Clinical Cases

A Case of Kanner Syndrome (Autism)

autism homeopathy treatment
Written by Saideh Kerscher

This is the extraordinary story of Saideh Kerscher-Nasi, a devoted mother who learned homeopathy, nutrition and much more in order to save her son from a lifetime of Autism.

This is an account of how Saideh Kerscher-Nasirbeygi treated her own son for Autism.

A brief background of Armin, born in June 2000.

Diagnosis: Kanner Syndrome from 24 months of age

He was breast-fed until the age of 18 months and developed normally until then, both physically and linguistically. He was vaccinated with the typical vaccination in Germany and showed no abnormal reaction to the vaccination. From his 18th month he ate normal food and gradually began to show the following symptoms:

  • He became withdrawn and ceased talking.
  • Stereotypic behaviour (stereotypic movement disorder) increased. For example, turning around, making objects rotate, going back and forth in his room.
  • He became perfectionistic about strictly adhering to a daily routine.

Each day he became even more withdrawn than the day before. To get his attention was a difficult challenge for me. I was better able to approach him with melody and rhythmic language and rhymes. Not until the age of 4 (December 2004) was he able to say individual words again. But he forgot the words very quickly and was unable to communicate. He was like a stroke victim whose language centre in the brain was affected. In addition to all these symptoms, his breath had the smell of opium.

When he was 6 – at that time I was a layman – I had read a book by Hans-Ulrich Grimm, Die Ernährungslüge (“The Nutrition Deception”), and decided to switch him to a gluten-free and casein-free diet as recommended by the author.

From then on, day by day he was able to remember more and more words. But after six months a new problem emerged. The regrowth of his hair and nails was very slow, or almost non-existent, and he gradually developed an anxiety disorder and an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He had the feeling he was choking on his food, and he had forgotten how to swallow! It was very time-consuming to convince him that this was not the case. I took him off the diet temporarily and pureed his food in the blender. I searched desperately for support so that he would not have to be institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. My search was successful. A blood test determined that he had a food intolerance, and this is what saved him.

After an adjustment to his diet, together with many dietary supplements, he recovered quickly. He was cooperative and showed great desire to become healthy. That strengthened my resolve to fight on and not give up.

His development progressed very well, helped not only by his new diet but also from speech-language therapy, behaviour therapy and occupational therapy.

Due to an overdose of vitamin B6 while on his special diet and taking supplements, Armin developed a series of illnesses that I will discuss in another article. After analysis of the vitamin status, and against the doctor’s advice, I stopped giving him vitamin B6. After a week the symptoms were partially gone and after six months they had disappeared completely.

He still had tantrums very often and his frustration tolerance was low. His memory was better, but not sufficient for school. The question arose as to which school would be suitable for him. After consideration of various possibilities, he was finally sent to the regular elementary school accompanied by a social worker. She was always at his side. Over the course of time I had also developed my professional skills and eventually attended the homeopathy academy. From May 2012, thanks to homeopathy, everything was turning in a positive direction.

Armin’s symptoms:

  • Weak memory
  • Stereotypic movement disorder
  • Tantrums
  • Low frustration tolerance
  • Food intolerance
  • Extreme constipation – once a week up to the age of 4, then daily at 7 p.m. Ritual!
  • Sweating on the head and hands
  • Mild neurodermatitis as a baby
  • Seborrheic dermatitis (Homeopathy Treatment for Seborrheic Dermatitis) on his head as a baby
  • Eruptions on his ear lobes and behind the ears, up to 13 years of age
  • Raw, coarse skin on his thighs and upper arms. Extremely dry skin.
  • Bed wetting (enuresis nocturne) up to 10 years of age
  • Allergic asthma
  • Chronic otitis, frequent inflammation of the middle ear. He also had an anomaly, a constriction of the auditory canal and excessive formation of earwax. Due to the large quantity of earwax he had, and still has, a hearing impairment and a disturbing feeling of pressure on the ears, tonsillitis, sinusitis.
  • Inability to concentrate
  • Poor judgment of distance
  • Uncoordinated hand and foot movements
  • Impairment of fine and gross motor skills
  • Excessive perfectionism, sometimes going as far as making him unable to work
  • Guilt feelings
  • Pollinosis at almost all times of the year
  • Occasional absentmindedness, daydreaming
  • Always wanted to hear the same stories again and again
  • He always had to interrupt others while they were speaking, otherwise he would forget what he wanted to say
  • The skin on his palms and the soles of his feet peeled off repeatedly
  • Scaly formations under his skin, mainly on the chest and under the arms.
  • Monomania
  • Poems and rhymes were very easy for him to write as well as memorize.
  • Sudden mood swings
  • Feelings of tense anticipation in both pleasant and unpleasant situations, such as expecting a visit
  • Fear of failure
  • Fixations and obsessions
  • Tics since the age of 2
  • Clinging to rituals
  • Aversion toward certain people. He always completely forgot these people after meeting them. Even if he met them again, he would completely forget them again later. On the other hand he was affectionate towards certain other people even if he hadn’t had any contact with them for years.
  • Intentionally injuring and hurting himself (he seldom did this, but said that pain acts as a relief from humiliation)
  • Considerate toward everyone; when he thought he had unjustly insulted someone, he showed abnormally strong feelings of remorse (his entire body would shake).
  • Fear of crowds, for example he still has strong resistance against taking the train or going downtown.

