This is personal & I want your family to feel vibrantly healthy and happy
Dr Joiwind Lowe, DACM - Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
A bit about Alternative Pediatrics
I've asked groups of doctors at conferences if they treat children and far too often, they all say, "No." They share that they're not comfortable with kids, don't know how to talk to them, are afraid of liability, or are afraid of doing the wrong thing. Fortunately, this has started to change... and now that the ball is rolling there are so many great practitioners helping kids heal. And I want to make sure there are many more.
I've both been a kid - and been the mother of a kid - saved by alternative medicine. I've treated kids with uncontrolled asthma, digestive disorders, skin diseases, and low immune systems despite excellent conventional medical care.
What I know is that we need both biomedicine (aka conventional) and alternative medicine, because life can be complicated. Alternative Pediatrics includes countless modalities, healing technologies, ancient medical traditions, and subspecialties. Alternative medicine can be used alone, with conventional medicine, or in concert as a collection of modalities.
My specialty is NAET for asthma, allergies, and immune issues. I will bring you what I know. Alternative Pediatrics is (finally!) a rapidly growing world, and I couldn't be more excited to explore it with you and help you navigate it.
Your family's healthcare in your hands, naturally
A bit about me
I know way too much about asthma, and have seen it grow much too common. My asthma story goes way back... right to the beginning.
I was a sickly baby, so allergic that my mother was continuously inventing new solutions. I was allergic to diapers and dairy and breastmilk. She always found a way to keep me healthy, by drinking an insane amount of water to nurse, by taking me to naturopaths and homeopaths when my medications couldn't stabilize me, and by helping me with special diets. By the time I was a high school senior, my guidance counselor told me not to even consider graduating on time because I'd spent too much of the year out sick. I pushed through anyway and walked the stage with my class.
The medications were so hard on me and I spent my time begging for an extra venotlin each month because I'd used it all up, practicing breathing exercises while inhaling nebulized steroids, and wondering why my heart was always beating so fast. I had nerve pain throughout my ribcage because the muscles were so tight. My mother was a registered nurse, and we would try to figure out what could help me. I was on every elimination diet in the world and by prom, I had to have my size two dress taken in.
At seventeen, I had a dream that I needed acupuncture and she took me seriously when I shared it in the morning. This was the beginning of a whole new life for both of us.
As a child, I was the only asthmatic I knew. If you are reading this, you're here for a reason and know how much has changed! Asthma is at epidemic proportions. I know we can all heal.
Fast-forwarding through my story, it took a full seven years of diligence, regular acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment, and lots of challenge to get off of all of my medication. For the following two years, I needed ventolin and sometimes a few puffs of inhaled steroids if I caught a cold, had dairy, or tried to run. By this time, both my mother and I were practicing acupuncturists, and she always finds the best practitioners, teachers, and modalities. She studied NAET, Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques, and by the second treatment, I no longer needed medication after dairy. This story is all very Miami Beach, but... just at the end of the Calcium Mix treatment, I roller bladed to a friend's house (!! no medication after roller blading!!) where a pizza had been ordered. I was hungry and decided to just have a slice and a puff... but did not need it and haven't had any reaction to dairy since.
I studied NAET and eventually made it the focus of my practice, founding NAET Kids to treat pediatric asthma and allergies.
I know asthma as a patient and a practitioner... but I also know it as a mother. This is by far the most painful role of the three.
It is another long story, and I may write about it at some point, but the short version is this. My 18 month old baby couldn't breathe. This had never happened before. This is terrifying even with my experience and knowledge. I rushed her to Miami Beach Pediatrics, where I was working at the time, and the wonderful Dr Eisenberg sent us straight to the hospital. He said my baby, the love of my life, was the worst asthmatic he had seen. Heartbreak and terror. I truly understand what this means. She was admitted to intensive care, and after a year of both nebulizers and alternative medicine treatments, she was symptom-free and off of all medication. Now a teenager, my baby may need a bronchodilator once a year, after a bad cold, but that's it.
I want to help your babies, too! Alternative Pediatrics is another dream of mine. Children deserve holistic care, for asthma and everything else.