by Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman
The Autism Spectrum Epidemic
When we began our homeopathic practice over thirty years ago, the terms “autism spectrum” and “Asperger Syndrome” were still not everyday diagnoses as they are today. The world seemed somehow to be a safer, more natural place to be born into, grow, and thrive. The reason for the epidemic of autism is quite controversial, but we know that the numbers have skyrocketed. By the time we published our book, Asperger Syndrome and Autism: Exceptional Medicine for Exceptional Kids, we had treated well over 1000 children on the spectrum.
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
A subgroup of the youngsters on the autism spectrum are highly, evenly painfully sensitive. The normal stimuli and environments to which we are exposed in our daily lives are more than they can handle. The diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder is given to these children. Homeopathy can be a excellent approach for these children for a number of reasons:
- Homeopathic remedies are safe, natural and gentle. They do not cause side effects. They are prepared from serial dilutions and are much better tolerated by highly sensitive adults and children than pharmaceutical drugs or even herbs and nutritional supplements.
- Often only one dose of the homeopathic medicine needs to be given over a period of months.
- The homeopath chooses among over 3500 homeopathic remedies, so the likelihood of finding a specific match for your child is much better than with conventional medicine, which chooses among a handful of drugs.
- The homeopathic prescription is tailored to your child’s symptoms and needs. It is not a cookie cutter approach. Your child’s uniqueness is not only highly valued by the homeopath, but is the key to choosing the right remedy.
- There are certain homeopathic remedies, often made from plants, known to be useful for extremely sensitive individuals. It is what we call the specific sensation that allows us to find just the right remedy for each child.
Cody: Too Sensitive for Words
This is one of our favorite cases of a child with AS—one who was highly verbal and very adept and describing his feeling and sensation. Like mainly of the children in our practice, he is extremely sensitive.
Cody’s dad brought him to see us while we were teaching in Europe. He explained to us that Cody has a problem with sensory overload. “If you say too much to him for too long, he simply throws his hands over his ears. He just can’t take it. He breaks down and starts crying. Cody screams at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. It is like his emotions hit a boiling point and he spews them all out. When he goes into one of those tirades, there’s nothing you can do to make him feel better.” So, we understood from the beginning that Cody would need a remedy that addressed his exquisite sensitivity.
A Highly Reactive Child
From the time he was a toddler to age five, Cody developed a high fever and inconsolable crying after each round of immunizations. His reactions were so severe that his mom refused to allow the children to be immunized again. Ear infections had been a recurrent problem when Cody was younger, perhaps because he was switched to formula after having been breastfed for five months. Later he suffered from asthma, as did his older brother. Bright beyond his years, Cody had skipped from kindergarten to second grade. His peers belittled him, and he suffered terribly from the derision. The first words out of Cody’s mouth upon arriving home from school were, “They think my ideas are stupid,” at which point he would sigh heavily and break into sobs. Risperdal, an atypical antipsychotic medication used off-label with children to control difficult behaviors and mitigate moods, resulted in a twenty-pound weight gain. Now, in addition to being the youngest kid in his class (eight years old and in the third grade), Cody was obese and clumsy. Any physical exertion caused him discomfort and to become overheated.
Cody and his older brother were both diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (AS). His dad’s words were reminiscent of what we hear so often from parents of children with AS: “It’s like he marches to the beat of a different drummer. It might not be the time or place to do it socially. Cody’s kind of in his own little world.” Cody was certainly not a demanding child. Capable of entertaining himself with video games or books, Cody often disappeared to “do his own thing.” Although very intelligent, the youngster’s grades were only average. Without Risperdal, Cody would “rant and rave and be set off by the smallest thing,” such as his sister touching him. It didn’t take much at all for him to “go off the deep end.”
Drugged, Doped Up and Drooling
When he was not medicated, Cody blew up daily, a trait his dad referred to as “a short fuse.” For example, if his dad came home from work and, in a normal tone of voice, told Cody to go do his homework, the boy might react by throwing his book bag, insisting vociferously that he was not going to do his homework, raising his hands to his face, and falling into heart-wrenching sobs. Once the lid blew off, there was no consoling Cody and no reasoning with him. The ensuing thirty minutes consisted of Cody’s muttering under his breath and slamming doors. Cody’s parents were starting to get complaints from school that Cody is disruptive in class. It’s his emotional outbursts. The school psychologist was recommending Risperdal, but his father was against the idea. “When I was a kid, I was a hellion. So were my brothers and sisters. But we weren’t drugged, doped up, and drooling.”
A Lot Like His Older Brother
His brother, Dennis, was diagnosed first with ADD, then Asperger’s. And now Cody was also diagnosed with AS. His dad continued, “In the grand scheme of things, I think his real problem is dealing with his emotions in a way that is socially acceptable. Cody is a real sensitive guy. One night, as I got home late from work, I found Cody bawling. ‘It’s sooo cute,’ he cooed. He was going gaga over one of the teddy bears in my wife’s collection that had just come in the mail. Cody went on for an hour sobbing heavily about how adorable it was. He just couldn’t contain it. Those are the kind of outbursts I mean. It can be over something sad or happy or just out of frustration. Neither one of the boys is much into sports. They don’t climb trees or run or play ball. They don’t interact well with others.”
