The Autism File

HOMEOPATHIC SECRETIN: A Mother Reports
Vicky Browning
Caleb’s mother

Caleb with VickyOur 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 ...

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:

  • ‘Stims’ have lessened dramatically
  • Eye contact is now almost 100%
  • Hand flapping has stopped
  • He is now coming for comfort when he hurts himself
  • He is hugging with ‘real’ emotion
  • Social interaction has greatly improved, particularly with adults
  • His understanding of communication from others has got better
  • He is attempting to imitate words and has gained four new words
  • The frequency and intensity of his behaviour swings have lessened dramatically
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.

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.

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In issue 1
Autumn 1999 …

 
Jonathan Tommey reports
Secretin: towards
a clearer picture
Harvey's AIT
 
Homeopathic secretin: A mother's report
Shunned, brickwalled, tired but hopeful
The homepathic treatment of autism
Protocol for the treatment of autism
Will he or won't he eat it
Life with an Asperger child
Our search for intervention and support
Autism and MMR / Testing for Parasites
Letters