In anthroposophy, childhood illnesses are essential for healthy development. It can lead to medical neglect of children.

In anthroposophic medicine, painkillers are seen as a violent manipulation of natural processes. Photo: Patrick Sison/AP

Measles, chickenpox, mumps, rubella, whooping cough: I had it all because, like a good Waldorf child, I was not vaccinated. I was treated with blood cells, home remedies and preparations from Weleda, Wala and Co. I remember an intense feeling of being cared for. But I also remember terrifying fever dreams, intense pain and unbearable itching.

In the world of my childhood, this was all normal and just part of it. After the pain and misery came harsh boredom, because in the damned “Children's Consultation Hour”, a regular job for Waldorf parents since 1984, any “spraying” of media of any kind and even looking at wallpaper is strictly discouraged print.

The topic of vaccines and painkillers is incredibly emotional and controversial among former Waldorf children because it is closely related to pain and fear, but also to love and trust in their parents. I was loyal for a long time and didn't question whether ear infections could have been treated differently than with “proper” onion sachets and sugar balls. I took my first pain reliever when I was over 20 years old, for a severe inflammation of the ear canal, for which I was in the emergency room for the first time and I was impressed by the effect of an antibiotic ointment.

Avoidable suffering

Through the exchange under #exwaldi, I know that not only was there and is a lot of preventable child suffering, but also cases in which children, for example, were deaf in one ear for the rest of their lives, siblings were terrified and children It could only be treated with intensive care or it could no longer be saved. Until then I only knew the stories of heroic illnesses that were often told in the Waldorf environment.

Anthroposophical medicine is not “soft medicine.” It is a “medicine” in which pain plays a central and indispensable spiritual role. Even with children! It is a medical worldview in which painkillers are seen as a violent manipulation of natural processes and childhood illnesses are essential for healthy development. This can lead to medical neglect of children. Realizing how much pain and misery my parents could have saved me and needlessly put me in danger is difficult. I know it was with the best of intentions and with complete trust in our anthroposophic pediatrician.

But what was normal then outside the Waldorf community? The Stiko has recommended the vaccine against measles and rubella since 1973, mumps since 1976 and then the MMR as a combination since 1980. Whooping cough since 1991 and chickenpox since 2004. Paracetamol has been on the market since 1959 and ibuprofen can be purchased without recipe since 1989.

It wasn't until I was 30 that I bought my first package in a Dutch pharmacy with mixed feelings. Many of us, like me, have tormented ourselves for decades without painkillers or antihistamines. If you're only used to placebos and home remedies, fast-acting drugs in adulthood are a revelation.

Overall: effective medication! They exist and already existed back then. Unfortunately, many Waldorf children were (and are) denied for ideological reasons.