Being in practice again and seeing many challenged children, I am reminded of the difficulties that the child and the family go through on an everyday basis. Even more confusing is the pleiade of proposed treatments based on very little common sense and "intriguing" laboratory testing. In these ABC's of Autism I will set forth the homeopathic look at etiology or causality, its treatment and the rules and principles describing the cure rather than palliation.

THE CAUSALITIES

They are no different than from any other disease, from infection to mental/emotional disorder. When I say "no different," I mean that as in any disease, there is the "terrain and the trigger." The terrain or soil has to have the right predisposition and then a trigger that has affinity for this soil will cause the illness. As Pasteur said on his deathbed, "The virus is nothing, the terrain is everything," the soil is the primary factor. This soil has been expressed with different words: genetic predisposition in allopathy, Ancestral Qi or Essence in Chinese Medicine and miasmatic background in homeopathy. The definition of a "miasm" in homeopathy is the predisposition to disease; it is like the weak point in the human structure, received from parents and grandparents, an expression of allopathic medicine to fail to cure true chronic disease throughout the last centuries. So what miasm or defective structure are we talking here? Certainly this factor must be constantly found in the family history of any ASD case as it is the "soil" in which ASD can express itself. Without this soil, no trigger, from vaccinations to diet mistakes to emotions, can cause the ASD picture; it is as simple as that. It also sets forth, that the change of this miasmatic "poison" must be eradicated if therapy will be successful. This tantamount to genetic therapy, something that is still eluding allopathy after decades of research, but that has been practiced in homeopathy since 1828! I like to write in short what this "predisposition" is called. More can be read in my book for the public, "Human Condition Critical", and in my professional book, "Hahnemann Revisited" and even in more detail in my upcoming book, "A Professional Guide to the Homeopathic Practice."

The Syphilitic Miasmatic State

There are three main miasmatic states, just like there are only three major defense mechanisms in any organism, starting with the individual cell: inhibition or deprivation (loss of function) or exaggeration of excitability (which translates into irritation or acute inflammation) is the first defense. This is called PSORA in homeopathic terms. The second defense mechanism constructive defense, called SYCOSIS in homeopathy with dilatation (cysts), softening (relaxed ligaments leading to prolaps of the organs) or hardening or induration. It is the third one of these defense mechanisms that is the predisposed soil to the formation of ASD: destructive defense, called the SYPHILLITIC miasm in homeopathy. A living being has only three defense mechanisms to invasion of microorganisms: inflame, indurate or be destroyed in an attempt to maintain the well-being of the person as a whole. In other words, no trigger can cause ASD without the syphilitic miasm found in the child's family background.

What are the expressions of the syphilitic miasms found in the family history of ASD? They are as usual expressed on the mental, emotional and physical level but all of these expressions will reflect destruction and self destruction. Best known in allopathy are of course the numerous destructive diseases: from all the auto-immune diseases (Rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, colitis ulcerosa, Hashimoto's disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc.) to diseases where destruction takes place: Multiple sclerosis, strokes or infarcts at a relative young age (<than 50), Alzheimer, ALS or Lou Gehring's Disease, insulin dependent diabetes, spastic dysphonia, Parkinson, and many more diseases from neurology to many congenital heart diseases to dwarfism, clubfoot and other skeletal malformations. So this is the first class of diseases the family of the ASD child will possible show when the family tree is investigated. Then we have the mental plane. We are not talking about normal forgetfulness but for instance the forgetfulness after stroke and head trauma; people born with low IQ (<than 100). On the emotional level we find diseases such alcoholism, gambling, depression in all its forms, suicides, schizophrenia, violence, sexual abnormalities like incest and sadomasochism, all leading to destruction and self-destruction. One should find these instances on any of these planes or several ones in all families of ASD children. Always look at the opposite sex first: if you have an autistic boy, look at the mother's family and personal history. Obviously, the severity of the autistic child increases if it is present throughout the family history of one side or present on both sides of the family. The "high functioning" ASD children or Asperger's syndrome, are rather a combination of the syphilitic miasm and one of the other miasm, especially psora. The more psora is present, the more functioning such ASD child will be. Psora and Sycosis, the other miasmatic predispositions have their own characteristic expressions on the physical, mental and emotional plane, but this goes beyond the scope of this article. The analysis of this miasmatic state (genetic background) is one of the most important tools for the homeopath to find the simillimum for the ASD child. The genetic background is equally the topic of most allopathic research but so far it has not brought forwards any therapeutic approach, while homeopathy has brought its genetic therapy in practice since 1828!

The Triggers

Now that we determined the kind of soil (syphilitic miasm) that is a constant in any ASD case, we can look at the main triggers. While almost everything can trigger the flare up of a miasmatic state, diet included, in case of ASD, the emotional factors are as usual the most neglected in allopathy. As usual, for any disease with unknown etiology, allopathy looks at structure abnormalities or abnormal lab findings or MRI findings. This is really looking at these cases backwards! I am amazed how allopathy does not learn from its past mistakes. Look at the detection of Chronic and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) whose countless victims struggle to go through everyday event. How many different viruses have been identified since 1981 as "the cause" of CFIDS? Just recently another microorganism was find. It is again talking about the trigger without considering the terrain. And obviously no adequate treatment has been formulated. The latest about autism is from Cambridge University, UK, that high levels of testosterone were linked to autistic children: autistic-like behavior, received while in the mother's womb. The amount of testosterone was obtained through amniocentesis.  All this produces is that more children will be caught into the net of ASD and related diseases, rightfully or not. But therapeutically important? What are they going to do? Counteract the testosterone with estrogen? And why is this increased level of testosterone present in the first place? To be fair, the report indeed said that "the results did not prove that the link between male hormones and autistic traits was causal and that it was unlikely that it would be possible to prevent autism by controlling fetal testosterone." So again, this is much ado about nothing and creates false hope in the treatment of ASD. Statistics can prove everything and nothing. But as usual, allopathic research is much more "successful" in diagnosing than treating. If it is truly an etiological factor then this testosterone finding should be present in all cases of ASD and Asperger's syndrome. I doubt it is.