When we are outdoors, Armin keeps his eyes on the ground because he cannot tolerate any great number of people. Hence he is still today reliant on a guide.

He is easily overwhelmed, whereupon he falls into a deep silence and becomes sad and resigned. Sometimes he erupts in anger, his body shakes, he swears, sobs, throws things and so on. In such situations everything in the world becomes meaningless and unnecessary for him.

He used to require extra space in school in order to do school assignments. He also needed much more time to complete the assignment, and required clarifications of particular words that explained the assignment. Even today, 50% more time is still not enough for him.

Living with an autistic person is an art. One has to be prepared to show resolve in any situation and do the right thing. I always have to explain to Armin how the world works and how the school system works but not making it seem important; the most important thing in the world is his equanimity and cheerfulness.

Now I would like to begin describing Armin’s treatment since April 2012:

I would like to add that I was myself a beginner in homeopathy, and as homeopaths know, one is always a beginner in this subject even after years of experience!

April 2012: Barium Carbonicum – cardinal symptoms that may have applied well to Armin:

Lack of self-confidence, indecisiveness, retarded development both mentally and physically, recurrent swelling of the tonsils, tonsillitis, swelling of the glands.

Armin was almost 12. I gave him Barium Carbonicum c 30, because his development was not keeping pace with his peers. In the first week he got worse. It was quite bad, as if he was going through a metamorphosis. He had all the symptoms at once, for an entire week. Shrieking, crying, hitting himself, turning round and round, repeating sentences over and over and so on. Then a significant positive change began.

May 2012 : Silicea terra cardinal symptoms that applied to Armin.

Mental exhaustion, lack of self-confidence, oversensitivity toward noises, sinusitis, otitis, tonsillitis, tendency to faint, sense of inferiority, sensitive, constipation, being very structured.

He received silicea terra 200c because of his abnormal structure in all situations!  Tense anticipation and anxiety! Clinging to rituals, perfectionism, lack of self-confidence, pangs of remorse and guilt feelings. Physically:  (chronic sinusitis) and (chronic otitis media) and scaly formations under his skin, pollinosis. Armin then showed much more positive reactions, especially physically. He was not as vulnerable as before.

June 2012, Sulphur “The King of Psora” – cardinal symptoms that I noticed with Armin:

Mal-digestion, mal-assimilation, all the digestive organs, serous membranes of the stomach and intestinal tract, of the bronchia, effect on the reticuloendothelial system, effect on glands, sinusitis, otitis, tonsillitis, asthma, pollinosis, emaciation, facial expression looks old, foetid breath.

Disposition: Apathetic, regards everything from a fixed point of view, aversion to intellectual work, laughs about serious issues, anxiety about his health, feels he has committed a crime, inability to concentrate when reading learning etc. He had poor memory for names, for what he said, for what he wanted to say, for words; confused and fuzzy in the head about his identity; aversion to nearness, to obligations, aversion to the opposite sex (for the last few years very visible due to loathing), hysteria, rage; severe, about his mistakes, alternates quickly with remorse. Crying for the most insignificant reasons or for no reason at all, melancholy, weariness with life.

