Is it possible to treat sick children at home?

Is it possible to treat sick children at home all the while avoiding sometimes unnecessary medication and expense and avoiding exposure to additional germs at a doctor's office?  The answer is yes!  Before I go any further, I must clarify that I am very pro doctor. I am thankful we have doctors when needed, but I think our culture is way too reliant upon doctors and has lost the confidence to take care of ourselves. 

Loosing our incredible healthcare coverage in 2011 due to my husband's job change is actually what began this journey.   We originally settled on a high deductible plan through United after my husband changed jobs, but we knew this was not wise as any emergency could drain our savings dry.  We stumbled upon Samaritans Ministries just a few months later.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with Samaritans healthcare sharing, click here to check out an older post about it as well as the Samaritan's website http://samaritanministries.org/ for a plethora of information.  However, if you want a brief summary so you can understand this post, Samaritans healthcare sharing is a group of Christians who come together and agree that they want to share one another’s burdens. Each month members send an amount of money (in our case $370 for a two parent family) to another Christian that they are assigned to who is in need of it that month in order to help them pay their medical bills along with a note of encouragement.  The Samaritan members are responsible for well visits and preventative care.  If there is a need that meets the qualifications, Samaritans steps in after $300 spent.  So for example, if you break your leg, you pay $300, and Samaritans members will pay the rest.  One of the many questions I get from people is how do you do Samaritans healthcare sharing which does not cover sick visits (unless one particular illness adds up to a cost of over $300) or well visits as young children generally frequent the doctor quite often compared to adults?   

Joining Samaritans has really made our family own our health.  Months before we switched over to Samaritans from traditional healthcare, I began researching herbs, essential oils, and homeopathy to treat various ailments.  It has now been three years this month since our young children have frequented the doctor for an illness.  I have had a few phone consults with a nurse and many frequent phone calls and/or emails with friends more knowledgeable than myself concerning how to treat various illnesses from ear infections to fungus to severe respiratory illness, etc. with natural medicine.  Thankfully, I have been able to treat all illnesses thus far at home.  Consequently, we have only had to pay for well visits with the exception of recently taking our middle child to a doctor trained both in medicine and alternative medicine due to chronic gastrointestinal issues; however, we just submitted these bills to Samaritans to be fully covered.   

Looking back to when we had traditional insurance with a low deductible and low copays, I frequented the doctor for fevers and any ailment my children had because it did not cost me much, and at that point in time, I had no idea it was even possible to treat various aliments at home.  Now, as we are responsible for the full visit, we use the wait and see approach and treat ourselves at home with various herbs, essential oils, and homeopathic medicine at the first sign of illness.  Paying in full for something really did cause us to take ownership of our health because we did not want to fork over money for sick visits unless we had to.  Just the other day, my oldest started to come down with a cold.  He told me right away, and we loaded him up on healthy foods and some herbs and by the next morning, he had no signs.  That does not always happen, but quite often if we nip something in the bud with herbs, rest, and healthy food, we can stop the illness in its tracks. 

The biggest key to staying away from the doctor is prevention i.e. the food we put in our bodies.  My eyes have been so opened to the lack of "real" food in our supermarkets through the journey we have been on with our second child who has an overabundance of food sensitivities.  So much of the food Americans fill their bellies with is fillers, preservatives, etc.  When we feed our body "real" food the majority of the time, our bodies respond beautifully, and we are able to fight off disease easier and feel full of energy.  The reverse is also true.  When we feed our bodies preservatives, fillers, and/or chemicals, our bodies suffer, disease can set it, we feel sluggish, and in children, there can even be behavioral issues. 

So, is it possible to treat most illnesses at home with young children?  Most definitely I respond!  It just takes patience, perseverance, and a friend who is maybe one step ahead of you.