The Truth About Fevers: What Your Kids’ Symptoms Are Really Telling You
Episode 292
This episode dives into the misunderstood world of childhood fevers and recurring illnesses, busting conventional myths and exploring the deeper emotional and psychological layers behind kids’ symptoms. Dr. Nick and Dr. Nicole get real about their own family’s experiences, the power of self-reflection, and why being a conscious parent is the ultimate medicine. Expect truth bombs, practical wisdom, and a call to see illness as a feedback mechanism—not just a problem to fix. #FeverFacts #MindBodyParenting #HolisticHealth #EmotionalHealing #ParentingWisdom #IntegrativeMedicine #ChildHealth #ConsciousParenting #FamilyWellness #SelfReflection #BeyondTheSymptoms #TruthBombs #IntegrativeYouRadio 3 Key Takeaways: Fever Isn’t the Enemy: Most of us were taught to fear fevers, but the real story is that fever is often a sign the body is entering healing mode—not just “getting sick.” It’s the body’s way of burning off what doesn’t serve it and moving towards balance. Emotional Roots Matter: Recurring symptoms like sinus congestion, sore throats, coughs, and ear infections often have emotional or psychological catalysts (like territorial conflicts, unprocessed anger, or feeling unheard). Kids’ symptoms can reflect family dynamics, not just viruses. Parent Reflection = Family Healing: How parents respond to conflict and stress directly shapes kids’ health outcomes. Self-reflection, asking better questions, and being open to seeing your own role in the “problem” is key to breaking cycles and supporting true healing. Quotes: “The quality of your life is dictated by the quality of the questions you ask.” Find Integrative You Radio On: Website Youtube Apple Spotify 2 Doctors Committed to Innovating the Healthcare Experience. Integrative You Radio is hosted by husband-and-wife duo, Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers. With their voracious curiosity for Integrative Medicine, the Human Mind, Aligned Parenting, and Entrepreneurship, they bring a fresh perspective to the table. They
Topics: integrative, family, healing, fevers, kids, symptoms, medicine, fever
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## Integrative You Radio: The Truth About Fevers: What Your Kids’ Symptoms Are Really Telling You
- Fever is not the enemy; it's your child's body's natural healing mechanism, working to burn off what doesn't serve it.
- Recurring symptoms like ear infections, sore throats, and coughs can be connected to unprocessed emotions, family dynamics, and feelings of being unheard.
- Parental self-reflection and how you model dealing with conflict and stress significantly impact your child's health and healing journey.
- Viewing illness as a feedback mechanism, rather than just a problem to fix, unlocks a deeper path to family wellness.
Pull quotes
This is the place where you become limitless. **Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior.
We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare.
If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place, but buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive. **Unknown:** This is Integrative U Radio.
Transcript
**Unknown:** Welcome to Integrative U Radio, hosted by Dr. Nick Carruthers and yours truly, Dr. Nicole Rivera. This is the place where you become limitless.
**Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior. We are also covering how those topics affect the human and family dynamics. We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare. If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place, but buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive.
**Unknown:** This is Integrative U Radio. What is up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Integrative U Radio. You are graced with Dr.
**Unknown:** Nick's presence today. The past few episodes that I've done solo, I've been letting everyone know that we've just been navigating a bit of chaos over here, you know, two kids, and dogs, and house management, and all of those things. Um- I am back. Back, and, uh, he has some really interesting things that he wants to spew out.
**Unknown:** So we're gonna kick off with a, uh, actual planned podcast, but, um, for those of you that are on YouTube and you see this blazer, then, uh, it's just gonna keep getting better, because we're gonna do some improv after this. Th- this is a warm-up. This is a warm-up, but, uh, this... The topic that we're talking about, I think, is very relatable and very practical for a lot of people.
**Unknown:** Um- I mean, we're going through it right now. Well, exactly. But I think that one of the catalysts to talking about this topic, which is, uh, an acute fever, which we have all been taught to fear, um, from conventional medicine, because, you know, fevers can create brain damage, so on and so forth, so we're, we're, one, gonna be busting that myth. Number two is we're actually gonna help you understand what are the psychological, mental, emotional layers to why your kids, or even yourself, might always be plagued with the sinus congestion in the winter months or even other times of the year, why they have reoccurring sore throats, why they have us- upper respiratory infections, why they have ear infections.
