“My son Abhishek, now 8, was neither interacting with anyone nor responding to anything around him. When we consulted a doctor, we were told that he was suffering from a disease called ‘autism’. However, after beginning his treatment at the age of four, we have seen him recover about 75%,” said Sanjita Satpathy, Abhishek’s mother.
Abhishek has special skills, like he can identify any car in the darkness by just looking at its lights. Also, he is very good at computers as at the age of four, he was using it nicely. But his interest in studies is less.
One out of every 150 kids is suffering from autism in India. However, there are very few people, who know about autism. Of the kids suffering from it, about 25% have super intellect whereas the rest 75% are mentally retarded.
A city-based homoeopath, Dr Ketan Patel, who has successfully treated about 20 autism cases, said, “Both the Union and state governments along with medical fraternity seem to be taking the issue lightly even as kids with this problem are increasing in number with every passing year.” If these kids are identified and their treatment begins within five years of age, then they can get over 90% improvement, and in some cases 100% too, added Patel.
Commenting on the disease, Patel said that autism has no cure in allopathy. But homoeopathy promises a cure. “I have visited almost all parts of the world and found that even developed countries like the US and the UK have such cases in large numbers. Even Middle-East is experiencing such cases.
Experts advise that kids suffering from this disease should be given gluten-free and casein-free diet. In other words, they should not be given wheat and milk and their products as they worsen the condition.
What is autism?It is a severely incapacitating, life-long developmental disorder that typically occurs in the first three years of life. It causes impairment or disturbance in three main areas - ‘social skills, communicative (verbal as well as non-verbal) skills and in their repetitive and restricted behaviours’. Autistic individuals may show abnormal responses to sensations. Any one or more of the senses may be affected. All these difficulties manifest themselves in behaviours, i.e. abnormal ways of relating to people, objects and events in the environment. It is known as a ‘spectrum disorder,’ because the severity of symptoms ranges from a mild learning and social disability to a severe impairment, with multiple problems and highly unusual behaviour. Disorder may occur alone, or with accompanying problems such as mental retardation or seizures.
