Alternative Approach for Autism: What You Should Know

As promised this blog post will answer why I have hold hands with Alternative approaches like Ayurveda.

This post is for YOU, If…

• You are tired of fighting sleep at night….for God knows how many months or years
• You are tired of your developmental pediatrician saying they don’t know why and how ASD and related disorders happen
• You are tired of this sick feeling in your stomach that comes by the knowledge there are more hard terrible days with no answers and longer wait for medical intervention.
• You want to take matters in your own hand and start by learning some holistic alternative treatment options.

Lets dig in……shall we??

Ayurveda has been around for the past 5000 Years!!! But after the boom of the 19^th century modern medical science it took the back burner by people for the seeming fast relief it suggests. Yet we know drugs ubiquitously almost always have side effects and they are just like Band Aids that hides the wound rather than healing it. Thankfully holistic medicine has done a grand entrance back in our life recently, after what seems like ages of misdiagnosis and wrong or insufficient healing that modern medicine promises. Ayurveda is the Science of Life. It is the tried and tested way of treatment which point its ammunition not at the symptoms (like medical science does) BUT at the Root Causes.

Being a Southeast Asia kid, tidbits of Ayurveda made up the threads of our regular lifestyle. We followed fresh food diet with lots of home cooked meals. Packaged food was rarely seen in action and treats were strictly for special occasion and not because I was bored, got dumped or failed that test!! We were healthy….physically, emotionally and socially. Then came the 21^st century whereby days and hours pass at the blink of an eye. We became more busy…fast food and cola became our diet. Social interaction decreased and virtual closeness increased. And we forgot that we are natural being with delicate system. 

I am a staunch advocate of natural and holistic mode of medicine such as Ayurveda and in light of my doctorate in Natural Pharmaceuticals I will discuss these issues as per. I believe it is essential in nature to know the reason why something happens and then only we can solve the issue properly right?

Modern medicine puts the lion’s share of blame for all disease or disorders onto Genetics!! It doesn’t know the causes due to any situations that might cause autism. It’s essential to know the causes. So yeah my son has autism mostly because I have ADHD, I am a neurodiverse! But I know otherwise. Due to being a pharmacist, healthcare educator and scientist since 2006, I have come across my fair share of “medical research” and their innate attitude of thrusting everything to genetics. Rather than finding actual Causes and trying to accept that there are easier ways to solve the problem they have a tendency to make things complex.

Why my son has autism? “Oh we don’t know. It’s most likely genetics!!”

“What are the treatments?” “There are no treatments, not enough research, but you can try occupational and ABA therapies. There’s a 50% chance of revival”…..

No mention of food/diet that can be followed…..a few doctors even told me to give what he eats as long as he stays alive and outside of hospitals!!! Is my son a vegetable that my foremost quest would be to keep him alive???

So in my quest for finding the root causes of ASD, I discovered that Ayurvedic point of ASD causes are more understandable and relatable.

Autism, ADHD and related neurodiverse disorders are not mentioned directly in classic Ayurvedic texts, but one of the most important text called Charak Samhita, says a disease that has not been described in the text by name can be understood, managed and treated based on the following principles: 

• Based on etiology 
• Site of affliction
• Nature of disease
• Site of imbalanced Doshas

So according to USA Ayurvedic doctor Dr. Vandana Baranwal (Kottakkal USA):

• Abnormalities of sperms and ovums before conception. Age and physical conditions during conception.
• Uterine condition of the mother during conception and afterwards.
• After conception and the lifestyle or physical and environmental issues such as extreme stress, overworking, bleeding during pregnancy, mother falling down, poor nutrition, eating junk, eating foods that are indigestible by the mother, emotional trauma, gut health issues etc. are present then the risk for child to have autism is higher. Post natal lifestyle is just as important.
• Breastfed babies not getting enough milk is also a very crucial issue. The dosha/ physical nature of the parents also impacts the child’s constitution. Ayurvedically VATA dosha is the chief actor for autism since vata governs the Gut and the Brain (and modern medicine also agrees on the Gut-Brain connection).

Imbalance of Vata and Kapha gives rise to autism. Vata is duplicated in the body as dryness, roughness, constipation, motility, restlessness, sleeplessness, memory issues, unbalanced speech etc and is why the autism child shows such behaviors. Kapha on the other hand is translated as laziness, lack of interest, depression, mood swings, brain fog etc.  Ayurveda also says the balance between the doshas (Vata, Pitta and Kapha) is essential to have a healthy body and sound mind capacities. It says any disease is occurred due to a dosha imbalance and once the balance is restored than its very easy for the body to reclaim back its power.

So according to Ayurveda its highly possible to convert autism kids to neuro-typical versions by immersing them in holistic environment, properly nourishing their body, removing offending food/habits that are causing the imbalances and giving them lots and lots of time, love, understanding, patience and care. I have seen firsthand that it works…..

Up Next: Comparing Medical interventions versus Holistic Approach: What You should know that will make healing easier and faster