Dr. Velusamy

Autism spectrum disorder (asd) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. It may range from mild to severe conditions. Initial period of life upto 2 years it is difficult to diagnose. Parents start noticing changes such as social interactions, non-responsive behaviour along with losing that little amount of speech. Autism appears to have its roots in very early brain development.

Asd can be associated with intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination, attention and physical health issues such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some persons with asd excel in visual skills, music, math and art.

Causes:

Most cases of autism appear to be caused by a combination of autism risk genes and environmental factors influencing early brain development.

Intake of some drugs, medicines during pregnancy

Metabolic imbalance

Vaccinations

Modern living styles

Food habits

Urban stress syndromes

35 plus aged mothers and sibling with asd are the risk factors

Genetic predisposition

Exposure to environmental chemicals

Symptoms:

Repeating certain behaviors or having unusual behaviors

Having overly focused interests, such as with moving objects or parts of objects

Having a lasting, intense interest in certain topics, such as numbers, details, or facts.

Getting upset by a slight change in a routine or being placed in a new or overly stimulating setting

Making little or inconsistent eye contact

Having a tendency to look at and listen to other people less often

Responding in an unusual way when others show anger, distress, or affection

Failing to, or being slow to, respond to someone calling their name or other verbal attempts to gain attention

Having difficulties with the back and forth of conversations

Often talking at length about a favorite subject without noticing that others are not interested or without giving others a chance to respond

Repeating words or phrases that they hear, a behavior called echolalia

Using words that seem odd, out of place, or have a special meaning known only to those familiar with that person’s way of communicating

Having facial expressions, movements, and gestures that do not match what is being said

Having an unusual tone of voice that may sound sing-song or flat and robot-like

Having trouble understanding another person’s point of view or being unable to predict or understand other people’s actions.

Extraordinary sensitiveness to light, noise, clothing, or temperature. They may also experience sleep problems, digestion problems, and irritability.

How to differentiate ADHD hyperactive kid:

1. Any difficulty in processing information.

2. Any difficulty in regulating emotions.

3. Does the kid struggle with issues like organizing, planning, prioritizing, paying attention and remembering details.

4. Any difficulty in taking judgments.

5. Any difficulty in concentration.

6. Age appropriate immaturity

How parents can help?

Constantly engage with the child.

Never leave your kid alone as this prevents the kids from learning new things.

Constantly stimulate the child ; talk, play, dance etc

Avoid all gadgets like phone, tabs etc.

For working mums only option would be prioritising the kids health. So the choice is yours how to go about this. Most of the mums do a mistake of work from home, which is not a supportive solution again, this also encourages kid to slip to his own world of tabs or phones etc.

Invite more people to home, this again gives them chance to interact, play, learn new things etc.

Do not focus just on specch at the same time overall stimulation is very important.

Take your kid out to parks or any social gathering, so that the kid learns how to socialise and socialising behaviours and mannerisms. So the meaning of whole exercise aims at training the mind to be constantly connected with outer world so that he can passively learn things.

Scope of homoeopathy

The scope of homoeopathy in autism is very high. It as a matter of fact poses a challenge to homeopaths themselves. It needs a hardcore-hahnemannian approach to get into the mind or the mental development of the individual and arrive at a remedy. Homeopathy is a holistic system of medicine and it takes into consideration the constitutional picture (complete physical and mental make up of the child) along with the necessary details of the disease when prescribing. This particular method is followed, as no autistic child is similar to another, in terms of symptoms or behavior. This helps us to approximate the individual to a state of normalcy. Everyone has their own individual characteristic symptoms and the homeopathy treatment also targets the individual characteristic symptoms in every case.

The immune system and nervous system are closely interrelated to one another. The abnormal immune system disturbs the growth of the neural formation too. Homeopathic medicines do not merely act on any one particular organ of an individual, but has much more deeper and central action on the psycho-neuro-endocrinological (mind-nerve-hormone) and psycho-immunological (mind-immune system) axis. It works well to correct the accentuated state of sensitivity. It also helps improve fine motor skills as well as perceptual difficulties.

During the course of the case taking, i.e, when the history of the individual is being studied, the mother’s history of reaction to vaccines during pregnancy, family medical history, behavior of the kid, thermal sensitivities, gestures and sleep postures form a part of the very detailed information. As the autistic child experiences stress, he responds with a reaction. This reaction becomes a symptom or a sign of characteristic importance. By fully perceiving the patient, one may learn to understand his/her reaction to a particular stress and triggers. It is only through such a deep understanding that a homeopath would be able to prescribe effectively.

