Hello Warren:

It is very intresting to note that this is not allowed for children under 10 years. My son is 6 and he has a VSD (hole in the heart) and i was confused but succumbed to pressure as the docs said he was a high risk case for swine-flu. I never take any flu shots (ever) so myself and my wife stayed away!

Best Regards

Giri

Warren, Are you also opposed to the regular flu vaccine? I've been blessed with a good immune system and rarely get sick. I never received a flu vaccine until last year (at 45). I didn't get sick more or less than usual, but I assumed it was another piece of prevention that isn't hurting me.

Hello Warren:

I just started reading this blog a couple of days ago, and it has a wealth of information. Thanks for all the good work you are doing in educating consumers....

Just to give a bit of background on why I even started looking at supplements and stumbled on your site:

My son (who is going to turn 6 in december) started facial tics a few years ago. Iam not sure when it actually started, but the symptoms have been more persistent in the past year. These are the symptoms I have seen since his birth:

Birth - 3 years(2003-2006):

When I tried to offer him a bottle ( around 8 months of age) the only way he would take it is if he was allowed to twirl my hair. Slowly that became a habit and he would need to twirl someone's hair in order to go to sleep (he was co-sleeping until age 3). Even now, he would try to twirl his hair or someone else's hair, if he gets too tired at night.
He never recd. a flu shot in the first three years of his life.


(2007)
When he turned 4, we had to switch his peaditrician, because the old one had moved. This new peaditirician did give him his first flu shot in 2007. In December 2007, my son developed Lymph Adenoma and had to be hospitalised for four days for IV-antibiotics. It was a pretty severe infection on the right side of his neck leading to Torticollis for which he needed physio therapy. Until this day we do not know if it was a strep or a staph infection. All we knew was that it was a bacterial one that was completely cured.

(2008 Jan -2009 May)
However, this is when his tics started (mild neck rotation as though his hair was bothering the back of his neck- hardly noticeable). He then joined Kinderggarten in fall of 2008. He is a very bright kid and his teacher had only the best things to say about his ability in reading,writing and math. By end of 2008, he recd. another flu shot. That year his tics started getting apparent(started with mild eye blinking and by the spring allergy season he had nose wrinkling, stretching his jaw, excessive yawning etc).


(2009 June - 2008 September)

I changed his diet to include more Bananas, Black beans, spinach, almonds etc. and cut out some dairy (more magnesium, phosphorus etc.) His motor tics however completely ceased during the summer of '09. I mentioned this to the peaditrician and she said that I should wait util fall and see if it comes back when school starts again. Until October of '09 my son had no facial tics. In October I gave him the flu shot again (up until now, I was not suspicious of the flu shot at all). Co-incidentally, it was also the time of fall allergies and he was also being bullied by another class in kid. Whatever, the trigger may be (mild fall allergies,stress or flu shot) , the facial tics were back. Also, the First grade teachers are complaining that my child is not paying much attention in school. He is still a very bright child who is at the top of his class with respect to reading and writing. However, he day dreams a lot, does not pay attention when the teacher wants him to transition from one activity to another. I have never had the problem of getting his attention at home unless it is food time ( he is a very picky eater and is always fidgeting or playing with some toy or dreaming wduring meal times). My son claims that he does not pay attention in school because everything is too easy ( which is true - since he can read at a higher level and his math skills are at a higher level than the first grade curriculum).

However, all this lead me to beleive there must be some way of trying to change his nutrition to help him combat the tics. For all I know, the tics may be bothering him, leading him to be inattentive in school.

That's when I started doing some research and landed on the Omega -3 supplements. Do you think the Omega-3 would be a good supplement for my child? Which product(S) should I give him to help his condition? What should the dosage be? Also, my son cannot swallow any capsules, so can I squeeze out the oil and give it to him in a teaspoon?


My son gets a lot of vegetables and fruits in his diet( because I am asian vegeterian). He also gets some meat but very little fish. He also suffered from frequent growing pains, that has subdued a lot after I started giving him bananas every day.

Btw, next year, I plan to postpone his flu shot to nov-dec, just to see if he is tic free in october. If he does not have any tics, I may not gve him the flu shot and try to boost his immunity in other ways.

I also have a one year baby who recd. her first flu shot in oct. I am concerned for her...

Any advise on all these topics would be greatly helpful.

Thank you.

Hi Giri,

Remember that this is only the law in Australia at the moment. I am not sure if if other countries have also applied this. I know that the US has not.

If you do have an injection insist that it is from a single dose vial as that is less likely to contain thimersosal.