**Unknown:** The thing is, is that i- if it's reoccurring or not, this is still gonna be of value to you, and we really experienced this firsthand, uh, in the past two weeks. And the catalyst for me wanting to talk about this is our neighbor, she's super, super open-minded, and she has been, um, you know, getting acquainted with our, our ways of navigating, um, health challenges, and she's just constantly fascinated and intrigued, and honestly has adopted a lot of things that we do. Um, but after Quentin spiking a, a fever, I think he was day two into his fever, and she goes, "Like, is there a part of you just thinks that maybe it's just, like, a virus?" And I was like, "Ha ha, my friend." And, um, and we talked about it- I di- ... and she's like, "Holy-" I didn't know this.
**Unknown:** Oh, you didn't know this? Oh. Mm-mm. Yeah.
**Unknown:** We, we, we started talking about it. I was like, "Okay, let me, let me break this down to help you understand," and then she just had this face essentially saying, "Holy shit, that makes a lot of sense," without her actually saying, "Holy shit, makes a lot of sense." She did end up saying that later. And th- the interesting part of it is she really understood it because what was happening with Quentin and the catalyst to the fever was actually a territorial issue that was happening between him and her daughter, AKA, you know, they're little kids. They're four years old.
**Unknown:** M- mine. This is mine. No, this is mine. I want my toys.
**Unknown:** No, I want... You know, it... There's a lot of that going on. It's a very, very common thing at that age, and it's not that it's a bad thing, it's just they're, you know...
**Unknown:** They're, they're learning. They're learning through that, those experiences of, like, "Oh, well, this is mine. I want this," and they're trying to stand their ground and stand their territory, and it's just a learning curve for them. But honestly, the, the catalyst to the onset of symptoms is sometimes not really about what they are perceiving and experiencing, AKA the challenge that they're working through.
**Unknown:** Sometimes it actually has to do with us as the parents and how we respond to it. And as I mentioned to you, Nick, is I feel that I was the catalyst to the onset of the, the fever and the, quote-unquote, "cold" that he experienced. And- Well, one of, one of my favorite quotes is, "If there's a problem and you're experiencing the problem, you're a part of the problem." You know? It's...
**Unknown:** If your kids are sick, it's, it's not just your kids. If there's an issue in the family, it's not just one person. There's an issue in a relationship, it's not just one person. If you're a part of a problem, you're a part of the problem.
**Unknown:** Yeah. And it's taking that- We always talk about wanting to change the name of our podcast to The Thought-Provoking Podcast, because that's really what we're, we're doing here, is ex- exactly... Like, this isn't about a blame game. You're a part of the problem.
**Unknown:** This is about if you can, if you can look at things differently and ask a series of questions in a really intelligent way-You're gonna be able to navigate hard shit more easily. Well, yeah. And-- But it's not just about being adaptable or going through hardship, it's about maximizing and drawing the most out of the good shit too. Mm.
**Unknown:** And which takes me to my favorite quote, "The quality of your life is dictated by the quality of the questions you ask." So if we can start asking better quality questions and not being attached subjectively, you know, through the emotions and the feelings of does this make me happy, does this make me sad, you know, guilt, shame, pride, all those. But if we can be objective and be like, "Okay, this happened. I feel good. How can I maximize it?
**Unknown:** Okay- Yeah ... this happened. It made me feel bad. How can I actually use it to serve myself?" So you, you don't stay a victim, but you don't...
**Unknown:** Most people say you, you learn the most when you lose because life, the thought-provoking... When you provoke a thought, you're creating reflective awareness, and that's the highest level of awareness that one can have is self-reflection. And unfortunately, the world's set up today through social media and everything that people don't pause and actually have moments to reflect on themselves anymore. So it's a, it's a, it's getting less and less the percentage of us that are, um, creating space to have the time to self-reflect.
