Answers to Preliminary Questions

If you have been reading recent Homeopathy Plus newsletter and Facebook posts, you already know that homeopath Fran Sheffield is writing a free online book about the role of homeopathy for treating autism spectrum disorders. If you missed them, you can read them here and here.

Readers were asked for their two most important questions about homeopathy for autism – two questions they would like answered by the book. Because these questions and their answers are likely to be helpful to others as well, we have placed them on our website, as you can see below.

If you too are interested in this project, a link to a further survey has been included at the end of the questions and answers. All contributions will be anonymous – we won’t be able to contact you back – so it you would like to speak further with us please send an email via our website contact form or phone: (+61 2) 4304 0822.

1. What is homeopathy and how does it work?

Homeopathy was first developed more than 200 years ago by German doctor and scientist Samuel Hahnemann as a way of treating and preventing disease. It has spread to all parts of the globe and is now the second most popular system of medicine in the world.

Homeopathy is based on a natural law, the Law of Similars, in which the symptoms of the unwell are treated with remedies (medicines) that produce similar symptoms in the healthy. This “like treats like” approach strengthens and stimulates the body’s ability to self- heal rather than just suppressing its symptoms.

A simple example of the approach is when Allium cepa, a homeopathic remedy made from red onion, is used to treat the hay fever symptoms of streaming eyes and nose – what the onion can cause in the healthy, it treats in the unwell. Treatment of ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) is more complex, of course, but the same underlying principle is used.

Homeopathic remedies are prepared by a process that removes the material dose of the original substance yet retains its energetic imprint so that the remedies produced are safe to use for all ages and at all stages.

2. How does homeopathy work on autism when it is a condition with widely different presentations?

Homeopathy is a symptom-based approach to treatment; it doesn’t treat according to the name of the disease or disorder. Homeopathy has more than 4,000 known remedies (and that number continues to grow), which are prescribed for corresponding symptom clusters, not the name of a condition. For this reason it is ideally suited to the treatment of ASD children where the disorder presents differently from child to child. Simply put, if a symptom or group of symptoms is present, homeopathy has a remedy to match or manage them.

3. What will homeopathy improve?

ASDs and their related neurodevelopmental, gastrointestinal and immune system symptoms respond well to homeopathy. With an appropriate remedy you should see a reduction in anxiety, brain fog, confusion, aggressiveness, food sensitivities, sensory processing disorders, stimming, sleep disturbances, withdrawal, non-communicativeness, plus other common health problems that trouble all children equally, whether they have an ASD or not. Good homeopathic treatment addresses all symptoms of a spectrum disorder rather than just one or two; as treatment progresses most or all symptoms should improve with the one remedy.

4. Are all symptoms important, or only some, when choosing a remedy for an ASD?

All symptoms – physical, mental, and emotional – are important when choosing a homeopathic remedy, but for different reasons. Common symptoms – those experienced by most with an ASD – are temporarily put to one side while the prescription is made on the individualising symptoms – those symptoms unique to the sufferer. As treatment progresses, the common symptoms are once again combined with the individualising symptoms to use as markers on how well the remedy is acting; both groups of symptoms should improve with a deep-acting remedy.

Should the child or adult need an intervening treatment for an acute problem such as a cold or hay fever, only the symptoms relating to that problem will be used for an acute prescription. Once the acute problem has resolved, treatment will return to the chronic ASD state.

5. Will the book cover Asperger syndrome as well as autism?

Yes. Homeopathy is helpful for all ASDs including classic autism, Asperger syndrome (AS), pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and childhood disintegrative disorder. It’s also useful for related conditions such as global developmental delay (GDD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The online book will cover the homeopathic treatment of symptoms arising from all of these conditions and disorders.

6. Is homeopathy helpful for older children or adults who have had autism for many years?

Yes. With the right treatment, improvement should be seen in all, no matter how young or old. The answers to Q.3 & 8 give further information.

7. How often do you have to see a homeopath?

The frequency of homeopathic appointments varies according to the patient’s need and from practitioner to practitioner, but, at the start of treatment, monthly appointments are not unusual. The first appointment usually requires more time than followup appointments, and appointments generally become less frequent with good improvement.

8. How long does homeopathic treatment take?

Progress with homeopathic treatment varies from person to person. Positive results are usually seen not long after commencing treatment – often within days. Some completely lose their diagnosis within weeks or a few months of treatment while others make slow but steady gains over several years. Most children and adults fall somewhere in between. How long it takes depends on the interplay of:

• The severity of symptoms
• The degree of irreversible damage
• The closeness of the match between the remedy and the person’s symptoms
• The skill and experience of the prescriber in choosing remedies and managing the changing symptoms as treatment progresses

Some need the same remedy in a range of potencies throughout treatment while others need changing remedies and potencies. The important thing to remember is that with good homeopathic treatment, all children (and adults) with an ASD should notice obvious improvement.

