Pertussis and How to "Whoop" the Whooping Cough

First off, I need to state that I am not, by any means, a medical doctor.

Second of all, I need to state that I am not, by any means, over this dreadful cough. This will be the first post on this subject as I will hopefully learn and experience more relief as the days and weeks continue. Yes, you read right- WEEKS (!), as I am currently on week 5, at least.

Third of all, regretfully, I will not be giving you any links because I still feel really cruddy, I'm on my laptop and the articles I read are on my phone. I did write down these facts that lead to my final disclaimer:

• the incubation period (when you are exposed to it and when you show symptoms) is typically 7-10 days, but could be anywhere from 6-20 days
• you are contagious for the first 3 weeks, which is usually before you realize that anything is really wrong (it presents as a typcial cold or a simple cough)
• the cough lasts for months and is called the "100 day cough" because of this

Finally, you need to understand that this post will be full of sarcasm because the more I find out about this disease, the more I realized that so much is known, unknown, diagnosed and undiagnosed.

Alrighty then, without any further ado,

How to "Whoop" the Whooping Cough:

1. Get a vaccine, or don't; get a booster, or don't. Our family history includes the following: me- no booster, I've had the many pretty severe symptoms for 5 weeks, milder coughing for a week or 2 before that; my husband- no booster, seems to have mild symptoms; 13 year old daughter- booster last year, seems to be fine but has coughed a few times this last week (we're keeping tabs on this!); 7 year old daughter- full series of shots (the last boost in 2008), she's started showing signs this last week and is the only one that has actually "whooped"; and finally, my 2 year old son- 2 shots (the last one was 3 months ago!), he's on about week 4 that we can remember.
2. Take antibiotics, or don't. It really depends on when you realize you have pertussis (aka: whooping cough). Antibiotics only do any good in the first 2-3 weeks and the point is to stop you from being contagious. From what I have read, it does very little to help with the actual symptoms and doesn't shorten the disease. I took them, possibly during the right time and they didn't help my symptoms AT ALL. I may or may not have spread it to my family since they may or may not have been exposed to other people with pertussis.
3. Take probiotics, or don't. I don't know about this one because I haven't tried it yet. I have a friend that is on them at the suggestion of her naturopath. I guess you can sprinkle the capsule on food and take it that way. I doubt my son will do that, even more so since she told me her daughter won't. She also mentioned that they make a gummy form, which I will try to find tomorrow. Cod liver oil is also on the naturopath's list of remedies, but again, I know I can't get my son to take this.
4. Don't get angry, it makes the cough worse. For me this means staying away from everyone and not reading anything, especially nothing medical or political. Seeing as I've been very sick for over a month now, you can judge for yourself how good I am at the "no angry" step. I've been better at keeping my son calm, which does help. If he gets upset and cries or yells, he often goes into a coughing fit. You get it, be happy.
5. Be cool, but stay warm. This may be specific to our little family of symptoms, but it seems to be common amongst the 3 of us. We want to be warm but we all need fresh or cool air. I am most comfortable under a blanket with socks and the front door open. My son constantly wants to be outside and sleeps better with the window open but under covers. My daughter is in long sleeves, long pants and a light blanket with the ceiling fan on. Why all the details? Because these are atypical actions for all of us and I noticed them AFTER I read somewhere that this was one of the signs/symptoms that one might be suffering from pertussis. I'm not making this stuff up.
6. Eat chocolate, but not the candy coated kind. Dark chocolate has theobromine in it that helps sooth a cough. I didn't really care about the cough until my son went 3 days without holding anything down. The cough would cause him to gag and upchuck everything he had eaten. Eventually he wasn't even gagging, just throwing it all up as he asked for a bowl. It was quite sad. I haphazardly found the chocolate solution while trying to find a homeopathic remedy for pertussis. Not having any dark chocolate on hand, I gave him some semi-sweet chocolate chips. He hasn't thrown up since. I bought some dark chocolate that he won't eat, so I'll be enjoying the Ghirardelli myself. (no worries there: I eat less of the dark chocolate and I had a $1 off coupon at Walgreens)
7. Cold drinks may help. There are several stages of the disease, and several symptoms that one may experience. All 3 of us seem to be showing different symptoms (that I know about). One homeopathic site I was on suggested that cold liquids may make one feel better. On top of the chocolate, I started giving my son ice water. Being 2, he can't really tell me his symptoms, but since he had been throwing up even tepid water and juice, I figured ice water wouldn't hurt.
8. Check into a homeopathic remedy, if you want. My friend sent me a link to anAustralian Homeopathic group. Alright, here's the homepage: http://homeopathyplus.com.au/ You'll have to search for the pertussis stuff yourself. There were at least half a dozen remedies, depending on what stage and what symptoms you had. One seemed to help me, but it either didn't work on my son or made him worse. It's kind of hard to tell since pertussis runs in stages.
9. Have a pertussis test done, or don't. I don't think it will really matter. It is very rare that this test will come back positive. This is the most frustrating of all things I've come across. I actually read on the CDC website that the clinical test is super sensitive so they don't miss any cases in their studies, but that the public test is super INsensitive so that the public is not alarmed by an outbreak. Wait, aren't you the Center for Disease Control? Yeah, I guess if the public finds out there is a pertussis outbreak you are proving that you aren't controlling anything and that the vaccine doesn't really prevent anything. I guess it does make sense to use a test that won't diagnose anything.
10. Try a juice fast, or don't. I actually did this before I found out I was exposed to pertussis. I was having such a hard time breathing and I felt like I was choking and gagging on everything. Those particular symptoms did improve because there was simply nothing to gag on. I read how to do a juice fast it in a book at Hi Health which included: 2 days of nothing but (raw) fruits and veggies, 3 days of fresh juice (no tomato or orange), and 2 more days of fruits and veggies. I never would have made it without my husband and quite honestly, after day 1 1/2 I didn't want anymore juice. I think I got 8oz down on day 3, and then lived on lemon water. Possibly the most important thing this did for me was to stay away from dairy, which reduced the amount of mucus to hack up. OK, update: that was super, super important so I'm giving it it's own number.
11. AVOID DAIRY LIKE THE PLAGUE. I realize you probably feel like you have the plague already if you have pertussis (although those who have had the plague will probably argue), but if you have dairy you will feel worse. 'Nuf said? Words like phlegm, mucus, paroxysm, etc. are just the beginning. Don't go there, no matter how good the food sounds (although no food probably sounds good), and don't let your child with pertussis have it, no matter how hard he screams. (We bagged up the yogurt and hid it, bought soy milk for cereal...)