**Unknown:** Well, then- But let's get back on this- Yeah. But, uh, sidebar, they're actually, uh, you know, who knows what the hell's true anymore when you see it on, on the media. But they said that, uh, they're gonna be banning, uh, any child below the age of 16, uh, is going to be banned from social media in Australia, and it's because of the rising... The, the percentages of like mental illness due to, uh, screen addiction is above 50% now.
**Unknown:** So little, little sidebar statistic for you guys. Well, let's get back to this fever. Back on track. So one thing that I want to preface with is, it-- so again, talking about like it's been crazy in our house, hence Nick hasn't been here, is Althea, our six-month-old, had a fever.
**Unknown:** And I wanna say this just because this is a, a quality information for new moms. Very commonly, little babies will get a fever right before teeth are popping through the gums. So it's, it's a part of the teething process, but it's usually a sign that teeth are about to break through the skin. And it's a very positive- And then, and because it's around the sinuses, it will create a sinus infection.
**Unknown:** Little runny nose. I mean, it will look like a sinus infection. Um, she didn't really have color to her, uh, snot, so it's just the body, hence the fever, moving stuff as things get warmer. But if, if there are colors, um, that's gonna show like that there's more likely an underlying infection connected with it as well.
**Unknown:** Yeah. And there is a lot of kids that do have already underlying infections in their sinuses, and this is primarily because the vaginal microbiome is not always great, uh, because of all of the chemicals that are in, you know, tampons and condoms and lubricants. And then on top of that is hospitals are a breeding ground for different types of bacteria, and most women are giving birth in a hospital. So again, kind of some sidebars for you to understand, but you know, very common to get a fever right before teeth are breaking through the skin.
**Unknown:** Um, so just kind of be a little bit patient if you have a young, young, young baby that is spiking a fever and see if that is what is actually the catalyst to it before having intervention of, you know, antibiotics, supplements, et cetera. But then, uh, so she had her two-day, um, fever. Some teeth broke through. Good to go.
**Unknown:** She then got back to complete, uh, normal baseline, and then Quentin had his fever. And so essentially one thing that I want you to know is a lot of what we're talking about is on the basis of, uh, new Germanic medicine, which has been an absolute, uh, fascination for us because it's so fucking on point. And, uh, you can look up the history, but the history is essentially a oncologist who, uh, developed cancer himself right after having a very tragic loss in his family. And he was an outside the box thinker, and he had a patient base of cancer patients and s- decided to ask questions and found out that every single patient that he had in his office, which was thousands, um, they all developed cancer within a few months of a big event in their life.
**Unknown:** Uh, so essentially he went on to study the psychosomatics of physical illnesses, physical symptoms in the body, and his work is fucking brilliant. So- Well, what I love about him is that, you know, there's... A lot of people think it's like, oh, the mind, it's perceptions. Like yeah, like that's the root cause of disease.
**Unknown:** Like, you know, it's the... It's not the mind isn't the body, you know, it's what's going on with the body. You know, is it a lack of nutrients? Is it this?
**Unknown:** Is it, you know, living conditions? Like what's going on? And it's like you come from the spiritual side of things and, you know, this is quote unquote always kind of been known, is that the spirit guides the mind, the mind dictates the body. This doctor didn't know that.
**Unknown:** He was a medical doctor. So he went through it as a complete scientific perspective and clinically started finding all these things, but then had imaging to back it up. So it was all through a scientific process for him to pretty much prove the exact same thing as these spiritual gurus knew for a long time as well.So what's fun about this for me is that, you know, Eastern and Western worlds were actually coming together and we're showing, showcasing the same things, which when there is that, there's gonna be a fight because the old system, old life cycles always want to continue to live. Mm-hmm.
**Unknown:** And we've been seeing that as well, you know, a push through, um, jabs and a push through, you know, different medications and a push through indoctrination of one way of thinking, um, which isn't true, you know. The... We live in a world of duality, so it's trying to take in all the information, and like I said before, use it to serve yourself. Yeah.
