Vicky Browning
Caleb’s mother
We got the above diagnosis on
Wednesday 29 June 2020. We
started Caleb on homeopathic
secretin drops on the following
Tuesday evening.
A few months before this,
despite not being sure of what
Caleb’s problem was, we
already had a good idea. We
had put him on a strict casein-free
diet and, luckily, had
managed to catch ‘Billy’s Story’
on television - our introduction
to secretin. We had also
ploughed our way through the
Internet and had a firm idea of
what therapies/treatments we
felt would work for Caleb.
We filled in a daily pilot study
supplied by Ainsworths
Homoeopathic Pharmacy who
supplied the secretin, kept a
daily diary and, most
importantly, didn’t tell Caleb’s
regular childminder and day
nursery what we were doing ...
Overnight Caleb’s bowels
solidified; for the first time
since he was born. Although he
never had diarrhoea, he had
always had extremely loose
nappies. Also, importantly to us,
he seemed happier and more
contented.
His hyperactivity decreased
within seven days and his
concentration dramatically
improved. Instead of whirling
round a room out of control
from one thing to the next, he
would spend a few seconds,
even minutes, studying an item.
Six weeks later, he is starting to
concentrate and actually play
with toys for up to 20 minutes.
Caleb’s eye contact was always
reasonably good - so much so
that our health visitor and GP
told us that there was no way
he could possibly be autistic (of
course this was before the
diagnosis). But he would look
at people for no more than a
few seconds and only if it was
his decision. Generally, adults
other than my husband, myself
and his childminder went
unacknowledged unless they
initiated rough and tumble
games.
However, within two days of
starting secretin he was using
eye contact for much longer
periods with everyone.
Furthermore, on day 14 of
secretin, Caleb started to
actively seek eye contact, then
peek-a-boo games with a
complete stranger in a Little
Chef Restaurant. Since then,
this has become a common
feature, but at this time he
hadn’t been as sociable as this
since before his MMR jab at 13
months.
Caleb’s childminder and her
husband have continually
remarked how much happier,
responsive and receptive he has
been over the last few weeks,
and how he is playing basic
sharing games with her other
child. They were puzzled about
this, and said that they ‘thought
autistic children couldn’t act like
this with other kids’.They are
also amazed that all of a
sudden Caleb’s asthma has
mysteriously disappeared ...
Caleb’s day nursery told me last
week that they were amazed to
find Caleb walking around
happily holding hands with
another child. He was also
initiating hugs with this child.
They regularly report that Caleb
is spontaneously imitating the
other children dancing and has
a huge smile on his face as he’s
doing this!
Ainsworths Homoeopathic
Pharmacy (our lifeline!) produce
the secretin as tablets or drops.
The drops work great for us as
Caleb is too young to swallow
tablets. We give him three
drops every morning mixed with
a teaspoon of water, and one
drop at night. A 30ml bottle
costs £19.00 plus p&p; and can
be mail ordered or collected
from Ainworths’ address in
London.
A pharmacist at Ainsworths
confirmed to me that they are
still in the process of finding
out how and why the
homeopathic secretin works.
They have had varying
results shown in their
pilot studies. Some like
us had very good
improvements,
some had none.
They advise
against
refrigerating or
freezing the
drops.
The drops are actually secretin itself - it is porcine and is a mixture of potencies (to suit a wide range of
people presumably). Our own homeopath has said that unique recipes could be made up for each
individual.
As with all homeopathic recipes, the amount taken should not make any difference to the results,
though in our case we feel it certainly has. Ainsworths say that, logically, the only thing that should
influence improvement would be the frequency the secretin is given, as, in giving it several times a day
rather than once or twice.
However, increasing the dose given seems to work for us - four seems the right amount for Caleb, but it
appears to be trial and error. Ainsworths recommend starting on two drops and
seeing how it goes (we began on three drops which gave good results, but
found four drops improved things further).
OVERALL, THESE ARE THE AREAS
OF CALEB’S MAIN
IMPROVEMENTS:
Yes, of course we don’t know the long term effects of
giving this hormone to our precious child, but in our
opinion, his quality of life has been given back to him ...
and with Lovaas therapy due to start in a month’s time,
perhaps he may just begin to live in the real world again.
Our beautiful, wonderful little boy, Caleb, was diagnosed autistic
at 22 months by Cambridgeshire Child Development Centre.
Actually, they didn’t exactly say he was autistic; they just said that
there was definitely a problem and that we shouldn’t try this new
‘wonder’ treatment for autism called secretin. Their opinion was
that it is potentially very unsafe as it hasn’t been clinically tested.
Unfortunately, the authorities had no alternative constructive ideas
for how to help Caleb. We were on our own ...
Although our results may not be as
immediate as with the secretin infusions, we
have still seen outstanding improvements, and
at a time when (at the age of two years) we
could expect to be seeing Caleb slip further away
from us.