He received Sulphur c200.  It was very effective, the leaky gut syndrome and the permeability of the intestine disappeared completely. Suddenly he could eat whatever he wanted, with no effect on his memory.

Before the homeopathic treatment, I had attempted a few times to relax his diet, without success. Each time I did this, he regressed intellectually.

Since June 2012, Armin has received no more supplements except vitamin D.

September 2012: Calcium Carbonicum cardinal symptoms that described Armin:

Tires easily, lack of vigour, chronic catarrh of the mucous membranes, formation of polyps, enlarged pharyngeal tonsil, sweating of the head, retarded development, anxiety, withdrawal, hiding.

He received Calcium Carbonicum c200 because he was withdrawing into himself and lonely. He was also worried very much about others, and had pangs of compunction and lack of self-confidence. After receiving this, he showed some improvement. He increased his participation in life and did not withdraw into himself as much. Furthermore the inflammation of the sinuses decreased and his eating habits improved.

Due to his tantrums, I gave him Tubeculinum c200 for the first time in March 2013. This resulted in fewer tantrums, and above all he understood that he has to control himself. These are a few of the cardinal symptoms of tuberculinum that Armin had:

Physical level: Family history of tuberculosis. Otitis, tonsillitis, allergic asthma, pollinosis, bronchitis, swelling of the lymph nodes, dry and rough skin, tendency to sweat, chronic eczema, oozing eczema behind the ears, night sweating of the head, nightmares, adverse food reactions, milk worsens the complaints, compulsion to move, nervous legs, bad breath (foetor).

Main areas of application of Tuberculinum at the emotional level relevant for Armin were:

Tantrums, anxiety disorder, depression, apathy, bedwetting (enuresis nocturne), night terror (pavor nocturnus), weak memory, mental confusion, hypochondria, inner agitation, neuroses, oversensitivity to stimulation: he scares easily and is sensitive to noises and extremely sensitive to smells.

August 2013: Agaricus muscarius:  cardinal symptoms that corresponded to his symptoms:

Uncoordinated movements (new symptom), tics, restlessness (legs), coordination disorder, chilblains, quickly becomes overwhelmed, inarticulate, concentration disorder, polinose, inner agitation.

Armin received Agaricus c1000 to treat his absentmindedness, daydreams, uncontrolled movements and difficulty in judging distance. This was very helpful for his fine and gross motor skills. He also ceased to withdraw into himself and also did not daydream.

June  2014: I determined that a single administration of Arnica 10,000c and Aconitum 10,000c  can help to find or approach a constitutional remedy, because the earlier state of shock and spiritual and physical wound can thus be overcome. Armin was 40 days old when he fell from Maxi Cosi face down onto the tiles from a distance of half a meter. It was a terrible accident, but hopefully without serious injury. He was examined in the clinic and declared unharmed. From our knowledge I know that pain and shock can remain lifelong, therefore I gave him those remedies.

After a year, in August 2014, I decided on a Miasma therapy and did this with three methods: Sulphur c 200, one week later Thuja c 30, then after a week Thuja c 200, one week later Mercurius sub. c 30 and after another week Mercurius sub. c 200

Constitutional remedy

I will tell you a story of how I found the constitutional remedy for Armin after four and a half years. At the end of May 2012 we were vacationing in San Marino near Rimini. Armin had an asthma attack in the castle. In the hotel he had severe pain in the lungs, accompanied by noises from the lungs. Constriction of the alveoli. Breathing was poor. I asked the dear Lord to help me find the right treatment for Armin.

During the night I dreamed that a snakehead was in Armin’s mouth. The snake was yellow!  The next day I gave Armin Lachesis c 30 as an acute remedy, the lung had calmed down somewhat. I knew next to nothing!

After two years I started looking into astrology and homeopathy. Based on the date, place and hour of his birth, I could find some remedies for him.

I knew all the remedies for this birthdate, except one.  Bothrops. I looked it up. It was the yellow snake in my dream.

October 2014: I gave him Bothrops lanceolatus at a dosage of c1000 with incredible success. I never thought it would be his constitutional remedy!

The Bothrops Lanceolatus cardinal symptoms that Armin still had were:

Repeatedly depressed, wanting to be able to better communicate verbally.

