during birth.

• Varicella (chicken pox) will keep your child (and you!) home for two weeks with crops of miserable itchy “pox.” It can also cause a serious pneumonia.

Preschool Requirements

In addition to the inoculations listed above, preschools and public schools are recommending two doses of Hepatitis A, and requiring a second Varicella dose. Other recommended vaccines include three infant doses of Rotavirus, which causes severe diarrhea; and the yearly flu vaccine, beginning at six months of age. Remember the first year a child under the age of nine gets a flu shot, it’s a two-dose series, four to six weeks apart. Immunizations have dramatically decreased the instances of many of these diseases in the United States. For more information visit the Center for Disease Control’s Web site at: www.CDC.gov/vaccines/schedules. Next issue, Debby Godwin sheds some light on adolescent and adult inoculations.

Chiropractic Care

Nothing is more unattractive, or as easy to correct, as slouching. Good posture is so important; sitting and standing tall, as well as spinal hygiene exercises, all contribute to a healthy spine and nervous system, and ultimately, a healthy you. Just like flossing our teeth for oral hygiene, good posture can be achieved with time and commitment. Look at a baby or a pet when they first wake up. They instinctively take the time to stretch, an instinct that stretches the dura mater, thus activating the nervous system, brain, muscles (including the heart), and sometimes even realigning a few vertebra. While I encourage family chiropractic preventive care, I don’t have to see patients as often if they engage in a daily spinal hygiene routine. For the best spinal health, your chiropractor can recommend a routine to match your specific needs. These routines, which take only five minutes each morning and five minutes each evening, will add years to your life, and life to your years.