What will I be doing next? I was sort of bullied into taking my kids to the doctor tomorrow since my son was still throwing up. I considered cancelling, but since my daughter is still possibly within the 3 week contagious window I will keep the appointment and see if we should start her on some antibiotics. If it can possibly reduce her symptoms and stop the spread of this wretched disease, then I'm going to give her some meds. Ugh. My son is past the contagious point so I'm going to try to find the probiotic gummies, and possibly the cod liver oil if I get it for myself. I'll be going with some probiotics for sure and probably getting another homeopathic remedy based on my new symptoms.

Since it was hard to find, yet has some of the best details on pertussis, I broke disclaimer 3:

http://homeopathyplus.com.au/whooping-cough-homeopathic-prevention-and-treatment-2/

The Sunscreen Report

Well, here's my full report on sunscreen. I've tried to put things in an order that make sense to me and hopefully you. If you really don't care about the research and just want the bottom line then skip down to the bottom where I summarize my decision (look for the italics). I outline some terms and ingredients just so we are all on the same page while trying to understand this.

Terms we should know and understand:

SPF. Sun Protection Factor. This rates the number of times longer that you can stay in the sun than if you were unprotected. IE: if your skin burns in 10 minutes in the sun and you apply a SPF 30, you can stay in the sun 300 minutes without burning. (that would be 10 x 30= 300) The higher the SPF, the longer you can stay in the sun, if the sunscreen is still on. Is a higher SPF really better? Do the math and determine if you are sweating the stuff off and/or swimming. Some sunscreens are better than others at staying on in the water. Would you really stay in the sun for over 4 hours without reapplying sunscreen? It seems like an SPF of 30 would be plenty, but SPF 45 seems to be pretty common and certainly wouldn't hurt.

UVB rays. These are the rays that burn. (B=burn) This is what the SPF rating is talking about, the UVB rays ONLY. Too much UVB and burning can lead to certain types of skin cancer. Currently, in the United States, to claim to be a sunscreen, your product only needs to block UVB rays. Many brands are choosing to include more protection...

UVA rays. These are the aging rays. (A=age) Most importantly, the UVA rays are the ones that can penetrate the skin and affect your cells directly. Not only do UVA rays cause harm by themselves, but it appears that they can push along the effects of the UVB. Europeans are demanding that their products contain some sort of UVA protection as well as UVB. Once again, the US is behind the times and it has to do with the FDA approval process. Regardless of the FDA, there are many brands that have ingredients that block UVA rays and it will probably say so on the package. I'll address this in the ingredients list below.

