Autism: An Ayurveda perspective | Sunday Observer

Autism: An Ayurveda perspective

15 October, 2017

Autism Spectrum of Disorders (ASD) are dramatically increasing. Autism is an economical, social and emotional burden not only to the family but also to the country. Treating this disorder is problematic even to modern medicine. There are many effective Ayurveda treatments available to cure or improve the condition. This is an overview of such options.

Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by Impaired social interaction, Impaired verbal and non-verbal communication, Restricted and repetitive behaviour, Problems with social interaction with others, Unusual interest in objects, Need for sameness, Great variation in abilities, Under or over reaction to one or more of the five senses such as: sight, touch, taste, smell, or hearing.

Repeated actions or body movements.

Autism spectrum disorders include social, communication, and behavioral challenges. These problems can be mild, severe, or somewhere in between and the severity is different child to child.

Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child’s life. These signs often develop gradually, though some children with autism reach their developmental milestones at a normal pace and then regress. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent in early childhood, typically before age three.

Typically developing infants learn social behavior by nature.

They gaze at faces, turn toward voices, grasp a finger and even smile by 2 to 3 months of age. By contrast, most children who develop autism have difficulty engaging in the give-and-take of everyday human interactions.

By 8 to 10 months of age, many infants who go on to develop autism are showing some symptoms such as failure to respond to their names, reduced interest in people and delayed babbling.

By toddlerhood, many children with autism have difficulty playing social games, don’t imitate the actions of others and prefer to play alone. They may fail to seek comfort or respond to parents’ displays of anger or affection in typical ways.

The causative factors we can broadly divide to genetic factors as well as environmental factors. Actually there is no single or definite cause, but there are many causative factors present. These factors affect the child during intra uterine period (before birth) or the extra uterine period.

Autism’s symptoms result from maturation-related changes in various systems of the brain. How autism occurs is not well understood. Its mechanism can be divided into two areas: the pathophysiology of brain structures and processes associated with autism, and the neuropsychological linkages between brain structures and behaviors. The behaviors appear to have multiple pathophysiologies.

Unlike many other brain disorders, such as Parkinson’s, autism does not have a clear unifying mechanism at either the molecular, cellular, or systems level; it is not known whether autism is a few disorders caused by mutations converging on a few common molecular pathways. Some children with autism have an identifiable genetic condition that affects brain development. These genetic disorders include Fragile X syndrome, Angelman syndrome.GI distress is common among persons with autism, and affects up to 85 percent of children with ASD. These conditions range in severity from a tendency for chronic constipation or diarrhea to inflammatory bowel disease.

While autism is usually a life-long condition, all children and adults benefit from interventions, or therapies, that can reduce symptoms and increase skills and abilities. Although it is best to begin intervention as soon as possible, the benefits of therapy can continue throughout the life.

According to Ayurveda perspective Autism is the direct result of the sanga of vyanavatakriya. It disturbs the “sadhaka pitta dosha” in the brain. From person to person various behavioral changes can be seen.

Intellectual disability

The percentage of autistic individuals who also meet criteria for intellectual disability has been reported. These children are weak in learning and study activities.

Sleep Dysfunction

Sleep problems are common among children and adolescents with autism and may likewise affect many adults. Most of the children with autism, show less sleeping time.

Sensory Processing Problems

Many persons with autism have unusual responses to sensory input. They have difficulty processing and integrating sensory information, or stimuli, such as sights, sounds smells, tastes and/or movement.

Several metabolicdefects, such as phenylketonuria, are associated with autistic symptoms.

Minorphysicalanomalies are significantly increased in the autistic population.

Pica

Pica is a tendency to eat things that are not food. Eating non-food items is a normal part of development between the ages of 18 and 24 months. However, some children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities continue to eat items such as dirt, clay, chalk or paint chips. For this reason, it is important to test for elevated blood levels of lead in those who persistently mouth fingers or objects that might be contaminated with this common environmental toxin.

Signs of nonverbal

communication difficulties

Avoids eye contact.

Uses facial expressions that don’t match what he or she is saying.

Doesn’t pick up on other people’s facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures.

Makes very few gestures (such as pointing). ...

Reacts unusually to sights, smells, textures, and sounds.

Diagnosis is based on behavior and development history,

There may be,

No babbling by 12 months.

No gesturing (pointing,

waving, etc.) by 12 months.

No single words by 16 months.

No two-word phrases by

24 months.

Any loss of any language or social skills, at any age.

Infection with rubella during pregnancy causes less than 1% of cases of autism; vaccination against rubella can prevent many of those cases.

What are the treatment modalities ?

Many medications are used to treat ASD symptoms that interfere with integrating a child into home or school when behavioral treatment fails. More than half of children diagnosed with ASD are prescribed psychoactive drugs or anti-convulsants, with the most common drug classes being antidepressants, stimulants, and antipsychotics. Antipsychotics, such as risperidone and aripiprazole, have been found to be useful for treating irritability, repetitive behavior, and sleeplessness that often occurs with autism. There are many side effects of those drugs.

What is the role of Ayurveda for treating autism ?

There are many effective internal as well as external Ayurveda treatments available for treating the child with autism. We use many internal medhya drugs (drugs which can stimulate the brain functions and act as a tonic to the nervous system) and external treatments such as panchakarma procedures which give very good results for reducing the disease condition.

Yoga treatment and meditation, and sathvavajayachikits (counselling) help the relaxation of the mind. Though there are many side effects of modern medicine which are used to treat autism, Ayurveda can help to cure autism without any harm to the patient.

If an autistic child comes to Ayurveda treatment as early as possible, there will be very good prognosis. That means if the patient start Ayurveda treatment in early stage there is chance to cure the disease.

Ayurveda can cure or reduce the condition of autism and you should meet a doctor who is qualified in Ayurveda pediatrics. When you start Ayurveda treatments, it is important to take medicine continuously at least six months or till the child shows signs of improvement.

(The writer is a senior Lecturer, Institute of Indigenous Medicine University of Colombo, Rajagiriya) 

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