From my personal experience, I have seen kids responding to the treatment on an average in around 6 months from the time medication was started, at the same time few show good improvement in generals like sleep, appetite etc only after an year. It took me 2-3 years to show effective results like eye-to-eye contact, toilet training (the first best sign), connecting sentences and expressing themselves, connecting to the external world. However, this would happen provided the patients take medicines continuously and religiously. During the course of the treatment, I always take a step-by-step approach, as follows:

- Analyzing the case

- Detoxifying the stronger medications taken before

- Detoxifying the vaccines, that may have harmful effects

Beyond any treatment the support from parents, neurodevelopmental therapies and behavioral therapies are a must.

- Rounds of speech, neuro-developmental and behavior therapies are most important

How follow up scoring is important:

Through every follow up with the homoeopath, the symptoms should be analysed by the parents and ratings given on a scale of 1-10 to each symptom, as compared to the condition previously. This again helps the physician and parents to further analyse and arrive at the best suitable remedy, meanwhile helps in better understanding for physician and parents about the follow up progress. The extent to which the cure can occur, has a great degree of variability associated with it. Homoeopathy not just helps in adhd, add or any psychiatric disorderes, it also helps the altered mind set like an internal counsellor - agiatated mind - restless sleep due to thoughts -learning difficulties -poor concentration - normalisng the disturbed mind due to recent depressions - for mind disorders which doesnt have any reason for existance -indifference from grief or disappointments - unrefreshed sleep - loss of sleep etc all medicines perfectly help in symptom basis thus no question of side effects for same.

Along with treatment, neuro-developmental and behaviour therapies is also necessary. Certain supplements are also to be used: vitamin c, magnesium, zinc and fish oil.

The unfortunate part is that none of the parents share a testimony of their child’s recovery from autism, due to societal reasons. This if done, would help other parents too, as it would help them gain confidence in helping their children fight autism and develop into strong individuals.

So, the bottom line is, yes, it is possible!

Accupressure:

Traditional chinese medicine approaches autism, like all other disorders, as an energy imbalance that can be addressed by stimulating specific energy points and pathways. Through reflexology, body can be brought to a state of healing and balance body by itself with the holistic powers of reflexology. -helps in stabilising nerve disorders and bring alertness and confidence in the patient. -helps in control of emotional imbalance -reduce stress factors

In some cases there may be some original symptom worsen for few days of treatment. That too is an indication of that the acupressure is started working. It is quite common with the first one or two acupressure treatments to have a sensation of deep relaxation or even mild disorientation.

It is that time of the year when insects are all around. Suddenly one feels a buzzing sound or an itchy feel in the ear. To your horror, one feels a live insect is in your ear, which can be extremely annoying and is like a nightmare. Insects often get stuck when they enter our ears as they cannot fly or crawl out. They try to find their way out and their movements inside our ears can be very uncomfortable, painful and can be itchy as well. Moreover, they can easily produce infection.

In this scenario, do not try to remove an insect with cotton swab, tweezers or hair clip as it will make the situation worse and can lodge the insect deeper into the ear canal, which can possibly damag the eardrum, leading to permanent hearing loss. If an individual is not certain about the potential harm taht can be caused by the insect in the ear, one should seek medical care immediately. Insects in the ear are common reasons for visits to doctor's clinic, especially in children.

If one suspects an insect in ear, one may experience pain, swelling, blood or crackling. One may even feel biting, stinging, hearing loss or dizziness. It is best to stay calm in this situation as being active may lodge the bug further in ear or cause it to move further back or cause serious damage to the sensitive eardrum

One way to try to remove a bug in ear is by tilting the ear toward the ground and attempt to wiggle the ear. Grasp the earlobe and give it a wiggle. If the bug is not too far into ear canal, it may fall out on its own. If the bug is still alive and is not too far inside of the ear canal, it may simply come out on its own. If one stays calm and keep objects including fingers away from ears, it is likely that the bug will find its way back out of ear.

One can also try to flush the ear with warm water with a dropper or a bulb syringe. This can be done by holding head upright and stretching the ear canal by pulling the outer ear and then putting a steady stream of warm water into ear. Tilt head to the side to drain out the ear. Do not try this if one suspects that ear drum has been ruptured to prevent additional damage.

To avoid stinging or eardrum rupture from scratching or biting , one may use a drop or two of mineral, baby, or olive oil inside your ear canal to kill the insect. Finally, visit an ENT specialist doctor as they can remove the insect by special suction devices. Post insect removal, one must look out for signs of infection as swelling, dizziness, hearing loss, fever, and pain. Finally follow up with ENT specialist or Otolaryngologist for the final opinion.