Autism and its treatment in Homoeopathy

Autism is now acquiring an epidemic status around the world, rising by enormous
proportions in some areas. Considering that it is a lifelong developmental disability, it
leads to a kind of despair and feelings of hopelessness in the parents.

Autism, a neurological disorder, begins in early childhood (typically during the first three
years of life) and affects three crucial areas of development: verbal and nonverbal
communication, social interaction, and creative or imaginative play. Other characteristics
may include repetitive and ritualistic behavior, hand-flapping, spinning or running in
circles, excessive self-stimulation, self-injury, aggression, reduced sensitivity to pain,
temper tantrums, and sleeping and eating disturbances. To put it simply, autism is a term
used to describe children who are socially withdrawn and preoccupied with routine; who
struggle to acquire spoken language yet often possess intellectual gifts that rule out the
diagnosis of mental retardation.

The world appears to be a mass of people, places and events for people with autism and
this causes a considerable anxiety in them. It can be hard to create awareness of autism as
people with the condition do not ‘look’ disabled; parents of children with autism often
say that other people simply think their child is naughty.

The exact cause of autism is unknown. However, research suggests that a combination of
factors - genetic and environmental may account for changes in brain development like
vaccines, heavy metal toxicity, nutritional deficiencies/imbalances, food allergies,
viruses, immune dysfunction and problems in the birthing process. “Vaccine induced
autism” is under scrutiny with the hypothesis that immune response generated by MMR
vaccine damages the nerve sheaths leading to this neurological disorder.
The phenomenon of early infantile autism was first observed in early 1940s, a few years
after the pertussis vaccine became more widely used in United States.

Some researchers say that children have shown mild to dramatic improvements in speech
and/or behavior after a gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet.

Gluten and gluten-like proteins are found in wheat and other grains, including oats, rye,
barley and foods made from those grains. They are also found in food starches, semolina,
malt, some vinegars, soy sauce, flavorings and artificial colors and hydrolyzed vegetable
proteins.

Casein is a protein found in milk and products containing milk, such as cheese, butter,
yogurt, ice cream, whey and even some brands of margarine.

Foods that can be eaten on a gluten-free, casein-free diet include rice, potato, buckwheat
flour, soy, corn, fruits, vegetables, beans, tapioca, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, nuts,
eggs, and sorghum.
Homoeopathic perspective

Homoeopathy and other natural treatments have recently come into focus as effective
treatments for autistic spectrum disorders.

The reasons as to why homoeopathic medicines are preferred for this disorder are -

a. Homoeopathic medicines are safe natural non-toxic substances without side

effects.
b. Homoeopathy is a safe effective alternative to Drugs like Ritalin etc. which have
lasting side effects.
c. The positive effects seen with homoeopathic treatment are lasting.
d. With Homoeopathic treatment healing takes place at Physical, mental and
emotional levels.
e. Homoeopathy results in growth spurts in children and does not alter or suppress
normal development of the child.

Before starting homoeopathic treatment the evaluation of the child on an autism rating
scale is a must. Improvements by the treatment are to be interpreted by periodical
assessments.

As most of the cases are already under the allopathic treatment, the following strategy
can be charted out for them -
If the allopathic medication has not shown any improvement in the child or severe side
effects have resulted from them, then it is best to stop them before starting homoeopathic
treatment.
In cases where there is some benefit to child with the allopathic treatment and the parents
are looking for a safer and more effective treatment, homoeopathy is the best alternative.
In these cases Homoeopathic treatment can be started concurrently and the allopathic
medicine can be weaned off as the homoeopathic medicine begins to show positive
effects. In this way, more safe and effective treatment can be provided.

Homoeopathy medicine is also compatible with other therapies such as Speech therapy,
Occupational Therapy. The beneficial effects of Homoeopathy on the child will be more
to the delight of his therapists and care givers who will find the child more compliant to
learning.

In a study on effects of homoeopathic medicines on autism triad carried over for four
years at Bangalore, the results were encouraging with improvement in behavioral issues
such as hyperactivity, temper tantrums, attention span, concentration and focus.
Improvement was also noted in speech, language and communication skills. The social
skills /eye contact and the fine motor skills also improved substantiating the claims of
homoeopathy in autistic spectrum disorders.
Prompted by the miraculous cure of her son’s autism with homoeopathy Amy lansky has
written a book “Impossible Cure: The promise of homoeopathy”. In this book, she
illustrates that true cure of the root causes of illness is possible with careful homeopathic
treatment over months or even years. Ms Lansky effectively presents cases and
arguments of how homeopathic medicines effectively stimulate a person's innate healing
mechanisms to allow chronic or acute disease to be eventually resolved.

The focus of homeopathy is not to treat the isolated symptoms of Autism but to treat the
child as a whole. In addition to the symptoms of Autism, the general physical and mental
constitution of the patient, past medical history, medical history of parents, information
about pregnancy and vaccination - are used to find the probable cause in a given case and
based on the final analysis a remedy is chosen for a patient.

Dr Dushyant Kamal Dhari

M.D. (Hom)