Autism Therapy: effectiveness

Hi everybody,

I am Dr.Prasad M, MD (Ay.), working with autistic kids from 2002 onwards. I went through the article mentioned. Let me share with you an unbiased information on the scope of Ayurveda, the age-old Indian system of Vedic medicine, in the treatment of ASD. This is based 100% on my personal experiences. Kindly see the following passages. Comments and criticisms are welcomed whole-heatedly. 

Scope of Ayurveda in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Trials with Ayurvedic medicines and treatments for their efficacy in ASD are going on at various centres in India and abroad.   The main advantage of ayurvedic medicine is that it has got a magazine of safe therapeutic preparations of various forms which are developed by continuous trials and rectifications over thousands of years.  There are many preparations like kwatha (decoction), churna (powder), arishta (self-fermented beverage), gudika (pill), ghrtha (medicated ghee), thyla (medicated vegetable fats) etc.  In recent times, many of the herbs used in Ayurveda are proven to have excellent detoxifying effect as well as free radical- scavenging potential.  The therapeutic preparations like kwatha are combinations of many herbs.  These combinations are originally developed on the basis of ayurvedic principles.  Till recent times these formulations were not given due consideration by the western scientists.  But now the picture has changed. More and more ayurvedic preparations are under their evaluation.  In Ayurveda, the compounds as well as single herbs are used for different purposes of health care like pacifying vitiated functional units called doshas, eliminating excessive toxic accumulations, providing targeted nutrients to tissues, tuning the mind-body coordination, sharpening the efficacy of sense-organs, and so on.  These prescriptions are based on personalised evaluation of different aspects like body constitution, doshik status, power of digestion and assimilation, status of bowel evacuation, physical strength, mental constitution, and etc which is done by experienced physicians.  Mind is an important factor in the healing of any ailment.  It is assumed that mind is like ghee which is held inside a pot called body.  If the ghee is hot the pot also gets warmed and if the pot is hot definitely the ghee also will be hot.  You cannot expect warm ghee in a cool pot and wise versa.  Similarly, food is given the supreme role in the healing process as well as in the maintenance of health.  It is a basic concept in Ayurveda that there is no use for any medicine if one stick on to pathya (wholesome) food (as it brings about health spontaneously) and there is no use for any medicine if one stick on to apathya (nasty) food (as there is no scope for functioning of the medicine).   In the context of autism, these assumptions are extremely important and seen exceptionally beneficial. 

The care of autism, as per ayurvedic principles, is based on the protocol of a three-step intervention. 

1. detoxifying the body by regulating the agni
2. Cleansing the dhatus (body tissues) by medicines and therapies. 
3. Enhancing the mental abilities like comprehension, memory etc. by promoting the Agni.

Again, though the stages are generalised the execution will be personalised. 

The first stage is based on medicines almost completely.  Medicinal preparations like purgatives, specific formulations for de-worming, for enhancing the functions of the liver and pancreas, for enhancing the digestive fire (Agni), and for regulating the intestinal motility are used in this stage.  Certain preparations meant for squeezing out heavy metals from the tissues are also used.  Turmeric, garlic, curry leaves, etc are having this advantage. 

Second phase is mainly comprised of massages.  Traditional methods like abhyanga (hot-oil massages), udwarthana (dry powder massages), pindasweda of various types, thalapothichil, pizhichil, etc are used here.  These manoeuvres improve the muscle tone, reduce hyperactivity, create better motor coordination, and normalize most of the obsessive repetitive movements.  Child sleeps well.  The bowels become more regular at this stage.  He/she will be more receptive to commands or suggestions.  The demand for sensory stimulation slows down considerably and the symptoms like increased sensitivity to certain sounds (hyperacusis) slowly disappear.  There will be oral medications parallel to the therapies and a few of these medications will be carried over to the next phase as well.  

Third stage is very specific and sold not be started before the proper completion of the first two.  This is an important point as there is a general tendency to mark the condition as mental retardation and to prescribe brain tonics and memory boosters to all autistic kids indiscriminately.

The major therapies in this stage are shirodhara (pouring of liquids like oils on the head), shirovasthi (holding of medicated oils on the head inside specially designed leather-rims), shiropichu (wetting the scalp with oil bandages), dhoopanam (fumigation with specific medicines) etc along with specific medications like kallyanakam kashayam, indukantham kashayam, gorochanadi gudika,balakanakapathradi kashayam, sidharthakam gudika etc.  Certain specific herbs like sahadevi, sankhapushpi, vacha, vishnukranthietc are also used.  Follow up is done with ghee preparations like mahakallyanaka, mahapaisachika, brahmighrtha, saraswathaghrtha, etc. 

Conclusion

It is seen that the classical ayurvedic treatment done systematically give promising results in kids diagnosed with ASD.  But it should be emphasised that the level of improvements is different from child to child.  Another important point is that these interventions are made in a corrective manner.   The child gets relieved of a lot of physical problems and tantrums.  But this will not make him/her a normal child.  Intensive training and special education are needed to put him on track and to catch up the peers.  This requires the dedicated involvement of parents, special educators, and skilled professional like occupational therapists.