Why I'm not afraid of measles
Jennifer Schmid
Revised January 9, 2020
One can’t deny that we are in a crisis when it comes to preventing infectious disease. Over the last 80 years, vaccines have become the Centers for Disease Control’s and World Health Organization’s sole method of preventing these diseases – at least the ones for which a vaccine exists. While this method bodes well for pharmaceutical companies’ profits, there is little evidence that it serves the general population.
Unfortunately, anyone who questions the wisdom, efficacy or safety of vaccinations as the sole prevention method for these diseases is immediately and forever discredited with the label “anti-vaxxer” by the media, politicians and general public. This characterization is a disservice not only to those parents whose children have been injured or killed by vaccines such as measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR – not to mention the children themselves – but also to the thousands of scientists and health care practitioners across the world who have risked their careers and reputations in an attempt to open the dialogue about additional, non-pharmaceutical ways to support the immune system.
Instead, parents and families seeking safe and effective strategies towards illness, with or without vaccination, are left without the information they need to make an empowered choice about what’s right for their families. Being cornered into only one option for their children, – vaccination -- they are not provided with the international right to informed consent.
Overreacting over Measles
Nowhere is there more animosity and hatred against so-called “anti-vaxxers” than with measles. Both the dependence on a vaccine that is neither 100% effective nor safe for all people as well as the lack of honest dialogue have caused a huge division between those who rely solely on the vaccine and those seeking out alternatives. The fear in society is palpable.
You don’t need to be afraid.
I am not afraid of measles.
I am not afraid of measles not only because I understand how to prevent more serious reactions to measles, but also because I have an illness prevention strategy for my family that I follow not just for measles but for all infectious diseases.
One doesn’t get measles because one has a vaccine deficiency.
History tells us that measles is a disease of undernourishment, particularly deficiencies in vitamins A and C. This means that the more deficient one is in vitamins A and C, the worse one’s reaction to measles can be. As scientists isolated these nutrients in the early 1900s, people became more aware of the effect of nutrition on infectious disease. Public health officials worked to provide supplementation, usually in the form of organ meats like liver, to at-risk communities, and as a result, the measles death rates dropped significantly, down more than 98% in the US by the time the measles vaccine was licensed in 1963.
While vaccination can offer some level of immunity against measles for many individuals, it is certainly not as effective as the “natural” immunity conferred through acquiring the disease and/or for newborn infants breastfed by mothers who have natural immunity. Likewise, many of the ingredients in the MMR vaccine – the only vaccine for measles that is publicly available – have the potential to cause grave harm, and many parents do not want to put their children at risk of adverse reactions.
Public health officials now recognize that we’re in a quandary, because very few people in society actually have natural immunity to measles. They feel that vaccination is our only option, end of discussion. Worse, it’s impossible to know how many people think they are immune to measles via the vaccine but aren’t.
Why shouldn’t you believe it when people say that anyone who has been vaccinated against measles is “perfectly safe” from getting the disease? Because vaccination is less than 100% effective, even if everyone in the population has been vaccinated. Let’s look at the numbers:
A 1984 “outbreak” of 21 measles cases in Illinois occurred in a “school population with a documented immunization level of 100%.”
In the so-called Disneyland outbreak in 2015, approximately 20% of the cases came from people who were fully vaccinated, i.e., they received at least two shots during their lifetime.
The California Department of Public Health concedes that approximately 25% of all measles cases will occur in those who have been vaccinated, for unknown reasons.
This goes against the popular belief that being fully vaccinated confers immunity in 98%-100% of the population.
That’s why everyone should follow an Illness Prevention Strategy by strengthening their health and immune system, even if they are already vaccinated. Although I was vaccinated as both a child and adult, and the antibodies in my blood show that I likely have immunity to measles, I’m still going to follow my Illness Prevention Strategy for all the reasons stated above.
Like all prevention strategies (including vaccination), my Illness Prevention Strategy won’t prevent illness 100% of the time because everyone is different, but it should definitely help to strengthen one’s immune system and increase one’s resilience to catching a virus. Most of these strategies are safe for infants and children, but it's important to consult with a holistic healthcare practitioner to understand what’s best in your situation.
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MY ILLNESS PREVENTION STRATEGY
My Illness Prevention Strategy is based on three important principles:
Consuming nutrient-dense whole foods
Supporting the microbiome, especially in the digestive tract
Reducing the stress load on the body, mind and spirit
1. Consuming Nutrient-Dense Whole Foods
The immune system can only do its job with an adequate supply of vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A, C, D and K and the minerals calcium and magnesium. These nutrients activate the cells and cellular processes involved in immunity. As mentioned above, docs used to consider measles a disease of vitamin A deficiency because cases are so much more severe when someone is low on vitamin A. This is why cod liver oil was so successful as a measles remedy back in the 1920s and 1930s.