Ingredients to avoid:

Look in both the active and inactive ingredient list

Taken from http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/103/sunscreens (I added the bold because they were ingredients I recognized readily from my research)

• Benzophenone (benzophenone-3), homosalate, and octy-methoxycinnamate (octinoxate): These chemicals are of more concern because they have shown estrogenic activity in lab tests.
• Padimate-O and Parsol 1789 (2-ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoic acid and avobenzone): These two chemicals have the potential to damage DNA when illuminated with sunlight. On the skin's surface, these chemicals do protect from UV damage; however, once absorbed into the skin, these same chemicals can prove destructive.

http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2007/06/21/what-are-parabens-and-why-should-you-avoid-them/ According to this article, parabens can really mess with your hormones. I was excited to find several fairly inexpensive sunscreens until the list of inactive ingredients had up to 5 different parabens. Yikes! AND, one regular version didn't have any, but the baby formula had 3. One company's sensitive skin formula and baby formula had identical ingredients. Don't be fooled by marketing techniques!

Ingredients that actually do the job:

Avobenzone. Absorbs the UVA rays. This is listed above that there is the possible risk that once it reacts with the sun and is absorbed into the skin it can cause cell damage.

Oxybenzone. Absorbs the UVB rays.

Helioplex. Is really just a fancy name for the process of combining Avobenzone and Oxybenzone and making it chemically stable. Whether or not the 2 ingredients are stable without the heliplex technology is beyond my scope of understanding. There are several sunscreens available with both, but Neutrogena is the proud owner of the Helioplex technology.

The key to understanding the above ingredients is that they ABSORB the rays, they do not block them. They work through a chemical reaction with the sun rays to deflect or reflect the UVA and/or UVB rays. There are only 2 sun "blocks" that actually create a physical barrier between your skin and the ultraviolet rays.

The 2 true Sun "Blocks":

Titanium dioxide. The best I can tell from this site:

http://www.theorganicmakeupcompany.com/CA/titaniumdioxide.asp

is that titanium dioxide is OK as long as it is not "micronized" or presented in a nanoparticle form (that would be less than 100nanometres). Basically, the smaller the particle, the easier it is to absorb in the skin, penetrate the cells, and possibly cause mutation and then cancer. This site uses titanium dioxide in their organic skin care products but has refused a number of requestst to use the micronized version. I have no idea how to determine the size of the particles being used in the different sunscreens on the market.

Zinc Oxide: this is the same ingredient used in Desitin for diaper rash. The same nanoparticle concern is apparent for zinc oxide as was true for titanium dioxide. For me, this puts the 2 equally as potent (good and bad) on the ingredient list.

Here are the products:

(listed in no particular order)

Blue Lizard: Has the good stuff in varying degrees. The BabySPF30 has 10% zinc oxide and 5% titanium dioxide which is fabulous. At $9.95/5oz it is reasonable in price. It does contain parabens so I wouldn't use it on a continual basis, but might recommend it for a super day at the beach.

Burt's Bees: SPF30, 8.5% titanium dioxide. All natural ingredients, none of the above mentioned bad chemicals. $15 for 3.5 oz.

Mexitan: SPF 30, 6% titanium dioxide and 6%zinc oxide. All natural. Online/mail order only. $16.95 for 8 oz.

Neutrogena: Ultra Sheer Dry Touch SPF 55+. Helioplex technology is all I can find out on it via the internet. It bothers me that I can't get a list of other ingredients, even from their own website. This is number one on Consumer Reports as far as protection from UVA and UVB rays and for staying power. It is waterproof and sweatproof and paba-free. $8 for 3 oz.

No-Ad: 2% zinc oxide plus a host of other active ingredients. It has parabens and lists titanium dioxide in the inactive ingredients which makes things a bit confusing for me. I don't know why you would put it in the bottle if it wasn't going to be effective. Consumer Reports liked it for a budget buy, listing it right under Neutrogena because it doesn't stay on as long. At $11 for a 16 oz bottle however, I'd say keep reapplying!

UV Natural: a whopping 24.8% zinc oxide as it's only active ingredient puts this baby at the top of the "block" list. Vegan formula, SPF 30 for 4 hours of sun, and repels water for 40min. It also tops the list on price at $32 for a 4.4 oz bottle. There are several UV Natural products, but I can't get a list of ingredients so I don't know how the baby version compares and don't know about the inactive ingredients. I'll let you know if I stop by REI for a peek (and a sample application?). I'm thinking that this stuff is similar to the thick white stuff life guards wear.