**Unknown:** And I, I think that at the end of the day, what we're talking about here is just a matter for you to ask questions as to what is the catalyst to the specific symptoms that your child is experiencing. And, you know, as we mentioned before, there might be an underlying infection that now comes out, but there's the catalyst that brought it out, and that's what we want you to understand here. Because if you can understand both ends of the spectrum, and you can also address both ends of the spectrum, AKA maybe a sinus spray, a throat spray, a supplement in order to help with the actual infection, but then also deal with the, the environmental, the, the, the behavioral aspect that was the catalyst, bringing those two worlds together is where you're gonna see the most success, and you're going to stop the reoccurrence of these issues. So kind of getting into the, uh- So what was the catalyst?
**Unknown:** So the catalyst was, um, Quentin was dealing with this territorial, uh, you know, "This is mine. This is mine." It got to the point that, you know, he was like, "I'm going to my friend's house, and I'm gonna take all my toys back." We live literally feet away, so, like, our... Half of our shit's there, half of hers toys are here, and it was like, you know, "Oh, we're... I...
**Unknown:** This is mine, this is mine, this is mine." And then they were getting into, like, someone would bite or scratch or push when they were getting frustrated of like, "No, this is mine." And so in our family, we teach our kids, "Don't put your hands on people. That is not okay. That is not an acceptable behavior." And so after it was the third time- Unless it's self-defense. Well, yeah.
**Unknown:** You know, then you're allowed to beat the shit out of somebody. So after the third time of, of them getting into their altercation and he pushed, you know, I was just kinda spread thin and I was just like, "Absolutely not!" And I yelled at him, and I put him in his room. And I just was like, "This is not how we act." So I startled him. Like, he literally was like, "" 'cause I don't normally yell at him like that.
**Unknown:** And I just kind of had enough with him acting that way. We all have our moments, people. I'm gonna sit here and be vulnerable with you. Like, I'm not a saint, um, and I, I'm not always able to practice what I preach, but the most important thing is I reflect and I'm, and I rectify it.
**Unknown:** That's all we can do. You can't sit here and be... You know, put guilt on yourself. So I literally physically startled him when I yelled at him because he was like, "Whoa, Mom doesn't normally do this to me." Put him in his room, and I addressed it within about 10 minutes of, like, you know, saying, "Hey, Mom did this.
**Unknown:** I'm gonna take ownership of it, but let's talk about this behavior." And it was the next day that he had a fever. So essentially, when it comes down to, um, what a fever is, fever is actually when you are in healing mode. Um, this is one of the interesting things that this doctor proved is that what happens is you go through a conflict, uh, you go through, you know, a, a, a trauma you can call it, and then when your body moves into healing mode, it's actually when it's usually the most symptomatic. So the symptoms of a fever is, you know, warming up of the body, activation of immune system, and it's wet, and it usually...
**Unknown:** Especially if it happens at night when you're in more of a relax and repair, that is another sign that you're in repair mode. So essentially what happens- So there's- Yeah ... active healing during the day, and the more repair healing at night. So he was going through the healing phase of this conflict.
**Unknown:** He also had an association with, um, with a runny nose, and the runny nose, uh... Or I'm sorry, with a cough more than a runny nose. He had a little bit of a runny nose, but the cough. So upper respiratory and a cough is associated with territorial conflict.
**Unknown:** So this was, again... So the territorial conflict was happening, and he wasn't necessarily symptomatic when he was in it. I disciplined him. He had a bit of a startle reflex, a shock reflex, and then he went...
**Unknown:** Because of how we approached it, he went into healing mode, so not only healing from the startle that I created by yelling at him, but he also went into healing of the territorial conflict being held in the upper respiratory. And so he had a fever, and he had a cough for about two days. And so did we use some therapies on him that we have here? We...
**Unknown:** Yes, we used a pulsed electromagnetic frequency device, our Amp Coil, but we weren't using the Amp Coil necessarily for his respiratory system or his immune system. We were actually using it to calm his nervous system. We were using it on different settings to create emotional balance, and that was one of the reasons why he was able to recover so quickly. So, uh, essentially what we're gonna bring to you is we're bringing to you some understandings of what is the psychosomatic root causes of sinus infections, throat infections, upper respiratory infections, and ear infections.