My favorite foods to supply these nutrients include:
Cod liver oil
Butter from grass-fed cows
Raw sauerkraut, which is high in vitamin C and also feeds the gut (see #2)
Bones and bone broth (think lamb shanks, real chicken broth and sardines)
Almonds
Fermented dairy such as plain yogurt
Mushrooms such as turkey tail and shiitake
2. Supporting the microbiome
Our microbiome is the next frontier in medicine. Why?
If you haven’t heard, your body contains ten (10) times more microbial cells from beneficial bacteria, fungi and yeasts than it does human cells. Most of these microbial cells reside in our digestive system, also known as “the gut.” (The rest live in our respiratory system and on our skin.) To top it off, the tissue and cells in our gut are responsible for 80% of our immune function. Translation? You can’t be healthy if the microbes in your gut are unhealthy.
The bad news is, our environment is full of toxins that harm our digestive system and its microbiome. These include pesticides and herbicides such as glyphosate (found in Monsanto’s Round-Up), medications like antibiotics and the Pill, sugar, and genetically modified organisms. The good news is, there is a LOT that we can do to keep our gut and its microbes healthy and happy.
Some of my favorite ways to support the microbiome are:
Raw fermented sauerkraut (which yes, is full of nutrients like vitamin C, too)
Plain yogurt (Are you seeing a pattern here? ;)
Kombucha and kefir
Kale, beet greens, and other green, leafy vegetables
Supplemental probiotics
An oral zeolite supplement to remove the toxins that we ingest
Handwashing with a natural soap containing essential oils like lavender or orange instead of antibacterial products containing Triclosan, which is known to be harmful to our immune system, can alter hormones, and contribute to antibiotic resistant bacteria
As you add in these healthy foods and habits, try cutting back on sugar and refined carbs, which can feed nasty bacteria and yeasts instead of the healthy ones. We’ll talk more about sugar below.
3. Reducing the stress load on the body, mind and spirit
Living healthfully in the 21st century is hard work. Stress and stressful situations are all around us! We encounter stressors everywhere we go, from traffic, work, environmental pollutants, finances, our kids, other people’s kids, our parents, health issues (our own and those of others), politics, pharmaceutical drugs… you name it, we are surrounded!
It might sound hopeless, but it’s not. You have the power to overcome many of these stressors. Small, empowering steps taken every day can make a huge difference in how much these stressors impact your health and well-being. Physical stressors can impact our mind and spirit, and vice versa, so take a look at your life and see where you can make some changes.
Here are some of my favorite solutions to reduce the many forms of stress:
Reducing or eliminating intake of sugar and refined carbs, which have ZERO positive impact on our health and well-being
20-30 minutes of moderate exercise that you enjoy, 5 to 7 days/week
An oral zeolite supplement to help bind with toxins (heavy metals, etc.), stimulate the immune system and protect the microbiome from the damage those toxins can cause
Getting adequate sleep – 7 to 9 hours/night
Plant-based calmatives such as organic hemp oil and chamomile tea
10 minutes of quiet time/meditation each day
Spending joyful time with friends and family
Snuggling with a partner, pet, child or all of the above!
Laughing (clinically proven to benefit our health)
Listening to and following your intuition (which can help us set boundaries and keep us out of stressful situations)
Remember, multiple solutions have a synergistic effect on health. They work together.
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What if?
If any of my children do come down with measles, it will be a huge hassle and inconvenience, no doubt. I’ll want to be home to take care of them, and it could impact my work for a couple of weeks. But I’m not afraid that my children are going to die, go blind or become permanently incapacitated.
I will take the following steps:
First, I will nurse them back to health with my Illness Prevention Strategy as well as huge doses of TLC from both myself and the pets.
I will stay in touch periodically with our holistic health provider to make sure that the illness is progressing and then healing as it should.
I will NOT use over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen to reduce fever, which can make a person more contagious and sicker for a longer period of time. Fever is good, so long as we can stay hydrated.
I will also not give them antibiotics, which should never be used in cases of viruses such as influenza or measles because they wreak havoc on immunity wielding gut flora, can cause side effects like diarrhea, and won’t work to kill the virus. (Even the CDC agrees with me on this one.)
I will consult with a homeopath to give them a homeopathic remedy such as Aconitum, which has been used successfully to treat infectious diseases like measles for almost 200 years.
I will limit media stimuli so that they can rest.
I will not run them to the doctors to get vaccinated. Oh my, no. According the vaccine producers, you should never vaccinate when your child is already ill due to the risk of increased fever.
Finally, I will be patient. Measles takes time to heal, but it also brings one’s immune system to a whole new level, and then my daughters will be able to confer that immunity to their own babies through breastmilk when the time comes. While my son won’t be able to say the same, he’ll be able to nurse his own children effectively, should they ever get measles or chicken pox.
And if I come down with measles? Ugh, that would be a HUGE inconvenience, and I would likely feel terrible, but I’m not afraid for my own health and well-being.
I have the strategies I need to get me through.
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