9. Do homeopaths provide homeopathic remedies only or combine their treatment with dietary advice and supplements?

This varies from practitioner to practitioner according to their areas of interest and expertise. Some provide extensive dietary advice or co-treat with a nutritionist trained in the nutritional needs and metabolic disorders of those affected by an ASD, while others prefer to mainly assess the diet for basic nutritional needs and potential food intolerances.

Sometimes dietary restrictions and supplementation may be needed at the beginning of treatment to remove food-related stresses and severe deficiencies but, with these interventions, symptoms necessary for making an accurate homeopathic prescription may be altered or removed as well. As a general observation, the more experience a practitioner has in using homeopathy for ASDs, the less attractive supplements and strict dietary changes are. See Q.10 for further information.

10. How can homeopathy possibly help mineral, vitamin and metabolic deficiencies?

If a child or adult with ASD is on an adequate diet, they should be able to manage just as well as others in the community who eat the same foods. If they can’t, something more than just simple nutritional deficiencies is wrong. Vitamin and mineral supplements may help, but only palliate the symptoms rather than correct their cause. Homeopathy stimulates and strengthens the body’s ability to self-heal at a deep level so that food is once again properly digested, absorbed and utilised, and metabolic processes are restored. Once this happens, the child or the adult return to health without the need for additional supplements.

11. Will homeopathy help when the symptoms of an ASD are complicated by other symptoms and conditions such as pyroluria?

Yes. Homeopathy is individualised medicine that treats the entire person and the physical, mental and emotional symptoms they experience. Those symptoms may come from just the ASD or they may be mixed with symptoms from other complaints and conditions. Both groups should improve at the same time with treatment.

12. How do children with sensory challenges – i.e., those who refuse to eat certain foods or gag on different flavours and textures – cope with homeopathic medicines?

One of the best things about homeopathy is that its remedies (medicines) are easy to give and well tolerated. They are prepared as tiny pills that taste just like sugar, or liquid drops that taste of slightly sweet water. Each dose is extremely small and is usually only needed once or twice a week for good improvement – or sometimes even less often! The pills and drops can also be mixed with a range of foods and liquids if necessary. As treatment progresses, those sensory issues should settle so that children tolerate a much wider range of tastes and textures.

13. Do children react to homeopathic remedies and can these reactions be managed?

As a general rule, no, but if the doses of the remedy are too strong or repeated too often for the person’s sensitivity to the remedy, symptoms may worsen for a short period after the dose. This reaction is short-lived, not harmful, and easily corrected by adjusting the dose or the remedy.

14. Can you still treat ASDs if the child is already on Ritalin or neurotropic medications?

Yes. While these medicines may hide some of the behavioural symptoms that lead to a good prescription, there are usually enough physical and other symptoms remaining to show which remedy is needed. With improvement, other treatments can then be reduced under the guidance of your prescribing doctor.

15. I can’t afford homeopathic treatment for my child. Will the book still be useful to me?

Yes. Many cases of ASDs are helped by common, everyday homeopathic remedies that anyone can access – practioner or not. While treatment by a qualified and experienced homeopath is still preferable, for many that isn’t possible; either homeopaths are too far away or the family budget won’t stretch that far. My hope is that the book will help affected families in these situations by helping them to identify which remedy is needed and guiding them in when and how to use it.

16. How are you planning to do the book and what will it cover?

The book will be written section by section on a website being set up for that purpose. The aim is to:

• Remove confusion about the different “types” of homeopathy currently promoted for the treatment of ASDs so that parents understand what is involved with each approach, and their respective strengths, weaknesses, and safety profiles.
• Provide a realistic expectation of what homeopathy achieves for ASD-affected children and adults. (See the answer to Q.3 & 8 for more information.)
• Help parents identify and use those common homeopathic remedies which make a difference for children with ASDs so they have some way of helping their child when either the cost of practitioner treatment is prohibitive, or when no suitably qualified practitioner is nearby.

New sections of the book, depending on time constraints, will appear every 1 – 2 weeks in semi-edited form. (You will be advised by email with each new release). Once the book is complete it will be professionally edited and published. The intention is that all the information, though copyrighted, will still be available to the public as a free parent resource even when the book is published.

The first section should be on the website by April 2, World Autism Day. That’s not far off and I am in the process of writing it now.

Many thanks,

Fran Sheffield