**Unknown:** Well, I think I just wanna clarify one thing for people, and not getting, like, too deep with it, but initially, especially if this is brand new, people are gonna be like, "Wait a second, you were very nonchalant about saying symptoms in the body are usually part of the starting of the healing process." That's like the opposite of what most people but has been taught, is like if we start having symptoms, that's when you start getting sick. Mm-hmm. Not healing. Sick and healing are two different things.
**Unknown:** Like, what the F are you talking about? Solid. And it's going back, and it's going back and understanding the process that the spirit governs the mind, the mind dictates the body. So when the mind already changes, it's processing, it's perception.
**Unknown:** So when the mind is out of balance, it sees more good or more bad. But when the mind is in a state of equanimity or balance, homeostasis, when you think about it in a health, that the benefits and the drawbacks are equal. If you put them on a scale, they weigh exactly the same. There's no stress response.
**Unknown:** So when the mind perceives, you know, elation more good than bad or more bad than good, that creates a stress response. And if that stress response goes on long enough or intense enough, then the body's gonna have a reaction, either initially microtraumas over time or, you know, one big event. So when the body... when the mind brings that perception, self...
**Unknown:** through self-reflection usually, and balances out that stress response, the body's gonna have a different response because the mind dictates the body, then the body's gonna change. A fever is an initial symptom of change. Why? Think about fire.
**Unknown:** Fire is one of the quickest way to change the form of something. It's the quickest way to transport, to move through heat. So that's what happens a lot of times, you know. You get sinuses, you get runny nose, you're coughing, you're moving air, you're moving toxins, you're moving the energy around, and the body's really hot so it can burn off the old shit that didn't serve it energetically, but also move around the physical shit that's not serving it to be able to- Well, and that's what- ...
**Unknown:** poop it out, to pee it out- I've been- ... to sweat it out. Exactly. And that's kind of well, the point that I wanna make, is like this shouldn't sound that foreign when you wanna think about the perspective of, I have a runny nose.
**Unknown:** What the fuck is your body doing? Your body is trying to push out the bacteria or the fungus or whatever it is through the mucus of your sinuses. You're coughing. It's because you're trying to literally expel out whatever shit is in your lungs.
**Unknown:** You're shitting yourself it's because your body is trying to expel something out of your intestines that shouldn't be there. It's actually more concerning when you have the lack of, "Oh, I'm coughing, but nothing is coming out. Oh, I'm chronically stuffy, but nothing is coming out. Oh, I'm constipated." That's because you won't fucking let it go.
**Unknown:** That's because you are attached to a story. You're attached to a trauma. You can't forgive, you can't forget, you can't let it go. Like, you are, you are harboring that.
**Unknown:** You are, you are letting that run your existence. Well, and- So this is what you have to understand. I'm just gonna call... I like to get deep on everything, but, you know, to the deathnesses.
**Unknown:** What? To the depthnesses? To the deathnesses. Oh, boy.
**Unknown:** Like from Amber's to- Yep. Okay, here we go. Forgive- That is definitely not a word ... forgive, forget.
**Unknown:** It's all bullshit. Oh, don't. Just don't. Just don't right now.
**Unknown:** It... But, but yes, it is. And this is w- it's part of our programming, you know? I, I had...
**Unknown:** You had a conversation with... The female neighbor had a combination conversation with the male neighbor, and he was talking about forgiving. He's like, "No, it's... I'm all love.
**Unknown:** I've, I've forgiven." And I was like, "No, you're not. You, your words literally just said that you have a perception that that person did more bad than good to you, so you had to- I- ... forgive them and that you give them love. That's not love, bro.
**Unknown:** That's not love. When you balance the mind out- Neutralization ... there's nothing to forgive. And you don't forget.
**Unknown:** Like, this... the goal is not to forget who you are, a part of who you are, a moment of yourself. The goal is to learn how to love the moments of yourself, the shitty times and the good times. And, and this is what fucking pisses me off about human behavior and psychologists and everything, is that w- the programming goes so deep that we're attached to still trying to...