“Before I left for the Middle East, Cody and I were buds. When I returned after seven months of active duty, our relationship wasn’t the same. To this day, if there’s a problem they go to her rather than me. It didn’t used to be like that.”
Cody’s hearing tested normal. I think it’s just sensory overload. He has to dash out of the classroom if the noise is too much for him. Being touched by strangers puts him over the top. He just flinches. It’s as if you’re invading his personal space. And Cody’s pain threshold is way low. Before, he totally freaked out when we took him to the dentist. He’s still skittish about going. Having his blood drawn is traumatic. Cody yelled and squealed after he threw up with a bad flu—it was almost a panic reaction. I had a hard time calming him down. I’d say his level of sensitivity is about eight out of ten. Smells are tough for him, too. The odor of peanuts is unbearable. He’s over-the-top picky about food. He hates tomato sauce and sugar. Cody can’t stand noise and lights or someone brushing up against him. He melts down in chaotic situations with too much activity or visual stimuli. I’d call it a fear of over stimulation.”
An Exquisite Sensitivity to Needles
Cody was surprisingly communicative. First we discussed his favorite video games, a typical lead-in we use to break the ice with children during the initial interview. Then Cody shared with us how hard it was for him to concentrate because a classmate made so much noise. When annoyed by noise at home, Cody would retreat to his room and play Nintendo or Game Cube. The youngster continued to describe his sensitivities:
“When I hear loud noise, it feels like a bunch of arrows going into my eardrums. The pain is like needles. And my face is sensitive, too. The last time I tripped during recess, my face dragged on the sharp ground. It’s a good thing I didn’t scrape my eyes. My whole body is sensitive. Sometimes I get smacked on my hand and it feels like a bunch of splinters going into it. Like my hand is made of wood. When I go to the dentist and get drilled, it’s like there’s electricity coming right out of my mouth. It feels like an electric shock. When the dentist gives me Novocaine, it feels like a giant arrow going into my gum. And when people step on me, it feels like a million needles going into my foot. God, it hurts! Or when somebody at school smacks me or punches me. My whole body can feel like that. Oh, God! When people tease me, I just want to beat them up. Kids who threaten me and say they’re gonna beat me up or kill me. And they curse at me. It happens very often. Some people are not very nice to me when want them to be nice.”
Arrows, Swords and Anvils
We asked the young man about his fears. “I’m really scared of hornets. They’re huge. About as big as my hand. Really huge. I’ve seen them on TV. I’m also afraid of starfish because they suck on you. In fact, when I see one, I feel like getting a shotgun and shooting it. You know, starfish sometimes crawl up on my hand and suck on it and won’t get off. And ticks. Because they bite you. I really hate that! And I really friggin’ hate blood! It scares me so much that I want to pass out. Blood mostly scares me because of how much the pain hurts when I bleed.”
Cody’s Dreams
“I had this wonderful dream where I had a sword case with a big sword and I started bashing people with it. I liked to cut them and other things in the dream. I just like doing because it was fun—swinging the sword and cutting things. I was also shooting arrows. Regular arrows, fire arrows, and light arrows with a golden crystal.”
Anvils on My Head
Finally, we questioned Cody about his recurrent headaches. “It’s kind of like there’s a giant anvil on my brain. Being crushed by a giant anvil. Like it’s crushing my head. Turning, rotating, going up and down. That’s what the anvil feels like on my head.”
Cody’s Positive Response to Homeopathy
We prescribed Spigelia (pinkroot) 200C. It is a plant belonging to the Loganaceae family known best for a sharp, severe, searing pain in the left eye like a hot poker. The specific descriptions of sharpness described by Cody led us to this remedy.
Cody’s mom was not able to give him the Spigelia until one month after we saw him, and his first follow-up telephone consultation was delayed until five months later. Cody had responded well for several months: more cooperative in school, less vulgar, no headaches. Then his behavior began to deteriorate. We wished his mother had communicated with us earlier, because we would have promptly repeated the medicine when this deterioration started.
Following another dose of Spigelia, Cody again improved for a couple of months, though his response was somewhat confused by a Risperdal dosage change, which resulted in a forty-pound weight gain. The response to the higher dose of the Spigelia was even more dramatic. The youngster was now better able to get along with other children. Despite having discontinued the Risperdal, his irritability had diminished considerably, and he was back to his “sweet, lovable” self. “Most of the time he’s just a very sweet soul,” his dad said. The headaches had not returned, the episodes of sensitivity were far less frequent, and Cody no longer dreamed of hurting other children. He no longer experienced the splinter-like sensation in his face, the fear of hornets was less, and Cody no longer screamed at the sight of a knife. Now, a year after beginning treatment, has been off the Risperdal for six months, and his clothing size has dropped from an eighteen to a twelve, and, from the last contact we had with his mother, he has continued to do well.
We wish that we had been able to follow Cody’s case over a number of years, but it is clear that he was helped significantly by the homeopathy.
Recent Comments