HOMEOPATHY FOR AUTISM PART 1: SLEEP

“MY CHILD HAS NEVER SLEPT A WHOLE NIGHT SINCE BIRTH“

I heard one mother say to me during consultation. In fact, this was the first thing she said to me. Sleep deprivation can be so incredibily disruptive, not just for the child but for the whole family as well. As a mother, if your child can’t sleep, you can’t sleep either and often you need to spend all night with your child. You are exhausted during the day, have zero time with your husband, which can have a knock on effect on your marriage and your own health.

Sleep deprivation also makes all the other symptoms worse: children’s brains grow and develop during sleep and we all know how cranky and difficult children can be when they are over-tired!

HOW DOES HOMEOPATHY SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?

The first thing is to establish what happens before and during sleep, because there can be so many reasons for not sleeping and root causes and therefore remedies:

Stramonium: this is a very common remedy for “night terrors”. The child wakes up screaming or in some cases, the child gets up and sleep-walks, eyes open, talks even, but has no recollection in the morning. Often the child displays aggressive behaviour during the day, is easily triggered and has many fears.

Hyosciamus: similar to Stramonium in terms of “wild” behaviour in children. The child constantly seeks attention and displays jealousy towards his siblings or is very possessive of one of the parents. Sleep is agitated, often tossing and turning in bed and violent nightmares.

Tarantula: this remedy is for children who are contantly busy, destructive, their mind and body always active and cannot focus or sit down for more than five minutes. Music is very important and love of dance is very marked.

These are only a few of the possible remedies that can help. Please bear in mind that there are thousands of remedies in homeopathy and the right remedy needs to match the whole person, not just one symptoms or the medical condition. This is why working with a homeopath is essential.

Autism is a neuro-developmental condition that is typically diagnosed in childhood. The diagnosis is based on external observation of three main areas:

-communication

-social behaviour

-cognition

From the homeopathic point of view, a diagnosis is not much more than a “label”. Homeopathy treats the individual, not the condition and therefore there is much more information that I need in my clinic when I take a new case, whatever the condition is.

In cases of children on the autistic spectrum, all symptoms must be considered and a detailed time-line taken down, starting from the mother’s pregnancy and including family medical history.

Here are the most common symptoms in children on the spectrum:

-difficult sleep

-delayed speech/no speech

-GI issues

-restricted diet/picky eater

-learning difficulties

-aggressive behaviour

-obsessive/ritualistic behaviour

Some children display all of the above, some only two or three symptoms from the list, however, there is usually one or maybe two main symptoms that are more prevalent. Therefore I would like to address these main issues one by one and show how homeopathy can help.

This article is for information purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical condition.