I am glad to see that allopathy finally looks what is going on in the womb of the pregnant mom but they are looking on the wrong place if you want to explain the increased amount of ASD, reaching epidemic proportions. Vaccinations? Unfortunately with their Mercury based preservative (mercury is one of the strongest syphilitic triggers), vaccines will do such damage only when the syphilitic soil is present in the family history!  The more important triggers however are the numerous emotional factors that the mother is exposed to while pregnant. In my future book (A Professional Guide to the Homeopathic Practice), I propose ten questions that should be asked of the family of an ASD child. They are all based on the principle, badly researched by allopathy since it does not have tools to measure emotions, that emotions felt by the pregnant mother will be felt by the unborn fetus. It is not because we don't have lab tests or MRIs to measure the impact of emotional traumas that we should therefore conclude that such "influence does not exist." This is too simplistic and irrational. Every emotion, good or bad will be transferred to the fetus, so intimately connected with the mom. Here are some of these questions:

• What was mom's first reaction on hearing that she was pregnant? Was it first, "not now, this is not the right time (=rejection)? Or "I don't deserve to have a healthy baby, looking at my past. There are numerous negative reactions.

• What was the husband's and immediate family's reaction? One of joy or rather disapproval?

• Was the husband much absent during the pregnancy (traveling, emotional absent because of not wanting this pregnancy, too preoccupied with profession, etc.) creating a feeling of forsaken?

• Was there any fright or other strong emotional event during pregnancy (death of family member, theft, indignation, rudeness of others, etc.)?

• What was the age of both parents? TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine knows the exact age to produce the most healthy child: for women this should be between 28 and 35, for men between 32 and 40.

Most homeopaths are not aware of this "intra uterine factor", yet it is the key to finding the simillimum or the indicated remedy. While the autistic child cannot communicate their emotions very well except through their behavior, at least the mom can tell us exactly what she felt. The remedy mom needed in pregnancy is the remedy the autistic child needs now!  

Any other therapy not based on the above principles (the predisposed soil and the trigger) will not be successful. Take diet for instance. It is obvious that a diet factor most likely was not the causality of ASD. That it improves some ASD behavior? I would say that putting any child on a restricted diet free of sugar and impurities would not only improve the mood, restlessness and violence of any child but also of most adults! Should we ban Mercury from vaccinations? Of course we should as it is one of the triggers that wrecks havoc on the syphilitic terrain.

The Homeopathic Treatment

The good homeopath will follow the guiding homeopathic principles:

• One remedy

• Remedies used only when they are proven

• The smallest possible dose of the highly potentized remedy

• Repetition determined by a test dose

• Only remedies in water

• The miasmatic background needs to be taken into consideration

• Close management of the patient is necessary.

• Detailed family history and personal history (building a time line with all important events and possible treatments)

Isopathy (for instance giving any ASD child DTP homeopathic) is NOT homeopathy and useless in my opinion. Mixing of remedies is not homeopathy neither. Products that are combinations of homeopathic remedies are not homeopathy neither. Giving unproven remedies to people is criminal in my eyes. The physician should first prove it on himself and his family like our ancestors did.

It is not the scope of this article how the homeopath comes to finding the remedy.

How to Judge the Homeopathic Treatment

I wrote for the group in my blog six lectures for the public. Some of the most important reminders:

When the simillimum has been prescribed there are always two questions for the homeopath (and the parents of the ASD child) to ask:

1. Did the picture come back unaltered after the dose of the remedy has ceased to act? "Unaltered" does not mean totally unchanged: the intensity and duration of certain behaviors might have decreased; some of the behaviors even disappeared; speech can be improved yet still not perfect. Social interaction might be improved: more tendency to go to other people but the family. Or the child can now play hours by himself or plays peacefully with a sibling who he previously abused. These are all nuances that indicate that the picture is "unchanged," because what we don't want to see is the appearance of new symptoms. Symptoms the child never had. If many of those appear and rather in an intensive way than it is the wrong prescription.

2. The Set of Observations of Hering must be followed: often with old symptoms coming back, or there is an evolution from wild behavior to calmer, or the dream themes go from nightmares to more pleasant dreams…all signs of healing.

3. We might add to this improved sleep and the need for even more sleep, a calmer disposition, more composure, etc.

This process does take time and is accelerated when the advanced homeopathic prescribing methods are used (5^th and 6^th watery doses). But it is unrealistic to give the homeopath three months to resolve the picture completely. If the child is already 5 years at the time of treatment, it will take more time but parents and the homeopath can see signs of improvement, often from the test dose on. It is changing the genetic pattern and so far no other modality is able to do so.

I must add one last remark here: it is the mothers of these autistic children that take the brunt of such emotional trauma. They are often exhausted, unsupported, overcome by worry and grief and should always be treated at the same time as the child. Often the mother needs the same remedy as the child unless of course other events created a new layer. And it pays off to have the mother in a more serene state to be able to follow with the homeopath the tricky management. As I have seen in the practice, the mother repeated the dose too early, n0t because the child was getting worse again needing a new dose, but because mom had a bad day, not being able to control her own anxiety or impatience.