Hi Larry,

Personally I would not bother with the flu vaccine, ever. They very rarely get the strain right. They can only take a guess and the odds of getting it right are less than a nights gambling in Vegas.

If it from a multi-vial source then it is likely to contain thimersosal a derivative of mercury which you don't want in your body.

I never get the flu and yet I am exposed to people with it from time to time. I fly a lot on long haul flights with people seezing and coughing. Maintaining a good immune system will always beat a flu shot. I attribute my high immunity to Total Balance.

Hello Jayanthi,

It is interesting that the problem seems to coincide with winter or the flu shot period.

I personally would give the flu shot a miss for him if he was my boy and try to build up his immunity in other ways. I would certainly be giving him Omega 3. If you are squeezing out the capsules then I would give him two a day if using our brand (which I honestly believe is the best you can get). Our product is not a commodity like most fish oils but a special blend which we have developed and produce ourselves.

Does he get much sun during the summer period? It is possible he may not be getting enough and may start developing a Vitamin D deficiency by the end of the year. Ensure that he gets as much sun as practical during the summer.

I would also suggest that you try him on our Total Balance children's tablets if you think he could take them. They are smaller than the adult ones and quite slippery and easy to swallow. If you want to try then order a bottle and if he can't take it let me know and I will arrange a full refund for you.

If the banana's helped some of his pains it would seem to indicate that he may have a deficiency in potassium which could also mean that he may be deficient in other minerals which is why I suggested the Total Balance Childrens.

Last suggestion. It seems like his diet is good but because you are vegetarian he may not be getting enough animal protein and fat and that is essential for good physical development. Could you try to get some good meat or fish into his diet.

Good luck with all this. Please keep in touch and let me know how you get on.

Thanks a lot for the quick response. I had already ordered the Omega- 3 (2 bottles) prior to posting in your blog.

I wanted to know if there is anything else I need to give him.

My son does get a fair bit of lentils and chicken in his diet, but very little fish(mainly because I don't know how to cook it). How much fish should he eat while he is on the omega-3 supplements? He also gets a lot of sun during summer and is quite active through the whole year(soccer, Taek-won-do, swimming etc). However, as you know there is not much sun in New York city in the winter months.

Re. my daughter who just turned 1 yesterday - is there anything I can start giving her? I plan to raise her vegeterian and would love to give fish oil supplements. What is your recommendation?

I plan to get on the Omega-3 supplement as well. What is an adult dose? What are the benefits for an adult(esp. women)? Would I be better of taking the Total Balance instead of the Omega-3 or should I take both?

Also, do I automatically get enrolled in the loyalty program if I spend more than $300 a year? How does it work?

Thanks again
Rukmani

Hi Jayanthi,

With regard to your daughter I would suggest squeezing the contents of one soft gel on her food every second day.

You should take 2 soft gels of Omega 3 a day and if your budget will stretch to it try to add the Total Balance as well. With both the Total Balance and the Omega3 you are laying a good foundation for your health.

I will ask Chantal to ensure you are enrolled in the loyalty program. When it comes to reordering you can select a regular order or just log into your account each time you are ready to order.

I appreciate your support.

Interesting info on the swine flu, here in Ireland its being proposed as the only way to protect oneself. I agree with your analysis of it.

Hi Warren,

I am absolutely against vaccines as well, but you said that it contains mercury which is a deadly poison, but yet, there are thousands of people who take it without getting killed.

Also, what is the point of adding mercury there anyway?

Thiomersal is used to prevent any contamination and stop any growth of bacteria or fungus. and its found in really tiny amounts in vaccines. and the benefits are that it doesn't reduce the potency of the vaccine. yeah but i think now they are reducing the use of that or replacing it with other alternatives. and its only used because they use the same vial many times, if it was a once off use and chuck, it wouldn't really need it. but thiomersal gets degraded into ethyl mercury which does not accumulate in the body... but they did some studies and experiments and found no conclusive evidence of any harmful effects but they did stop using it for children vaccines 'just in case'... so yeah eh ive gotten vaccines since i was born, i don't have any neurological disorders...lol so yeah im not against vaccines, especially the ones that have been around a long time like the diphteria, bordetella pertussis and tetanus shots and mumps and some other ones... i think they are important since you actually build some immunity and memory cells from those, so if you do actually get the bacterial infection you don't come down very sick... some of these diseases you can die from! and hey look what happened for the polio vaccine! eradicated in most countries! aren't you glad? and the smallpox vaccine as well which eradicated that disease!

oh BUT i don't see the point of getting the swine influenza vaccine... its pretty mild anywho, especially if your healthy... and they rushed it through and also i don't like the whole government scare tactics so eh won't even bother with this vaccine

Good comments Stefanos.