So what will I be using?!

I have a bottle of Burt's Bees that I will be applying to Tasha before she leaves in the morning for a fun-filled day of camp activities. She will be indoors, outdoors, and possibly in water if she chooses to do so. It is too expensive for me to send to camp with her to be oozed out over the floor and smeared into the carpet so I have a small bottle of Coppertone that I will send "just in case" she/they find it necessary to reapply later in the day. It has oxtinoxate and probably parabens, but I don't think a few applications are going to kill her. When this runs out I may get some No-Ad since it has worked for me in the past.

I am definately going to check out Mexitan for future purchases since it seems to be good for us and eco-friendly. They currently have a $4.95 flat rate for shipping so if anyone else is interested please let me know so we can split that cost. Go to http://www.mexitanproducts.com/ and tell me what you think.

For now I'm going to stay away from the super high-priced products. I'll also try to keep the kids in the shade as much as possible.

Something I did not address at all was the texture of the products. I believe that the "blocking" products are more difficult to rub in and thicker. That is what makes them good. Please give me your feedback as you try them so we all can know without wasting our all-mighty dollar. I worry that the newer zinc oxide and titanium dioxide products that are not as white as they used to be are easier to use because of the nano-technology which is bad for us.

The Sunscreen Dilema

There are few things that I know for sure about living in Arizona in the summer. I know that the sun shines a lot. I know that the sun can provide us with needed Vitamin K that can not be replicated with any vitamin. I know that many, many people are worried about the UVA and UVB rays that may damage your skin with too much sun exposure. I know that when you have light skin your chance to burn is greater than if your skin is dark. I know that when you have children everyone seems to be concerned about how you protect your child's skin and apparently it is their business. I also know that these concerned people really do care, and I love them(mom).

I don't know when I became aware of the dangers that may be present in lathering on the sunscreen. Maybe it was the year that I was becoming more aware of the toxins in our world and trying to understand the need for my 15 preschool children to have 15 different sunscreens with their names on them so that no child would put on another child's lotion. At the time, this seemed absurd. Now that I am more educated however, it is not so crazy. The amount of time, effort, and (soon to be) money that I am putting into what type of sunscreen I should use on Tasha (and myself) is astronomical! I've been gathering information, mainly from other moms, for 2 years, and now I have spent at least 2 hours on the Internet trying to distinguish the differences between all the many oxides. After all this studying I don't want anyone putting anything crazy on my kid unless her normally covered skin is going to be in the sun for an extended period of time during the worst hours of the day. Do I want to prevent a 3rd degree sunburn? Sure. Do I worry about a little pink? Nope. Will I freak out if someone puts sunscreen on her? Nope, I know they are just concerned.

So my biggest dilema has been trying to determine which compound in sunscreen is most effective at stopping the bad rays, while at the same time not promoting free radical production (whatever that means!) on the skin and bloodstream of my precious little 4 year old. I thought one very smart mom was onto something when she recommending titanium dioxide. So I researched it and found this article:

http://organicpassion.info/zinc-oxide-sunscreen-vs-titanium-oxide-sunscreen/

From this article I did a lot of linking, grabbed my ancient bottle of Coppertone, and did several more Google searches. I guess the titanium oxide isn't all it's cracked up to be, but who really knows?! It is pretty hard to find a sunscreen with ONLY zinc oxide as it's active ingredient. Even Burt's Bees has titanium oxide in it. Most will have one form or another of some sort of octinoxate,oxybenzone, ect. I did find one, UV Natural Sport with an SPF 30+. It is $30.80 for 4.4 oz. available at REI:

http://www.rei.com/product/769130

Or maybe here:
https://www.allnaturalbaby.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_9&products_id=1056&zenid=69bd5f5b191f243a1b77646ea89a0b3a&OVRAW=zinc%20oxide%20sunscreen&OVKEY=zinc%20oxide%20sunscreen&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=855090521&OVKWID=5113727521

So what's a mom to do? The simplest answer would be to keep your kids and yourself out of the stinking sun, cover up, and stay in the shade. Of course that is easier said than done but maybe I'll have to try harder...

And in case you want to really read some crazy stuff here's an article about how sunscreens don't prevent cancer and how the estrogenic chemicals in some sunscreens are affecting gender traits:

http://www.skinbiology.com/toxicsunscreens.html