One year later, January 2016, Armin was able to go to school without a chaperone.  He still feared that he wouldn’t make it, because he is still very slow and cannot concentrate on listening and writing at the same time.

Armin asked me to find a remedy that would help him concentrate better.

I now had a different viewpoint than before. Suddenly I could observe things that I used to see before but to which I did not attach any significance.

Our cat Lilu always loved Armin’s shoe. Suddenly it dawned on me! Why does Lilu like Armin’s shoe so much? She relished licking the inside of the shoe and she would sniff it and seemed to get high. I realized that Armin was leaving something in the shoe that the cat loved. I had some catnip at home. I gave some to Lilu but she didn’t like it. Then I gave her valerian. She loved valerian.

I read up on the internet about the effect of valerian in homeopathy:

Relieves anxiety (anxiolytic), helps treat tension, relaxing (sedative effect) for nervousness when one is under pressure to perform, nervous conditions, muscle spasms, diseases of the brain and central nervous system, examination anxiety.

It was like a miracle. It was the remedy that I had searched for, so that Armin from this point on could handle school without a chaperone.

January 2016: I gave him Valeriana off. c 1000.

It saved him. He got even better marks than before, when he was with a chaperone.

Armin did well until he was in the 10th form. There was more pressure to perform than in the years before.

In October 2016 he again was severely depressed and could no longer smile.

In mid-November 2016 , I thought again of Bothrops L. and gave him a single dose of Bothrops c1000 for his depression.

Bothrops L. has a connection to depression and language: Loss of language, faulty pronunciation, stuttering or inability to articulate oneself, with no ailment of the tongue.

Ears: dark, hard black earwax, hardness of hearing. Feeling that the ears are plugged. (This ear problem exists with most snakes, even if it is not exactly tested with Bothrops Lanceolatust, but with Bothrops atrox it is documented as a main symptom).

Sweat cold and clammy

We do not know by any means know all the effects of homeopathic treatments on living creatures, and we know even less about snakes except, Lachesis and Naja than about all other treatments.

I relied on my intuition and with the few symptoms that Armin had from treatments, I selected the treatment. Within 15 minutes he was changed and could laugh again. Now it was clear to me that this was his constitutional remedy and for the first time I decided to administer it as LM dose.

From 21 November I began to give him Bothrops  L. in LM 7.

With this treatment, unfortunately I could not start with LM 3 or LM 2 as is normally the case with other patients, since it is not available in Germany and in Austria only from LM 7. But it had an incredibly positive effect and Armin no longer was depressed. Day by day I could observe how he is moving in a positive direction. The pressure at school is the same as ever, in fact it has increased, but Armin is more resilient and stable, and can deal with it relatively well.

After six weeks I switched to LM 10 and then again he had a sudden outburst of rage because the teacher assigned homework to be done over the Christmas holidays.

But I think that is a result of the treatment, and sending him a message involves a learning process. My goal, and I am convinced it can be reached, is for Armin to have no more symptoms of autism in a year’s time.

I am also convinced that it is possible to cure genetic diseases with homeopathy.

January 2017: Now I would like to describe the symptoms that have disappeared with homeopathic therapy.

Physically, he has been very healthy the past several years.

His skin stopped flaking off years ago. No scale formation either. No ruptures on his ear lobes. No serious bronchitis or asthma. The tonsils are no longer enlarged or sore. Sinusitis is gone, and the polyps are smaller.

No more constipation and Pollinosis is down to one month, without asthma.

Mentally: All mental and emotional problems have disappeared or significantly reduced, except for his fear of crowds and associated problems such as finding his way or remembering it. Armin keeps his eyes on the ground when he is in a crowd, and consequently he has trouble remembering the way.

Language: Armin speaks very well and has acquired a large vocabulary, his German grammar is sufficient and his English grammar as well.

Administering the treatment as drops resulted in a significant change. He sometimes watches films in English. And for the first time he invited some of his school friends to stay overnight for a party.

About the author

Saideh Kerscher

Saideh Kerscher-Nasirbeygi was born on in 1967 in Iran-Damavand. From 1992 to 2016 she worked as a nurse. Since 2008 she has been working in the field of Alternative Medicine / Orthomolecular Medicine and Homeopathy, in Munich. She is married with two sons, born 1988 and 2000. She lives in the city of Dachau near Munich.

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