**Unknown:** We're better than somebody else, and there's more good than bad, and if there's bad, well, it's like, you know, we just have to forgive. Like, th- that's... You know, you get to... That's religion controlling us if you really wanna get to where it started, you know?
**Unknown:** Yeah. Forgive thy neighbor. Like, it's fucking bullshit. Love thy neighbor.
**Unknown:** That's, that's the true aspect of it. And you can't give something that you don't have, so you have to self-reflect and love yourself to be able to actually give that love to somebody else. I know you're right, so Well, that's... I mean, this is my job.
**Unknown:** So the fever aspect is that initial change of the body to what? Are you asking me? Yeah. To bring back into homeostasis that occurred in the mind.
**Unknown:** Correct. And what's beautiful for me, looking at the story, 'cause there's parts of it that I didn't know, it... Fevers tend to, especially like him, the territorial aspect, there's a release of expression. There's a release of anger.
**Unknown:** There's a release of something. Um- Yes ... and he was doing it, but was... what's also beautiful is you did it, too.
**Unknown:** And I don't know if you know this, and this is part of... I wanna-allow our listeners to take even more control of their life because this wasn't-- Like I said, if you're a part of the problem, you're part of the problem to serve yourself. This wasn't just a teaching opportunity for Quentin, this was an opportunity for Nicole to be able to physically release some of her buildup frustration, anger, whatever is held in there, and then to say like, "Oh my God." Like, get back in that moment through self-reflection and like, "What was really triggering me?" Because this is the gift of what that moment gave you. Like- Yeah ...
**Unknown:** what was, what was I really triggered about? And it probably wasn't anything to do with Quentin. Quentin was just a teacher to bring up some old past emotions that were unbalanced to physically release as well as mentally release. Yeah.
**Unknown:** And once you can- That's all that it is, ever. And once you can get clarity of that moment of what you were really processing unconsciously, well, then we have the self-reflection. We can go through and balance how that, quote-unquote, "bad" back then in the past served you. So the benefits and, and, uh, drawbacks are equal.
**Unknown:** Mm-hmm. The left brain's balanced. We go to the right brain, and we feel that change in our body, that we're not holding onto that anger anymore, whether it's in the sinuses or the, the loss and-- or anger in the liver and loss in the sinuses and respiratory tract, et cetera. And what's also fun is that the, like you said before, the attachment's gone.
**Unknown:** And you'll just fee- Like, you can actually just feel yourself being a different human being. Mm-hmm. And that's, that's healing. Yeah.
**Unknown:** When, when the left brain has changed, when the right brain has changed, when they're hemi-synced, that's when actually we feel gratitude. Well, I think that the thing that might be confusing right now to the listeners is that, you know, are you really being able to do this type of deep level of work with kids? And that's not really the, the point. The point is, is for us to be able to understand what some of these symptoms mean in our children, and it's also for us to know that we are part of, of that manifestation, part of that, quote-unquote, "problem." And this is one of the reasons why it's not really about trying to heal your kid or put your kid through some type of healing program or protocol.
**Unknown:** This is about how you show up as the parent because the environment dictates the, the reality, the outcomes. And so if you can think outside of the box and ask better questions around what were the catalysts that caused X, Y, or Z for my child, that's where you're going to have more success as a family unit, and you're also going to see a major shift in your children. And so, you know- Yeah, but it's pretty easy to teach this stuff to a kid as well. I mean, you know, territorial, and you figure out, like, what they love.
**Unknown:** Like, Quentin loves dinosaurs right now. So you start playing with a group of dinosaurs, and they're playing with a toy, and one dinosaur takes the toy away. Like, "Oh, no, this one's sad." And this T. Rex wants to beat the shit out of, you know, Brachiosaurus because he took away his toy.
**Unknown:** And you j- you just... You have them self-reflect by, you know, a storyline outside. You know, it's, it's easy to see, like, you know, two dogs with a toy playing tug-of-war and barking at each other. And you just- Yeah ...
**Unknown:** you just self-reflect back so they can process it better. And as any great teacher, any great parent, it's all about asking questions, especially if you have a son like ours who doesn't wanna be told what to do and how to think. He wants to learn and process everything himself. So my job, our job is literally just to ask a bunch of questions.
**Unknown:** Mm-hmm. What's T. Rex feeling this way? Why is he feeling this way?
**Unknown:** What could he do better? How could he be a good friend? How could both dinosaurs win? You know, how, how could T.
**Unknown:** Rex get what he wants while Brachiosaurus gets, gets what he wants or she wants? You know, it's just going through and taking the time to actually care enough instead of being attached to being pissed off. Yes. Sorry, I went on a lot of tangents there.
**Unknown:** All right, guys. So we wanna just run through some very specific examples for you to wrap your head around when it comes to these different symptoms that might be reoccurring in yourself, in your children. So sinus congestion has a lot to do with, uh... It's kind of a funny name.
**Unknown:** It's a stink conflict. Um, it's when you are-- feel like something is off, something stinks. And one of the examples that is-- you know, could help you understand it is when their-- the child feels like their space is being invaded. Something stinks about a new situation.
**Unknown:** They're having trouble processing a new situation. They potentially feel jealous or uncomfortable about different changes in the home. This can also be very common when a new sibling comes into the world, um, or there's an adoption, or there's even a pet that comes in. So it's definitely something to think about when you see sinus congestion that is happening, especially if it's reoccurring sinus issues in yourself or in a child.
**Unknown:** When it comes to the sore throat, this has a lot to do with being-- having to essentially swallow things that you don't agree with.This can happen a lot in little kids, partly because they don't understand, you know, why they might be scolded about something. They don't understand why we do the things that we do, why we need to do things that we don't want to do, why they need to go to daycare, why they, you know, need to, um, be respectful to certain people that are disrespectful to them. Uh, so this is, this is really about taking a, a step back and potentially going the extra mile to help kids understand why things are being done the way they are or why there was a discipli- disciplinary action for something in particular, but also being able to reflect on are you just injecting... Are you injecting your values or other values that were pushed onto you for the sake of what you were told is right or wrong, or is this actually the fam- the values of the family?
**Unknown:** Because a lot of times we're telling kids how they should be or how they shouldn't be in accordance to what's gonna be more commonly accepted in society or what's more commonly accepted in, in the church or, you know, in, in other aspects of life. You know, you might be cursing at home and then, you know, "Don't curse in school," and scold your kid in front of the teacher after the teacher says, "Oh, Johnny's been cursing at school." And your kid is going to automatically have an issue swallowing that because you're contradicting yourself. Yeah, it's just- I had tons of strep throat as a kid, and I th- have thought about it and thought about it and thought about it, and this is... My parents never...
**Unknown:** They weren't a practice-what-you-preach people. They, they would curse and yell, and then they would say, "Don't curse. Don't yell," to me. Everything they told me to do or not do, they were doing.
**Unknown:** Yeah, we've given you a lot of different examples and kind of bounced around a lot of different places, but, you know, the main takeaway is just to, to kind of pause, to not be so subjective and emotional, and to be objective to looking at the body is always giving us feedback. It's just giving us information. And the truest form of what the body is giving us is w- how the mind is processing. You know, is the mind in alignment to serving what's most important to you, your highest values?
**Unknown:** Is it balance and benefits equals drawbacks, or is it imbalanced? Well, one of our last, uh, examples is actually probably a story you could tell. Um, so just really quick, as we mentioned, upper respiratory, uh, sometimes it can actually be, like, separation conflict, which is when, you know, a kid now is going to grandma and grandpa's house or a babysitter or daycare. Um, but more, more commonly, it's the territorial fear, fear.
**Unknown:** So just, like, not feeling 100% comfortable with a major change in routine or, uh, uh, even a, a, a change from the perspective of, you know, "These were my toys, now they're not my toys anymore," because they're being shared with new siblings or new friends or whatnot. But ear infections, lots of kids dealing with ear infections. Nick didn't necessarily have ear infections as a kid, but he actually had a loss of hearing at a-- for an extent of time. And what's kind of interesting about ear infections, loss of hearing or, or hearing changing, um, has a lot of-- a lot to do with a child not wanting to hear something, not wanting to hear, uh, disagreements, not wanting to hear arguments, or even not being able to hear, being left out of very important conversations.
**Unknown:** What'd you say? That's a dad joke right there if you didn't catch on. Yeah. Really good one.
**Unknown:** Um, yeah. I was deaf for about six months, um, when I was young. And make a long story short, 'cause this podcast is going on for a while, but the... I knew...
**Unknown:** I was conscious of it being I was overhearing a conversation with my parents, and this is why I like, uh, meditation and using some tools of hypnosis, because through that process, I was able to take myself back into that specific moment, and when we're, when we're in the actual moment, we have access to all the information. When we're not in the moment, we're-- we can only work with the story of what we know or what we think, which isn't actually true. It's just a story. So the meditation and hypnotic, uh, tools allowed me to get into that, and my parents were having a financial discussion, and I had walked downstairs, and I hear-- I stopped.
**Unknown:** They didn't hear me, um, 'cause I heard them kind of yelling. And, and I heard them, uh, my... I th- I'd have to go back and think, but I'm pretty sure it was my father going, "Well, if we just didn't have a third child, we'd be financially okay." And I perceived like, "Oh my God, I'm creating so much stress on this family." And I just, like, slowly walked back up the stairs and into my bed and, you know, didn't process it well. Hence, I was deaf for about six months.
**Unknown:** So it's pretty amazing because that helps me in a lot of different ways, um-heighten my other senses, uh, which has been a, a huge gift for me. But it, it's just so powerful that when we really take the time to process, the body's dictated by the mind, and if we can really... If we really wanna heal, if we really wanna live a joyful life, you know, it's like, yeah, we need to put some work into the body, but the body's 99.99999% space, which shows that majority of what we're dealing with is the mind. Mm-hmm.
**Unknown:** Yeah. And it's at the end of the day, you know, we are all not just children experiencing different conflicts through our environment, relationships, and daily routines. And, you know, uh, the thing is is that, um, you know, s- I know that I was brought up with, like, just, you know, be tough. Life is hard.
**Unknown:** Just get through it. Shut your fucking mouth, essentially. Um, but I think now times are changing, and, um, you know, I'm a, an elder Millennial, and, um, growing up with Boomer parents and, you know, they, they went through a lot of hard shit, and there was, uh, there... Like, essentially the way that I look at it is, like, my parents were in survival mode.
**Unknown:** They weren't necessarily looking at how to be the best parents possible or how to better themselves to be better parents, and I think times are different now, and I think that we, you know... Like, I joke that I've spent, you know, uh, three-quarters of my life trying to heal all the shit from my childhood. And, and a lot of people that I talk to that are of similar age are, are saying the same thing. And, you know, and we say it with a lightheartedness, but there are are days that it's fucking hard.
**Unknown:** Um, you know, if we could be more aware as, as parents now, and we can not be perfect. It's not even a realistic expectation, but we can sit down and say, "Okay, my kid just experienced his third ear infection. Let me go back to that podcast and listen to what they said the cause is, and let me think about what the fuck is going on in this household that might be a catalyst to it. Let me ask my kid what might be going on at school.
**Unknown:** Let me ask my kid what they're struggling with. You know, let me observe where they're feeling off or awkward or sad or anxious." And if we can do this, you know, we can provide a level of support that maybe you and I and our listeners never experienced as kids. And so this is really just about you thinking outside of the box and being able to have some additional tools of how to navigate life and to help your kids just to enjoy life more is really what it comes down to, and not feel like life is so difficult at times. So this was a serious, more serious podcast.
**Unknown:** The next one is not going to be serious at all. This is gonna be the improv one that I have no idea what he wants to talk about, so tune in. All right, we'll see you on the next one, guys. We thank you so much for being an avid listener of Integrative U Radio, formerly known as Integrative Wellness Radio.
**Unknown:** We appreciate all of your support. We love your comments. Please visit us on social media as well as our website to see all of the fun things happening behind the scenes and the new amazing content and courses that is being rolled out on a monthly basis. We hope to see you there.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
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